TUESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2025
LITTLE GUN – by SARAH OVERMAN
Little Gun is based on the true story of Mary Leonard, a Swiss immigrant in 19th-century Oregon who is accused of murdering her husband and dares to study the law to defend herself. Her fight for survival thrusts her into the brutal world of frontier Portland, where poverty, prejudice, and betrayal press in from all sides. Against all odds, Mary becomes Oregon’s first female lawyer before the women of Oregon even have the right to vote—but her resilience and self-determination cannot bury the very burdens that have shaped her, and as the fractured parts of herself rise up in revolt, she is faced with the cost of ambition and the price of justice. playful online exchange becomes the gateway to a dangerous cycle of compulsion and self-doubt for otherwise upstanding Ben. Can he pull himself back before he loses everything that matters?

NOTE: IN-PERSON EVENT. This session is scheduled for 7 pm at Portland Playhouse, 602 NE Prescott St. The session will be in the conference room: Use the glass door near the southwest corner of the church. Admission will not occur prior to the reading. Masks are optional. Please see https://portlandplayhouse.org/COVID19 for more information about health and safety at the facility. The reading is free for attendees, but donations to offset our expenses are always appreciated.

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UPCOMING EVENTS

DEADLINE: MONDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2025
CO-PRODUCE WITH PDXP IN FERTILE GROUND 2026

We’re back with our next, all-new Festival Within the Festival as part of the Fertile Ground Festival of New Work in 2026! We’ve booked Chapel Theatre beginning April 13 and performances April 15-19 (the middle week of the festival) including our flagship Epic Shorts. The call for submissions to work with us is now open at: Apply to Co-Produce with PDXP in Fertile Ground 2026

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REGISTRATION OPEN
SCENARIO
Our generative playwriting and producing workshop and showcase will be returning to CoHo Theatre Feb. 2-8, 2026. Register here, and keep a weather eye on our website for additional information soon!

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TUESDAY, JANUARY 6 – PORTLAND PLAYHOUSE STUDIO
TO BE ANNOUNCED

Additional submissions are being reviewed by our team…

We have quite a few scripts under review or in the process of being scheduled or cast for our regular readings. This process takes time. If you have submitted a script, we thank you for your patience. That said, we continue to welcome additional script submissions to consider for our readings. If you are interested in submitting a script for consideration, whether a full-length, a one-act, or a 10-minute play, check out our guidelines: https://www.pdxplaywrights.org/wp/faq-playwrights/ … and then send it (or questions) to submit@pdxplaywrights.org!

In any case, we’ll see you soon.

From time to time, we may offer online gatherings as we used to do on a regular basis. We will update you as best we can with our newsletter and website and social media postings.

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PAST EVENTS

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2025
CUTTING BAIT and TIMBER AND SHADOW – by TIMOTHY KRAUSE

CUTTING BAIT: A playful online exchange becomes the gateway to a dangerous cycle of compulsion and self-doubt for otherwise upstanding Ben. Can he pull himself back before he loses everything that matters?

CONTENT ADVISORY: This play contains strong language and references to sex; recommended for mature audiences.

TIMBER AND SHADOW: In the frozen heart of the northern woods, 1895, the lumber camp at Shadow Creek churns through winter beneath towering pines and a sky heavy with snow. Life here is brutal—ax by day, whiskey by night, and a silence that presses in from the trees. Into this grim world comes Elias Brandt, a quiet, principled foreman with hopes of saving enough to buy a small farm and leave the woods behind. But hope is a fragile thing in a place like this.

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TUESDAY, OCTOBER 7 – PORTLAND PLAYHOUSE STUDIO
SKY KINGS – by ADAM HARRELL
Los Angeles, August 1981. During the air traffic controllers’ strike, teenage twins Argyle and Andy steal a 727 jetliner on a mysterious mission. Back on the ground, tower secretary Sandy fends off her bloodthirsty boss to keep them alive. As fighter jets close in and fuel runs low, their joyride erupts into a supernatural crisis that blurs the lines between earth and heaven. Part dark comedy, part aerial thriller, Sky Kings explores grief, toxic masculinity, and divine intervention at 35,000 feet in Reagan’s America.

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TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2 – PORTLAND PLAYHOUSE STUDIO
THEATER KIDS – by STAN MATTHEWS and THE TROUBLE WITH CROWS – by KEN HENRY

THEATER KIDS – by STAN MATTHEWS
When budget cuts and a mob-related bully threaten their high school drama club, a group of misfit theater kids employ Shakespeare and Dirty Harry to protect their turf.

THE TROUBLE WITH CROWS – by KEN HENRY
Something strange is happening at the P.A.L.M. During a typical summer, it has a reputation as a family motel where the weary-in-mind-and-body come for restoration. But Frank, the groundskeeper, has noticed it is attracting some uninvited and noisy guests: crows! While The Trouble With Crows is a one-act play about motel life, family dynamics, parenting, and trauma, it is also a nod to the mysterious communication of crows. An ode to Alfred Hitchcock? Perhaps.

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TUESDAY, AUGUST 5 – PORTLAND PLAYHOUSE STUDIO
THE VISIT – by ROMNEY HUMPHREY
Ten days after Maggie’s husband Gary died suddenly at 50, Gary’s high school girlfriend Sis knocks on the door. Lise, Maggie’s daughter, is intrigued and needy for stories about her father, with whom she was extraordinarily close. Maggie, self-contained, tries to protect Lise from Sis’ history and a baby she and Gary lost when they were 16. The question of Sis’ agenda and influence on Lise’s grieving process intersect in the difficult relationship between mother and daughter.

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TUESDAY, JULY 1 – PORTLAND PLAYHOUSE STUDIO
THE NEW NEIGHBORS – by ANTHONY ORKIN and 185 COWS – by PETER KORN
A set of slightly offbeat one-act plays by two playwrights highlight our July session:

THE NEW NEIGHBORS – by ANTHONY ORKIN
Jan and Woodrow are going to have a baby! Now if they can just get old Ty and Barb to move out of their house next door, Jan’s parents can buy it and babysit. The older couple does need to move, but is this how it should happen? A tale of Old Portland vs. New Portland, and the competition for living space.

185 COWS – by PETER KORN
A bartender and a customer find themselves waxing both philosophical and slightly bovine—for good reason.

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TUESDAY, JUNE 3 – PORTLAND PLAYHOUSE STUDIO
WRITE AND WRONG: THREE ONE-ACT VIGNETTES – by MARSHALL WELCH
Three short stage scenes explore how written words on a page shapes the lives of lonely, eccentric characters as they navigate the absurdities of their lives:

LEFTOVERS: Old friends gather at the landfill each Saturday morning with stale donuts and coffee spiked with Old Granddad whiskey where they ponder the meaning of life.

PANDORA’S BOX: Two friends from college meet at a coffee shop to reveal secrets and regrets.

VINCENT’S HAT: A lonely recluse engages in a conversation with an abandoned fedora on a park bench.

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TUESDAY, MAY 6 – PORTLAND PLAYHOUSE STUDIO
HARVEY AND CLAIRE – by WILLIAM LEVESQUE
The story of two elderly people who meet, fall in love and learn that it’s never too late to find joy.

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WEDNESDAY APRIL 9 – MONDAY, APRIL 14
THE FESTIVAL WITHIN THE FESTIVAL – by PDX PLAYWRIGHTS
Check out our fabulous lineup and range of shows April 9-14, most of which will be at Chapel Theatre. We have an additional show from our Scenario project at CoHo Theatre. All told, an amazing 23 stories, 19 playwrights, nine shows, two theatres and one squirrel!

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TUESDAY, MARCH 4 – PORTLAND PLAYHOUSE STUDIO
IF THESE WALLS COULD TALK – by MEG WILES
In a forgotten spare room in a derelict old house lives Wally, an ill-tempered ghost who has never been one for change. Kept company solely by the abandoned items of the past, Wally clings to the contents, memories, and shadows that inhabit her room. When the new homeowners decide to gut the house, Wally is thrust into turmoil as, item by item, her fondest “friends” are being ripped from her. What can you do when the past is deemed unimportant, the present holds no place for you, and the future promises only unpredictable change?

If These Walls Could Talk will be in our lineup at the Fertile Ground Festival of New Work!

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FEBRUARY 8-9 – COHO THEATRE
SCENARIO SHOWCASE – by PDX PLAYWRIGHTS
Our generative playwriting and producing workshop guided will be returning to CoHo Theatre Feb. 3-9, 2025. A presentation of the plays is concludes the Scenario experience with performances Saturday and Sunday, February 8 and 9, from 5 to 9 pm each day. During the showcase, participants will present a short piece in development. Each night features a banquet of innovated works, followed by a lively and deep conversation in which you, the audience members, are an essential ingredient. For more information, check out https://cohoproductions.org/

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TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 4 – PORTLAND PLAYHOUSE STUDIO
SHAKESPEARE IN THE DARK – by ADAM HARRELL
Irwin, a struggling theater director in the grips of an artistic slump and midlife crisis, must rediscover his creative spark when the ghost of William Shakespeare is sent by the theater gods to haunt his disastrous production of The Tempest. As fantasy, magic, and romance weave their way into his chaotic, way-off Broadway show, Irwin confronts his demons and learns to tell the story in his heart. Filled with star-crossed lovers, soliloquies, and the delightful chaos of a Shakespearean romp, this heartfelt new play celebrates the transformative power of storytelling.

Shakespeare in the Dark will be part of our upcoming Festival Within the Festival in April as part of the Fertile Ground Festival of New Works! Stay tuned for more details about this and other plays in our lineup.

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TUESDAY, JANUARY 28 – PORTLAND PLAYHOUSE STUDIO
PDXP FERTILE GROUND 2025 CO-PRODUCER ORIENTATION – presented by PDX PLAYWRIGHTS
We’re back with our next, all-new Festival Within the Festival as part of the Fertile Ground Festival of New Work in 2025! We’ve booked Chapel Theatre for load-in beginning April 7 and performances April 9-13, including our flagship Epic Shorts and a sample of work from Scenario. This meeting is expressly for co-producers in our Fertile Ground Festival Within the Festival lineup. Playwrights who received confirmation last month about their submissions to participate in the Fertile Ground Festival of New Works 2025 are required to attend this presentation designed to answer questions and set the stage for collaboration ahead of the events in April at Chapel Theatre. The call for submissions to work with PDXP this year as co-producers for “Non-Epic” shows is now closed, but stay tuned to our website and newsletter for more about our amazing lineup and for actor and director casting calls!

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TUESDAY, JANUARY 7 – PORTLAND PLAYHOUSE STUDIO
ONE-ACT WONDERS: SHORT PLAYS by MICHAEL MEYERS and BRAD BOLCHUNOS
We’re refining our dramaticaworks for our “Festival Within the Festival” in Fertile Ground 2025, including the following:

UNDERGROUND LIVE! – by MICHAEL MEYERS
Grieving strangers meet at a cemetery and help each other discover fitting ways to move on with their lives by performing unconventional tributes.

NERVOUS TRIPTYCH [EXCERPT] – by BRAD BOLCHUNOS
Among the short works in a trio of 10-minute plays:

• • IN THE BAG: Suspense unfolds in a city park where danger looms amid a peculiar bout of adult keep-away.

• • UP, UP, AND AWAY: A hot-air balloon pilot and her husband find themselves in a tiff with heightening emotions even as they strive for tranquility in the flight.

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TUESDAY, DECEMBER 3 – PORTLAND PLAYHOUSE STUDIO
FREEDOM [ACT II] – by Chari Smith
This rousing rock musical brings one of civilization’s most iconic tales to life, portraying the Hebrew prophet Moses not just as the destined leader of his people, but as a young man torn between royal privilege and stark injustice. Freedom reveals the untold emotional experiences of those who journeyed with him—from his mother’s heart-wrenching sacrifice to Pharaoh’s sinister ambitions—taking us on an emotional journey of love, loss, and liberation. This session presents the second act (we previously conducted a reading of the first act; a synopsis will be provided).

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See also Events 2024

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MORE ABOUT US

PDX Playwrights is a group for playwrights who want to meet, hear their scripts read aloud, and share feedback.

Typically we have 15-20 people — and sometimes more — at each meeting: playwrights, actors, and friends. Plays are usually read aloud by actors selected in advance, but sometimes rounded out by whomever is at the table that night.

Regular meetings:

First Tuesdays of the month

7 to 9 p.m.

When a meeting approaches, check our site (pdxplaywrights.org) for updated information.

Free – a hat will be passed virtually for optional donations to cover expenses: (Contributions via PayPal are conducted through our site at https://www.pdxplaywrights.org/wp/donate/ ). Thank you. We look forward to seeing you!