OPS Fest brings no-cost repertory Shakespeare to parks and venues all over the Portland Metro area. The company uses the original practice techniques of Elizabethan England: limited rehearsal, scrolls in hand, audience interaction, and an onstage prompter.

In Shakespeare's Era, the audience knew the actors had not rehearsed and that the only context each had of the play was their own role on a scroll. The play was as fresh to the actors as the audience.

In our company, you'll NEVER see the same cast do the same play in the same way. Because Shakespeare should be a little dangerous!

Schedule:

Thursday, June 22, 2023

9:00pm: A Midsommer Nights Dreame - Mt Tabor Summit

Hermia loves Lysander (requitedly). Helena loves Demetrius (unrequitedly). Pucke (a fairy) accidentally makes Lysander and Demetrius love Helena. Chaos ensues. King Oberon bespells Queen Titania to love an actor transformed into an ***. The fairies reconcile. Pucke fixes the spells (except Demetrius). Everyone gets married and watches a terrible play.

Friday, June 23, 2023

7:00pm: Macbeth - Luuwit View Park

Scottish lords Macbeth and Banquo meet witches who predict Macbeth will be King and Banquo father of kings. Lady Macbeth persuades Macbeth to kill King Duncan. Prince Malcolm escapes and Macbeth takes the throne. Macbeth orders Banquo killed. Lady Macbeth goes mad. Malcolm raises an English army that defeats Macbeth.

Saturday, June 24, 2023

7:00pm: Measure for Measure - Lents Park

Lord Angelo takes over Vienna while the Duke's in disguise, and sentences Claudio to death for an out-of-wedlock tryst. Nun-in-training Isabella, Claudio's sister, begs Angelo for mercy and gets propositioned. She and the Duke-In-Disguise trick Angelo with a bedroom switcheroo, save Claudio with an execution switcheroo, and justice is served..?

Friday, June 30, 2023

7:00pm: Winter's Tale - Cathedral Park

Leontes thinks Hermione is stepping out with Polixenes. Hermione’s not. Hermione dies (or not?). Their child Perdita is abandoned (or not?). Turns out Hermione doesn’t and Perdita’s not. Autolicus cons. Leontes repents. Perdita marries a prince. Everyone lives happily ever after. Except for Antigonus. Antigonus gets eaten by a bear. 

Saturday, July 1, 2023

7:00pm: Romeo and Juliet - Cathedral Park

The Capulets and Montagues hate one another. Romeo (Montague) sneaks into a Capulet party and meets Juliet (Capulet). They marry in secret. Juliet's cousin challenges Romeo. Romeo kills him and is banished. Juliet fakes her death. Romeo doesn't realise, takes poison, and dies beside her. Juliet wakes and stabs herself.

Sunday, July 2, 2023

7:00pm: Richard II - Cathedral Park

Young King Richard flaunts wealth and power. When Richard exiles Bullingbrooke and seizes the ancestral land, dissension brews. While Richard is at war in Ireland, Bullingbrooke marches on England. Faced with an overwhelming force, Richard abdicates. Plots against the new king are hatched and Richard is executed, sort of accidentally.

Thursday, July 6, 2023

7:00pm: The Tempest - Laurelhurst Park

Shipwreck, romance, treason, revenge, spirits, clowns, song, and dance create a perfect storm of fantasy. Years ago, Prospero and daughter  were shipwrecked on an island. Twelve years later, a “storm” brings their enemies. With the help of sprite Ariel, Prospero manipulates plots, bringing them happily together before giving up magic.

Friday, July 7, 2023

7:00pm: Two Gentlemen of Verona - Laurelhurst Park

Protheus loves Julia. Valentine travels. Valentine loves Sylvia. Speed loves bed. Launce loves a dog. Protheus changes his mind, loves Sylvia, betrays Valentine, betrays Julia, betrays Thurio, and generally acts like a privileged child. Valentine, banished, becomes outlaw king. Julia dresses as a boy. Protheus is foiled and forgiven. Weddings.

Saturday, July 8, 2023

7:00pm: As You Like It - Laurelhurst Park

Frederick exiled the rightful Duke to the Forest of Arden. Orlando's brother won't raise him right. Orlando and Rosalind fall in love. Frederick banishes Rosalind. The girls escape to Arden (Rosalind cross-dressed). Rosalind gets Orlando to pretend she/he is Rosalind and woo her. A god appears and performs many marriages.

Sunday, July 9, 2023

7:00pm: Henry IV, pt 1 - Laurelhurst Park

King Henry IV faces a rebellion led by the Mortimers and Percys, while crown prince Hal parties, jokes, and drinks with Sir John Falstaff and his low-life cronies. At the Battle of Shrewsbury, fierce Hotspur leads the rebel’s charge. Hal kills Hotspur, Falstaff acts cowardly, and Henry IV’s forces win. IT'S A COMEDY!

Wednesday, July 12, 2023

11:00am: Midsommer Abridged - Gateway Discovery Park

Hermia loves Lysander (requitedly). Helena loves Demetrius (unrequitedly). Pucke (a fairy) accidentally makes Lysander and Demetrius love Helena. Chaos ensues. King Oberon bespells Queen Titania to love an actor transformed into an ***. The fairies reconcile. Pucke fixes the spells (except Demetrius). Everyone gets married and watches a terrible play.

Thursday, July 13, 2023

7:00pm: Julius Caesar - Laurelhurst Park

War, conspiracy, omens, assassination, and a ghost. The too ambitious Caesar is killed by a group of high-ranking political conspirators led by Brutus and Cassius. Fleeing Rome, they are defeated in battle by Antony and Octavius, Caesar's heir; but it's only after the battle that the bodies start piling up...

Friday, July 14, 2023

7:00pm: Antony and Cleopatra - Laurelhurst Park

Antonie just wants to love on Cleopatra, but politics keep pulling back to Rome. First the wife starts a war, then there's a pirate harassing the shore, then Octavius Caesar just. won't. stop. So many battles. Can love win out, or will everyone end up dead? Hint: it's a tragedy.

Saturday, July 15, 2023

7:00pm: Loves Labour's Lost - Laurelhurst Park

Forgetting the French Princess is arriving soon, King Ferdinand and friends swear off women,  The courtiers are smitten. Letters are sent and confused. Berowne reasons ways out of the oath. The French court departs, but will return in one year to marry the King and courtiers… if they prove worthy.

Sunday, July 16, 2023

7:00pm: Henry IV, pt 2 - Laurelhurst Park

As King Henry's health wanes, Hal is feeling the call to take up the crown. But what does this mean for Falstaffe? Sure, he's a "war hero" now - but the war isn't over and his excesses aren't waning. Will Hal's ascension to the throne be the key to easy street or his ticket to the gallows

Thursday, July 20, 202

6:30pm: Romeo and Juliet Abridged - Pio Pio Park, Beaverton

The Capulets and Montagues hate one another. Romeo (Montague) sneaks into a Capulet party and meets Juliet (Capulet). They marry in secret. Juliet's cousin challenges Romeo. Romeo kills him and is banished. Juliet fakes her death. Romeo doesn't realise, takes poison, and dies beside her. Juliet wakes and stabs herself.

Friday, July 21, 2023

7:00pm: All's Well That Ends Well - Irving Park

Hellena unrequitedly loves Bertram. She cures the king, winning Bertram’s hand. Bertram refuses and leaves for war with braggart Parolles and prankster soldiers. Attempts to seduce a virgin fail when Hellena secretly takes her place, thus consummating marriage. Back home, she reveals all. Bertram suddenly loves her. All ends well.

Saturday, July 22, 2023

7:00pm: Twelfe Night - Irving Park

Orsino loves Olivia (unrequitedly). Twins, Viola and Sebastian, are shipwrecked. Viola cross-dresses, works for Orsino, and Olivia falls in love with her/him. Olivia's household trick Malvolio into thinking Olivia loves him. Olivia (confused) marries Sebastian. The twins reunite, Malvolio's gulling and Viola's gender are revealed, and Orsino proposes to Viola.

Sunday, July 23, 2023

7:00pm: Henry V - Irving Park

Hal’s all grown up! The Dauphin mocks Hal with tennis balls. War starts between England and France. Meanwhile, Falstaffe's dead, so Pistoll takes over. Buddies Bardolph and Nym get hanged for stealing, and Pistoll is force-fed a leek. Henry wins the war, but must now woo a wife. In French.

Thursday, July 27, 2023

7:00pm: Taming of the Shrew - Irving Park

Baptista’s daughter Bianca is beset with suitors… but can’t marry until after her shrewish sister Katherina. Bianca’s suitors pay the roguish Petruchio to marry Katherina, who works to tame his new wife’s wild tongue. Bianca’s suitors squabble (often in disguise), and Katherina returns to her sister’s wedding a perfect wife.

Friday, July 28, 2023

7:00pm: King Lear - Irving Park

Lear’s retiring and divides up his kingdom. Regan gets half. Gonerril gets half. Cordelia gets banished. Kent gets banished, but sticks around anyways (in disguise!). Edmund the ******* stages a coup, alongside Goneril and Regan. Lear is cast out. Cordelia rides to Lear’s rescue. All your favorite characters die.

Saturday, July 29, 2023

7:00pm: A Midsommer Nights Dreame - Irving Park

Hermia loves Lysander (requitedly). Helena loves Demetrius (unrequitedly). Pucke (a fairy) accidentally makes Lysander and Demetrius love Helena. Chaos ensues. King Oberon bespells Queen Titania to love an actor transformed into an ***. The fairies reconcile. Pucke fixes the spells (except Demetrius). Everyone gets married and watches a terrible play.

Sunday, July 30, 2023

7:00pm: Henry VI, pt 1 - Irving Park

Thursday, August 3, 2023

7:00pm: Comedie of Errors - Cully Park

Two sets of identical twins, masters (Antipholus) and servants (Dromio), were separated by shipwreck. Antipholus of Syracuse arrives in Ephesus and Adriana mistakes him for her husband (E.Antipholus).. S.Antipholus gets a gold chain E.Antipholus ordered, but then E.Antipholus is arrested for not paying. Confusion reigns until Antipholus' parents are found.

Friday, August 4, 2023

7:00pm: Much Adoe About Nothing - Washington Park Amphitheatre

Mix together one dead father (now a ghost), a mother that quickly marries your murderous uncle, a complicated love life, two sycophantic childhood chums, a company of actors, a duel, poison, murder, madness, and the skull of a dead clown. Add pirates. Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.

Saturday, August 5, 2023

7:00pm: The Tragedie of Hamlet - Washington Park Amphitheatre

The Prince visits Leonato with his evil brother John. Beatrice and Benedick feud. Claudio plans to marry Hero. Folks gull Beatrice and Benedick into thinking the other loves him/her. John makes Hero appear unfaithful. Claudio spurns her at the alter. Hero fakes her death. John's plot is revealed. Everybody marries.

Thursday, August 10, 2023

7:00pm: Cymbeline - FIRST NIGHT! - Mt Tabor Amphitheatre

Friday, August 11, 2023

7:00pm: Othello - Mt Tabor Amphitheatre

Othello promotes Cassio, bypassing Iago. Othello marries Desdemona without parental permission. Iago, seeking revenge, plots against Othello. Cassio gets drunk and brawls, resulting in his dismissal. Desdemona pleads with Othello on Cassio’s behalf. Iago convinces Othello Desdemona is having an affair. Othello smothers Desdemona. Aemelia dies. Othello dies. Iago doesn’t.

Saturday, August 12, 2023

7:00pm: Merry Wives of Windsor - Mt Tabor Amphitheatre

Falstaffe woos two wives simultaneously hoping they will shower their husbands’ money on him. Discovering this, they teach him a lesson using their wits and a jealous husband.  Meanwhile, three suitors compete for Anne who, defying her parents, chooses for herself. All plots uncovered in a fairy filled finale.

Sunday, August 13, 2023

7:00pm: Richard III - Mt Tabor Amphitheatre

After years of civil war, England is ruled by Yorkist Edward IV. His brother, Richard, coveting the throne, has his brother Clarence, nephews, wife, enemies, and friends killed on the way to ultimate power. At the Battle of Bosworth, he is defeated by the Tudor Richmond, who becomes Henry VII.

Saturday, August 19, 2023

7:00pm: Romeo and Juliet - Veterans' Park, Sherwood

The Capulets and Montagues hate one another. Romeo (Montague) sneaks into a Capulet party and meets Juliet (Capulet). They marry in secret. Juliet's cousin challenges Romeo. Romeo kills him and is banished. Juliet fakes her death. Romeo doesn't realise, takes poison, and dies beside her. Juliet wakes and stabs herself.

Thursday, August 24, 2023

7:00pm: Apprentice/Intern Showcase - Mt Tabor Amphitheatre

Friday, August 25, 2023

7:00pm: The Tempest (The Gentlethem's Show) - Mt Tabor Amphitheatre

Shipwreck, romance, treason, revenge, spirits, clowns, song, and dance create a perfect storm of fantasy. Years ago, Prospero and daughter  were shipwrecked on an island. Twelve years later, a “storm” brings their enemies. With the help of sprite Ariel, Prospero manipulates plots, bringing them happily together before giving up magic.

Saturday, August 26, 2023

7:00pm: Antony and Cleopatra (The Gentlewomen's Show) - Mt Tabor Amphitheatre

Antonie just wants to love on Cleopatra, but politics keep pulling back to Rome. First the wife starts a war, then there's a pirate harassing the shore, then Octavius Caesar just. won't. stop. So many battles. Can love win out, or will everyone end up dead? Hint: it's a tragedy.

Sunday, August 27, 2023

7:00pm: Macbeth (The Gentlemen's Show) - Mt Tabor Amphitheatre

Scottish lords Macbeth and Banquo meet witches who predict Macbeth will be King and Banquo father of kings. Lady Macbeth persuades Macbeth to kill King Duncan. Prince Malcolm escapes and Macbeth takes the throne. Macbeth orders Banquo killed. Lady Macbeth goes mad. Malcolm raises an English army that defeats Macbeth.

Date: Thursday, June 22, 2023 - Sunday, August 27, 2023

Locations:

Mt Tabor Summit, South East Harvey Scott Circle, Portland, OR 97215.
Lents Park, 4808 SE 92nd Ave, Portland, OR 97266.
Cathedral Park, North Bradford Street And Baltimore Avenue, Portland, OR 97203.
Luuwit View Park, NE 127th Avenue and NE Fremont Street, Portland, OR 97230.
Cully Park, 5810 NE 72nd Ave, Portland, OR 97220.
Irving Park, 707 NE Fremont St, Portland, OR 97212.
Laurelhurst Park, SE Cesar E Chavez Blvd & Stark St, Portland, OR 97214.
Gateway Discovery Park, 10520 NE Halsey St, Portland, OR 97220.
Mt Tabor Amphitheatre, South East Salmon Street, Portland, OR 97215.
Washington Park Amphitheater, 410 SW Kingston Ave, Portland, OR 97205
Pío Pío Park, 2135 SW 187th Ave, Beaverton, OR 97006
Veterans' Memorial Park, 22547 SW Main St, Sherwood, OR 97140

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