Portland Experimental Theatre Ensemble

Productionpete produces up to two full theatrical productions a season as well as at least one workshop in Portland, or. We create each work through a collaborative process utilizing performance composition techniques. While every production defines its own aesthetic needs, our work is marked by an interest in rigor, physical storytelling and notions of psychological surrealism. All performances are open to the public and our audiences range from 100 for a weekend workshop to 600-850 for a three-week run. Our work is supported by grants, individual donations, commissions and ticket sales. Since 2011, pete has produced 18 full productions (r3: after shakespeare, song of the dodo, the three sisters, enter the night, drowned horse tavern, all well, or the whale, procedures for saying no, deception unit, uncle vanya, how to learn, our ruined house, beckett women, weather room, fronteriza, the cherry orchard, the americans, cardiac organ).

Trainingpete runs a training center in contemporary performance (institute for contemporary performance/icp). We teach multiple community classes in performance training and two intensives per year covering the viewpoints, suzuki, as well as linklater voice, composition techniques and Ensemble building. In the fall of 2015, we started a year-long training program in contemporary performance geared towards training young artists in making new work for the theater. 2023 marks our eighth year of enrollment with 12 students. Pete also runs a high-school devised Theatre program, bringing high school students from demographically different backgrounds together to create performance that generates dialogue across difference, impacting 125-200 students per year.