Abby and Zack are newlyweds subletting an apartment in the Belleville area of Paris. She’s a yoga instructor and he’s a physician with Doctor Without Borders. Their life is idyllic, if not especially noteworthy. That is until Abby walks in on Zack with his pants literally around his ankles.
As she starts pulling at little threads having to do with how Zack spends his day, BELLEVILLE builds toward a climax that asks if we can ever truly know another person. This sexy, funny, scary, and tense pseudo-thriller from one of America’s hottest new playwrights will unnerve as quickly as it entertains.
OPB’s State of Wonder
Pair your experience at Belleville with a meal at The Bent Brick
Ticket holders to Belleville will receive a special offer at the fantastic restaurant, The Bent Brick (NW 16th and Marshall). Let your server know you are going to see or have seen Belleville at Third Rail and receive a 10% discount on your meal!
The Bent Brick hours:
Tuesday-Sunday 5-9pm Happy Hour:
Tuesday- Saturday 5-6 pm
Sunday 5-9pm
Tommy crashes in a room in his uncle’s house, does odd-jobs here and there, tries get-rich-quick schemes with his buddy, Doc, and keeps his ex-wife and kids at arm’s length. Then one night, he defends a young woman from a violent act, a choice which fills both their lives with unexpected consequences. Mystery lies around every corner and they soon find out the past won’t let go so easily. This play is a joyous, frightening, funny, and ultimately gorgeous meditation on the possibility of redemption. An amazing new work by one of the great writers and poets of the theatre.
Last year Third Rail made a splash at the holidays with our record-setting production of NOISES OFF, which many consider the funniest play written in the past 25 years. This year we’re at it again with perhaps the funniest American play of the past 25 years: Charles Ludlam’s quick change romp, THE MYSTERY OF IRMA VEP.
Two actors play all the roles in this hilarious send up of Victorian melodrama, farce, 50’s horror movies, Wuthering Heights, and Hitchcock’s Rebecca. With elaborate quick changes performed in mere seconds, wildly absurd characters, and an absolute distaste for anything serious, IRMA VEP should be the perfect gut-busting escape from all that holiday noise!
GRAB A BITE AT NEL CENTRO BEFORE THE SHOW!
Ticket holders to Irma Vep will receive a special coupon to the fabulous restaurant nel centro (located just a quick walk from the Winningstad). You’ll receive $10 off when you order two or more entrees in the main dining room the night of the performance. (Your coupon will come with your ticket order.) Thanks nel centro!
We open our season with a play Third Rail has been dying to produce since it was the hit of Portland Center Stage’s 2009 JAW Festival, MIDDLETOWN by Will Eno. The residents of Middletown lead lives that are probably not too different from ours. They wake up, go to work, say hello to their neighbors, fix the plumbing, seek advice on parenting, and try to live lives that are as rewarding as possible. It’s all fairly ordinary. And yet…ordinary doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of this quirky, word-frenzied, refraction of OUR TOWN. MIDDLETOWN is a quizzical fable about life in all its sweetness and pain, joy and wonder, beginnings and endings.
The mission of Third Rail Repertory Theatre is to provide a dynamic artistic home for theatre audiences in Portland by fostering a professional local company, which, through collaboration and discipline, brings to life exceptional stories that provoke dialogue, encourage empathy, and inspire curiosity.
