Portland Center Stage

Announcing the 2026 JAW Community Artist Labs! If you're interested in learning more about the art of storytelling on stage, these labs are for you!

Explore writing a musical with Holly Harmon & Lolly Ward on July 25, or learn about wielding sharp humor for maximum impact with Mylan Gray on July 26.

Community Artist Labs are free and open to the public, but space is limited. Participants will be chosen by random lottery. Email education(at)pcs.org by July 22 to let us know which lab(s) you'd like to attend. All lottery entrants will be notified by July 24.

Join us for the 2026 JAW New Play Festival—a PCS summer tradition since 1999!

Every July, JAW brings artistic teams including playwrights, directors, actors, and dramaturgs, together to workshop and rehearse new plays for one week. It's like summer camp for theater nerds, and we never want it to end! This year we're pleased to welcome writers Holly Harmon & Lolly Ward, Mylan Gray, a.k. payne, Phillip Christian Smith, and a host of emerging writers in the Teen Playwrights Showcase.

The final piece of the process (aka “The Big Weekend”), brings in our community for 3 days of new play readings. Not only do audiences get to experience groundbreaking work in its earliest stages, but the playwrights gain invaluable insight from hearing their work in front of an audience (often for the very first time). PLUS, it's all FREE and open to the public!

Check out the full new play line up below, and RSVP for the readings here: https://forms.gle/ZRTWR24syZPsWrp7A
(RSVPs are requested but not required to attend)

Stay tuned — we'll be announcing more JAW events soon!