For the second straight year, Portland Playback is partnering with Spirits Alive to bring some of Portland’s historic ghosts back to life.

Join us for an evening walk through Eastern Cemetery and listen to them recall tales of their lives in Portland–and deaths on the high seas.  This year, selected spirits were taken in tragic shipwrecks.  They come from the past and the briny deep to bring you a message.  What is it?  You’ll have to walk among the shadows to find out.

Actors from Portland Playback will be channeling these spirits October 20, 21, and 22 (Thursday, Friday, Saturday) from 6:30-7:30.  Tours leave every 15 minutes; $10 at the gate, and $5 for kids under 12.  Proceeds go to preserve Eastern Cemetery.

Get more information at www.spiritsalive.org.

Portland Playback Theatre Co. is delighted to announce our participation in bringing to life some very interesting characters stitched into the history of Yarmouth Maine.  We are the recipients of a grant from Yarmouth Arts to re-enact some of the stories found in Yarmouth’s historical houses and places.

Find out about Thomas Greene – first Baptist minister – who moolighted as Yarmouth’s physician, And who murdered Margaret Williams and why did it take so long to solve that mystery? And why did Henry Haley hang himself from the mill tower? Come for a tour and treats October 29th and 30th!

Find out about getting tickets here. 

Dear friends of Portland Playback,

Our First Friday theme for October 7 is Facing Fear. Our internal alarm system serves us well, but sometimes fear itself is our greatest challenge. As a matter of cold fact, Fear, with a capital F, may be the most fundamental emotional background of what we are as human beings.

Do you have a story of a time when fear was front and center? We bet you do. Come and share your story – or just come to witness.

Portland Playback Theatre is now in its sixth year and has “played back” hundreds of stories. If you haven’t had your story improvisationally enacted you’re really missing something!

Friday, October 7, 7:30 PM at CTN5, right next to MECA, at 516 Congress Street.

$5 at the door

Greetings Playback Fans!
It is so much fun being in our new space at 516 Congress Street, CTN5, right next to MECA. August 5th’s First Friday theme is “Dating Stories from Heaven and Hell.” My personal worst was a date with an angry coed, when we went to see a harpsichordist who kept complaining of a terrible toothache. It was a very tinny, painful experience. But I bet you can top that. Now my dream date, well….
If you haven’t had one of your stories played back yet, you’re really missing something. Come on in! Bring a friend! 7:30 PM, Friday August 5th.

Portland Playback is moving! But not far …

Our monthly First Friday performances will now be held at CTN5, the community television network studio at 516 Congress Street, right next door to the Maine College of Art. This move will land us right into the middle of the First Friday arts district scene. The move will also provide us with professional theater lighting. (Hurray!) Although we anticipate collaborating with CTN on some video projects, our performances remain live and unrecorded.

Please join us for our first performance at CTN on Friday July 1st. Our theme will be “Bloopers” – stories of your favorite goof-ups and faux pas. Bring a friend! Remember, we’re nothing without you and the stories from your life!

7:30 p.m., just $7 at the door.

First Friday, May 6

Growing Up: Its Joys and Torments.

This month’s theme is Growing Up. Our memories of childhood range from the sublime to the ridiculous. When did you realize you’d turned the corner from childhood to being a “grown up”? Or what times have challenged you to think if you’d grown up at all? Grow up all over again with Portland Playback.

Every month Portland Playback Theater puts five talented actors at your disposal to play back the moments of your life, unrehearsed and on the spot. Now in our sixth year, we have brought hundreds of audience stories back to life. Find out more at www.portlandplayback.com.

We perform at the First Parish Church, at the intersection of Congress and Temple (just up from the Nickelodeon). Friday, May 6 at 7:30.

$7 suggested donation

Greetings Friends of Playback,

Ouch! Love hurts! But along with the inevitable agonies, what bliss! In honor of Valentines Day, Portland Playback Theatre once again honors stories of romantic love, even though the steam has barely evaporated from our last trist with this theme last February!

This Friday, February 4th at 7:30PM at the First Parish Church (at the intersection of Congress and Temple (just up the street from the Nickelodeon Cinema. Bring a story from your life. Experience the unique satisfaction of watching it performed! Or just come to enjoy! As always with affairs of the heart, you’ll be spellbound!

Bring a friend! Just $7 at the door.

Timepiece, a new reader’s theater company started by Portland Playback Artistic Director David LaGraffe, is putting on a production of two cherished Christmas classics–A Child’s Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas and A Christmas Memory by Truman Capote.  Celebrate the holiday season with these rich, warm tales enjoyed by children and adults alike.  Just $10 at the door.

Cathedral of St. Luke, 143 State Street, Portland

Friday, December 10, 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, December 11, 2:30 and 7:30 p.m.

Email David for more information.

Join us for our annual honoring of your best–and worst–holiday moments.  Diving catches for Thanksgiving turkey?  Surprising Christmas gifts?  Family memories?  we’ve performed them all, and more.  Please come to add your story to the mix and see it played back on the spot.

First Friday, December 3, 7:30 p.m., First Parish Church, corner of Temple and Congress, Portland