Portland, Mainenew england charm

Portland’s largest professional theater is Portland Stage Company, a well-regarded regional theater outfit known for staging new and innovative works as well as more crowd-pleasing favorites. The group’s production space off Congress Street has a grand, 288-seat main theater, along with a 75-feet thrust stage that has the feel of a dramatist’s laboratory. Productions have included Yasmina Reza’s Tony-winning God of Carnage and a premiere by poet and Pushcart Prize-winning playwright Gregory Hischak, plus standards such as Julius Caesar and A Christmas Carol. The annual and popular Little Festival of the Unexpected presents staged readings of new works by emerging playwrights each spring. In the winter, the From Away Festival is a short theater fest bringing the work of international playwrights to American audiences.