Straight from the Harry Potter books and movies comes the Portland Quidditch League and Keep Quidditch Weird, the first official U.S. Quidditch tournament in the Portland area.
The movie game features two teams of seven players riding flying broomsticks, with players throwing balls (Quaffle, two Bludgers, Golden Snitch) into six ring-shaped goals that sit atop poles on each side of the pitch.
(Note: Participants do not fly on broomsticks, they move by feet, carrying a stick between their legs).
The success of the Northwest Fantasy II tournament in August allowed the league to start the Quidditch tournament.
There will be six official teams, and one mercenary team of unaffiliated players:
Emerald City Admirals (Seattle), Portland Augureys (Portland, Vancouver, Wash.); Rain City Raptors (Bellingham, Wash., Seattle); Silicon Valley Vipers (San Jose, Calif.), Skyfighters Quidditch Club (Palo Alto, Calif.), Western Washington University Wyverns (Bellingham, Wash.) and the mercenary team.
The tournament will be held 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 5, on the soccer field at the south side of 53rd Avenue Community Park in Hillsboro, 300 N.E. 53rd Ave.
For more info, see Keep Quidditch Weird on Facebook.
Re-creating radio
The stage show 1941 Christmas From Home returns this year, as part of a five-year series developed by Ralph Radio Theatre and written by Pat Kruis Tellinghusen.
The show re-creates live radio shows produced during World War II; its set in Portland, December 1941, just days after the Pearl Harbor attacks, and station performers put together a special show to be recorded and rebroadcast to troops far from home on Christmas Day, including a live band, local stories, songs, sketches and ads. Eight local actors are involved.
The sentiments expressed in our play transcend the generations, says Kimberly Poe, producer/director. The excellent script captures a moment in time with clarity and sensitivity as the U.S. goes to war in 1941.
The show ran for 10 years and earned a Drammy Award in 2003.
There are evening and matinee performances, Dec. 2-13, at Clinton Street Theater, 2522 S.E. Clinton St. ($15-$20 tickets, www.ralphradiotheatre.com or www.cstpdx.com).
Ralph Radio Theatre was founded in memory of the late Ralph Steadman, longtime Portland radio personality.
Read all about it
Travel Portland has launched its third annual Portland Is Happening Now winter tourism campaign, which this year includes 30 never-before-released zines small and self-published guides to promote the campaign and Portland.
With Portland a hotbed of zine publishing, it only makes sense for Travel Portland to feature the cool little booklets, which have hand-drawn illustrations and thoughtful titles, as well as maps, photography and itineraries.
There are so many ways to experience Portland, and we are excited to share insights from local writers and artists about what makes the city stand out as a travel destination, says Jeff Miller, Travel Portland CEO and president, in a news release.
The campaign kicked off last week with destination zines highlighting Portlands quirks, iconic stops and cant-miss experiences. Topics include how to ride a bike in the rain, where to find Portlands best pizza slices, and how to drink beer like a feminist.
More zines will be released in December.
Zines can be accessed at www.TravelPortland.com/zines.
End of ZooZoo
A heads-up Imago Theatre plans a final Portland run of ZooZoo, its popular mask theater play, Dec. 11 through Jan. 3. Jerry Mouawad and Carol Triffle began the mask theater in 1979, and Frogz and ZooZoo became big hits. But its time to do something else, they say, after experimenting with other forms of theater last season three Harold Pinter works and working on their next big show, La Belle, The Lost World of the Automaton, a version of Beauty and the Beast. It opens in December 2016, and showcases Imagos stagecraft, puppetry, theater work and original songs.
For more: www.imagotheatre.com.