Some thoughts on a few of the shows running this weekend:

Third Rail Repertory, Grace
Third Rail produces yet another Craig Wright script, this one about a young evangelical couple who move from Minnesota to Florida and get involved in a shady hotel management scheme. I think I’m in the minority on this one, but I wasn’t terribly impressed with the script. Wright’s handling of faith/religion seemed heavy handed and simplistic—I kept picturing the playwright drawing a chart indicating that “this character represents blind faith, this one represents nihilism”—and because the characters were so obviously symbols being manipulated to show a kind of “faith spectrum,” I had a hard time investing in their circumstances.The show, however, is technically amazing, and worth seeing on that basis alone. You rarely see lighting and sound used to better effect in this town than in a Third Rail show, and the actors do a great job with their material.
Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center, 5340 N Interstate, 235-1101. thirdrailrep.org. $15-24. Thurs-Sat, 8 pm and Sun, 2 pm. Through Oct 27.

Portland Center Stage, Cabaret
Again, I seem to be the only one in town drinking the haterade. I thought Cabaret was all right; it should've been better. The moral of this story seems to be that the Holocaust was terrible and sad. Right, check, I was hoping for a little bit more. Storm Large does a damn good Liza impression, and I like Wade McCollum best when he's being creepy and pervy, but some of the other principles were pretty snoozy. The show has been extended through Nov. 11,
Gerding Theater, 128 NW 11th. $15-62. Tues-Sun, 7:30 pm, Sun, 2 pm and Thurs, noon. Through Nov 4.

Imago, Double Feature
I'm looking forward to seeing Double Feature this weekend, two one-acts written by Imago's Jerry Mouawad, who claims inspiration from the likes of Pinter, Beckett, and Philip k Dick. Jerry has kept us press folks up to date on his progress writing and directing the shows, here are a few of his thoughts:

'Serial Killer Parents' In the dress/preview performances we have been receiving good responses. Its been a fun mix of vaudeville and strange existentialism. Magic and cheap jokes mixed some profundity thrown in here and there. Working with Carol after so many years is like riding a bike. Our timing and movement sometimes click into place like an veteran comedy team. Even though the magic tricks were simple, they were difficult to arrange.

"The Father-thing' Snip, snip, snip. This piece has been on the cutting room floor. Since last Saturday I've cut 20 minutes and today I will cut some more. It's revealing how redundant my writing turned out to be. Couldn't really see that until it had a run-through. I'm adding lines here and there, changing endings here and there - you be the judge. It's an unusual piece - neither sci-fi, or dance, or movement theatre - somewhere on that tangent.

Profile Theatre, Six Degrees of Separation
I absolutely love that Profile Theater tackles the work of a different playwright each season. It feels very grounded to me, learning about a playwright and their life, getting a sense of history and context. This season, it's the John Guare catalogue. First up, Six Degrees of Separation, about a young man who claims to be the son of Sydney Poitier.
$20-28. Thurs-Sat, 8 pm and Sun, 2 pm. Through Nov 11.