Last night at the Armory, Portland Center Stage announced the lineup for their 2012/2013 season.

Season opener: Sweeney Todd. Yay. I think this show is fun.

A Midsummer Night's Dream, maybe you've heard of it.

I Love to Eat, based on the life of James Beard. (Cool.) "PCS will join with Portland’s nationally-recognized food community to honor our homegrown culinary star," which hopefully means free food.

The Whipping Man, a period piece about black Jews in the aftermath of the Civil War.

The 2011 Pulitzer prize winner Clybourne Park, about gentrification in Chicago.

Ella the Musical—self explanatory.

The Body of an American, a play about a war reporter that was workshopped at JAW.

Lungs, a two-character drama about stressed out white people.

And The Peoples' Republic of Portland, a world premiere by Lauren Weedman (whose BUST I didn't much care for last year, though everyone else seemed to love it).

Portland is gathering lots of attention lately — for our sustainability leadership; for our food scene; for being, well, weird. And now we’ve caught the attention of Lauren Weedman, actor/writer of last season’s BUST. In the few months she spent here in the spring of 2011, Lauren’s imagination was also captured by all things Portland, and so we’ve asked her to write a play. About Portland. How will this former Daily Show faux-spondent treat us? What does Portland look like through Weedman’s unique lens? Are we brave enough to find out?

**shudder**

All told, though, that's actually a pretty intriguing lineup—a nice mix of big crowd pleasers and new work. Is this excitement I'm feeling? I think it is!