
Fertile Ground Festival
New works of local theater, dance and comedy fill Portland's stages every year.
Oregon Arts Watch
Portland’s Fertile Ground Festival is a Fringe-style theater festival with a unique spin: it’s an un-juried festival that highlights exciting new work by local artists and performers. Produced by the nonprofit Portland Area Theater Alliance (PATA), this annual festival will return to PDX from April 4-19, 2025.

Credit: Owen Carey
This year, 64 performance projects are featured across 27 venues in the Portland Metro area. Offerings include site-specific theater, dance, solo performances, aerial shows, puppetry, and brand-new scripts from Portland playwrights.
Each year, there is way more to see than one person can manage — though you can try, with the purchase of an unlimited pass or passes that allow viewing of 6 or 10 shows — and stumbling into something on your own that turns out to be fabulous is part of the fun. It also offers an opportunity to experience a variety of local performance spaces, including CoHo Theatre, 21ten Theatre and the Back Door Theater (operated by Fuse Theatre Ensemble), which is presenting a lineup of exclusively LGBTQ+ creators, as well as more than 20 other locations.
If you like your performance arts like you like your produce — locally sourced and partially raw — then you’re sure to enjoy the Fertile Ground Festival’s bounty.
Fertile Ground Events
Explore the Fertile Ground Festival with these upcoming events.
Hit the Stage
Explore more of Portland's vibrant performing arts scene.
Portland Theater
Portland has a well-established network of venues and theater companies and an increasingly dynamic and diverse small theater scene.
Comedy in Portland
There’s always something funny happening in Portland. From stand-up comedy to improv or even comedy classes Portland has any kind of comedy you may be looking for. Portland boasts many stages to bring you fresh, up-and-coming, and touring comedians.
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