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In Hillsboro, Bag & Baggage Productions had a hum-ble beginning. The name says it all. Artistic Director Scott Palmer says Bag & Baggage was formed in 2005 as a touring company that would visit smaller Oregon cities, including Astoria, Salem, Corvallis and Hood River. The idea was to produce professional-level theater.

“We arrived in those communities with everything we needed in our bags and baggage,” recalls Palmer. About three years ago, Bag & Baggage became the resident performing arts group at the Venetian Theatre on Main Street in Hillsboro. Bag & Baggage performs four shows a year at the Venetian.

The company also performs outdoor summer Shakespeare at the Tom Hughes Civic Center Plaza. according to Palmer, the plaza is “a really cool, sort of urban, outdoor location for Shakespeare. It’s not the tra-ditional green, grassy field that you would imagine when you think of outdoor Shakespeare. It’s much cooler and much trendier.”

Bag & Baggage performs text-based classics by well-known playwrights, including Oscar Wilde, Arthur Miller and Tennessee Williams. Palmer likes to offer plays with a provocative twist.

“We tend to tell people that you should come to see a classic, but don’t expect to see the classic your mama told you about. This is going to be a different take on these great classic works,” notes Palmer.

Bag & Baggage is a professional theater company; actors, directors, designers and stage managers are paid. Palmer says,

“We’re very proud of our commitment to ensuring that our artists are paid a competitive wage for the region,” he says. “We have a requirement that all of our actors and all of our artists are professionals.”

Palmer says funding for the nonprofit Bag & Baggage comes from ticket sales, grants, corporate sponsors and individual donations. According to Palmer, “We believe that Bag and Baggage, and professional theater, should play a really significant role in the growth of our com-munity.”

If you love musicals, you’re probably already familiar with Broadway Rose Theatre Company productions because what began as a shoestring operation back in 1992 is now in its 20th season.

The husband and wife team of Sharon Maroney and Dan Murphy, after working in theater on the East Coast, decided to bring the musical experience to Tigard’s Deb Fennell auditorium at Tigard High School. The Broadway Rose mission, says Maroney, producing artistic director,

is “to invigorate audiences, and enrich our communities with unparalleled musical theater experiences.” Founding General Manager Murphy says the percep-tion may be that all the talent comes from out of town. But, he adds, “Sharon works diligently at beating the bushes to find local talent. We did an incredible produc-tion of ‘The King and I’ and we brought one guy in, and the other 55 cast members were all here locally.” The intimate seating arrangement at the 600-seat Deb Fennell is a far cry from huge musical production venues in major cities. Murphy says, “People should not have to bring binoculars to the theater. Period. If you do, you’re hopefully watching a baseball game.” There are only 17 rows at the Fennell.

Visitors to The Broadway Rose, the only professional musical theater company in Washington County, come from throughout the state. Murphy says the Internet is helping folks discover the company. “Social networking is really taking off. We just got an order in the mail today for our cookbook that came fromVirginia,” says Murphy. Among the funding sources for The Broadway Rose: ticket sales, an annual fund-raising event, individual con-

tributions, foundation support and corporate sponsorships.

Since 2009, other productions have taken place at The Broadway Rose New Stage on Grant Avenue in Tigard, in a drastically remodeled C.F. Tigard cafeteria, which also houses the Broadway Rose offices. That year the company changed to a year-round schedule.

Murphy and Maroney love to meet and greet at The Broadway Rose. “We’re very hands-on,” says Maroney. “I’m in the lobby a lot of times. If Dan is not getting up and doing a curtain speech, it’s usually me or somebody else. People do come up and talk to us all the time.”

Washington County offers yet another experience for lovers of the theater arts, and this one is all volunteer. Beaverton Civic Theatre, after losing its home at the Kingstad Center when it closed in May 2009, moved its productions to the Beaverton Library auditorium and never looked back.

Melissa Riley, executive director, says productions are not limited to dramas or musicals.

“When people turn in their comment cards and list what plays they want to see, we take that into great con-sideration,” says Riley.

Beaverton Civic Theatre is an all-volunteer opera-tion, and experience varies. Riley says some people have been involved in theater all their lives, while oth-ers just want to give it a try.

“It’s a great collaboration, and we welcome anyone who wants to be involved,” says Riley.

It’s also a chance to learn theater from the ground up. Riley recalls a high school girl who has been volunteer-ing since the first season. She started working lights and sound and “she has now gone on to become a stage man-ager and an assistant director. She’s actually trying to fit in as many shows as she can before she graduates.” Ticket sales and grants help fund Beaverton Civic Theatre.

“We rely heavily on incoming donations,” says Riley. “We have a fantastic partnership with the city of Beaverton and the Beaverton Arts Commission. We also have a fantastic relationship with Value Village in that they let us borrow customs and props.”

The auditorium, located in the basement of Beaverton Library, has150 seats. And, according to Riley, “Every seat is a good seat — very comfortable and nice.”