Portland
Shakespeare
Project
IGNIGHTING A PASSION FOR THE CLASSICS
Nonprofit theatre company producing classics and contemporary works.
For eight days in July, at Portland Playhouse
Portland Shakespeare Project Presents
“The Merchant of Venice”
by William Shakespeare
In a Modern Verse Translation
by Elise Thoron
The Merchant of Venice is a comedy/tragedy set in Italy. It is centered around love, money, prejudice, and social injustice.
Shylock asks for a pound of flesh as part of a loan contract; Bassonio agrees to it, and Portia saves the day by disguising her identity and pretending to practice the law.
No one dies, although Shylock loses his money, his property, and his religion.
The Merchant of Venice is a comedy, but it forces us to consider antisemitism and racism then and now.
Get Your Seats Today!
Presented by Portland Shakespeare Project
and Play On Shakespeare
Portland Playhouse
602 NE Prescott
Porland, Oregon 97211
July 10 – 7:30 pm
July 11 – 7:30 pm
July 12 – 7:30 pm
July 13 – 2:00 pm
July 17 – 7:30 pm
July 18 – 7:30 pm
July 19 – 7:30 pm
July 20 – 2:00 pm
All that glisters is not gold . . . Don’t miss out on this production!
Elise Thoron is a playwright, director, and translator who brings stories not widely heard to life on stage. Her plays have been produced in the United States, Europe, Japan, and Cuba.
Elise Thorton’s modern language translation of The Merchant of Venice has been published by the University of Chicago Press which says about it:
“Elise Thoron’s translation of Shakespeare’s searing The Merchant of Venice cuts straight to the heart of today’s fraught issues of social justice and systemic racism.
Thoron’s clear, compelling contemporary verse translation retains the power of the original iambic pentameter while allowing readers and audiences to fully comprehend and directly experience the brutal dilemmas of Shakespeare’s Venice, where prejudice and privilege reign unchallenged.
As the author of three acclaimed music-theater works on the Jewish experience and informed by her work directing cross-cultural projects in locations as different as Russia, Japan, Cuba, and New York City, Thoron brings to her Merchant an immediacy that speaks directly to the present reckoning with race in America.”
The University of Chicago Press website about Elise Thoron’s translation of The Merchant of Venice is here:
https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/M/bo122973416.html
Elise Thoron
You can read about everything she has done on her website with her biography here:
Our Thanks To These Organizations
For Their Support
Portland Shakespeare Project thanks Ronni Lacroute and Stephanie and Andy Baldwin for their support of Portland Shakespeare Project’s 2025 Season and our production of The Merchant of Venice, and the Ed Cauduro Fund of the Oregon Community Foundation for its continued support of our work.
Portland Shakespeare Project also gratefully thanks the Hitz Foundation and Play On Shakespeare for their additional support in bringing this wonderful Shakespeare play to our Portland audiences.
Past Seasons
You can read about some of these shows in the drop-downs “Past Seasons” and “Proscenium Live” in the menu above.
Past Seasons