Above Right: Article in Impact News newspaper, June 1983

Below Left: Capitol Forum newspaper, November 1982. Below Right, article from Cascade Voice, October 1982.

Harrison Pierce

citations & references:

  • 1982 - Doric Wilson’s A Perfect Relationship – YWCA Wilson Center

  • 1983 – Doric Wilson’s Street Theatre at Chateau La Bamm

  • 1984 - Terry Baum’s Dos Lesbos – Judy’s (Lesbian bar)

  • 1984 - Stray Dog Story - JR West Upstairs

     Harrison Pierce an article appeared in Just Out, April 1985 that read HARRISON PIERCE SINGS FAREWELL ARIA TO PORTLAND

  • Harrison Pierce, a well-known theater person and producer of gay plays, left Portland last month to take a job with the San Francisco Opera. Pierce joined the San Francisco Opera on February 20 as an assistant to the costume director.

    Pierce, a native of Tampa, FL first appeared in Portland in a 1979 production of Isadora Duncan Sleeps with the Russian Navy (directed by Richard Hurst and featuring Laurie Holland) at Portland Civic Theater. He went on to act with The Production Company (led by Peter Fonara) at Centenary Wilbur Church and finally became their business manager. He last appeared on the Portland stage as Rudy in a 1982 production of Bent at the Willamette Center.

    Pierce is probably best known to Portland theatergoers as the writer of blurbs for Willamette Week’s theater calendar (a job he has held for almost three years) and as a producer of plays by, for, and about lesbian and gay people. His productions of Doric Wilson’s  Street Theater (1983) and Terry Baum’s Dos Lesbos (1984) [at Judy’s] celebrated Lesbian and Gay Pride and Doric Wilson’s A Perfect Relationship played to capacity audiences at the YWCA, was written up as the funniest show in town” by Holy Johnson a the Oregonian nomination for director Paul Dirumus. To complement these productions Pierce brought playwrights Doric Wilson and Terry Baum to Portland to share firsthand their experiences as writers of lesbian and gay material.

  • Harrison began his career as an actor in Portland in 1979 and left Portland in 1985.