Our Founding

World Stage Theatre is proud to be an arts, culture, and community-centered organization where imagination, exploration, creativity, and growth thrive in artists and audiences of all ages and abilities. With a focus on process and a holistic approach, our goal is to teach life skills through the exploration of the arts and help those who wish to pursue professional artistic endeavors hone their skills with confidence. We inspire youth and adults to explore their unlimited possibilities through exposure and experience and recognize the arts as a mirror that imitates life and uses it as a vehicle to educate, heal, unite, uplift, and celebrate our experiences. 

 

Founded in 2006 by Shalanda Sims, World Stage Theatre was birthed out of a desire for change in storytelling; false narratives, stereotypes, and who gets to tell the stories. The lack of representation in the arts, textbooks, and Portland Metropolitan community.

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​World Stage Theatre entered the scene twenty years ago with a goal to center joy, eliminate barriers in the arts, bridge generations, celebrate culture and community and has been doing so ever since.