Broadway Across America’s first Career Day in Portland gives 300 high school students rare access to union professionals, national industry leaders, and a front-row seat to life behind the curtain.
PORTLAND, OR / ACCESS Newswire / April 8, 2026 / On a Monday morning in April, Keller Auditorium in Portland, Oregon, will be filled with a younger generation of theatergoers. Roughly 300 students, drawn from ten local high schools, will file into one of the Pacific Northwest’s most storied performing arts venues for something that doesn’t happen often enough: a genuine invitation into the world of professional Broadway.
Broadway Across America‘s inaugural Career Day, scheduled for April 13, 2026, is the kind of event that can quietly reshape a young person’s sense of what’s possible. Organized by Broadway in Portland (a partnership between Broadway Across America and Portland Opera), the day is designed to pull back the curtain on the full spectrum of careers that power a touring Broadway production: from the lighting rigs above to the spreadsheets backstage.
Broadway Across America CEO, Rich Jaffe, will be in attendance to kick off the program, joining Dalia Ashurina Anderton, Resident Director of the current touring production of The Phantom of the Opera, alongside a group of local dignitaries and union representatives. It’s a notable show of support from industry leadership, signaling that workforce development is not just part of the conversation but a priority that merits a visible presence at the top.
Following the opening session, students will curate their own experience, selecting three workshops from tracks in Theater Technology, Costume & Makeup, and the Business of Theater. Each 40-minute session is designed to be interactive and practical, offering a behind-the-scenes look at the skills that power a production. Across all tracks, an emphasis on sustainability, accessibility, and inclusion reflects the ongoing evolution of the industry and the growing focus on expanding both participation and audiences.
The event has been developed in partnership with Portland’5 Department of Culture and Community, IATSE Local 28, Portland Public Schools’ Visual and Performing Arts Program, Portland Public Schools’ Career + Technical Education, and Portland-area arts educators. The collaboration with Broadway Across America brings together key pillars of the theater ecosystem: education, labor, and production, and creates a streamlined opportunity for students to engage directly with the professionals and institutions shaping the field today.
That ethos animates the broader mission of Broadway Across America and its parent company, the John Gore Organization, a 25-time Tony Award winner that presents Broadway productions in more than 45 markets across North America. Broadway Across America has made philanthropy and access foundational rather than incidental, investing in programs that span education, community, and inclusivity across the theatrical ecosystem.
Through the John Gore Foundation and the outreach work of Broadway Across America, the organization funds and supports a range of initiatives: partnerships with the Arthur Miller Foundation to bring theater education into New York City public schools; the Jimmy Awards, which celebrate outstanding student performers from across the country; and accessible programming efforts including sensory-friendly performances and the Most Valuable Kids program, which connects underserved youth to live theater. The Entertainment Community Fund and Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS are among the community organizations that have received support.
Portland’s Career Day fits squarely within that tradition of Broadway Across America. The theater industry has long endeavored to communicate more effectively to young people, particularly those from communities underrepresented in the arts, that a life in theater doesn’t require a performance major or a New York City zip code. It requires skill, curiosity, and a path. Events like this one exist to provide that path.
Broadway has always needed new talent. Broadway Across America‘s Portland Career Day is a step toward correcting that, one workshop, one conversation, one hour behind the curtain at a time.
CONTACT:
Andrew Mitchell
media@cambridgeglobal.com
SOURCE: Cambridge Global
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