Portland’s theatre scene grew up a whole heckuva lot over this past weekend.

How so? Well, they – being a collective “they” running from small indie theatre troupes on up to Artists Repertory Theatre and Portland Center Stage – launched the city’s miraculous first-ever festival of new theatre works, the Fertile Ground Festival, to big acclaim and reportedly healthy audiences. People, this is huge.

There are plenty of queer artists repped in the Fest, and contributing writer Kristin Steele teases out some of the highlights in the recent Just Out street edition. Although it only opened last Friday, the Fest’s only up through this Sunday, Feb. 1st, so hurry up and see some of the super-cool new shows on display, like the musical “Vitriol and Violets” or PCS’ much-talked-about epic “Apollo.”

The Fertile Ground Festival runs through Sunday, Feb. 1, at venues across the city – see fertilegroundpdx.org for more info. Full festival passes for the rest of the run are now only $75, and individual tickets to shows run the gamut from $60 down to free.

(pictured above right: a photo from Nancy Keystone’s “Apollo” at Portland Center Stage, photo courtesy PCS)