As the first month of 2009 comes to an end, so does the Fertile Ground Festival . The ambitious new-works festival helmed by Trisha Pancio still has plenty of events left before the closing gala on Monday, Feb. 2, at the Gerding Theater. I hope to catch Northwest Children’s Theatre’s jazzy Alice in Wonderland , the workshop of McKinley’s Gracie and the Atom , the first episode of Action/Adventure’s Fall of the House and Portland Center Stage Playgroup’s Open City . Given the other shows I have to make this week, that may or may not all happen.
Another Fertile Ground show, Valerie O’Brien’s Inviting Desire , has been extended. It runs 8 pm Fridays-Saturdays through Feb. 7, with a 7 pm show Sunday, Feb. 1.
Openings this week: Fall of the House , my favorite late-night, semi-improvised, Portland-based serial sitcom returns to Theater! Theatre! tonight. Te llevo en la sangre , a metafictional romance by Argentine playwright Mónica Silver that has never before been performed in the US, opens at Miracle Theatre tonight. It’s in Spanish, with English supertitles. String of Pearls , a four-woman show about a pearl necklace that travels through several generations of women, opens tonight at Artists Rep . I am trying by best not to prejudge it. How to Disappear Completely and Never Be Found , a masterful thriller by Finn Kennedy about how and why hundreds of British citizens abruptly disappear every year, opens at Portland Center Stage tonight. The playwright will speak after the Saturday evening performance. Should be interesting. Northwest Classical Theatre Company opens The Merchant of Venice , Shakespeare’s loathsome antisemitic comedy (often interpreted as a not-antisemitic tragedy) tonight, starring Michael Mendelson. Could be good.
Some news:
Concurrent with Fertile Ground, representatives of the Dramatists Guild of Americ a is holding the Guild’s first-ever meeting in the Northwest to discuss playwriting and author’s rights, etc. From the press release:
The Dramatists Guild Town Hall Meeting will begin at 1:00 PM, featuring with an information session that will detail an overview of the Dramatists Guild, discuss plans for its future, and then an open Q & A for Guild members. In addition to Gary Garrison, speakers will include David Faux, (Guild Director of Business Affairs), Roland Tec (Guild Director of Membership), and Steve Patterson and Andrea Stolowitz, Portland’s Regional Guild Representatives. Fr om 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM, David Fauz will present "The Author as a CEO": a short lecture, which will review the main points of dealing with a playwright’s portfolio of works as intellectual property assets.
After a half-hour break, the afternoon will resume from 3:30 PM to 5:00 PM with a Portland Theatre Town Hall Meeting. Moderated by Mead Hunter, Portland Center Stages Director of Literary Programs, the Town Hall will feature a panel discussion with Mr. Garrison, Lue Douthit of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and Michael Rohd of Sojourn Theatre, discussing trends in local and national theatre, playwriting, and dramaturgy. The meeting will then open up as a brainstorming session for the panel, Portland theatre leaders, and the audience to address how to foster development and production of new plays in Portland and Oregon.
The Portland Civic Theatre Guild turns 50 this year. There will be a party in March.
Portland marionette troupe Castiron Carousel has completed a video for the band Ocelli with some very cool design. Check it out:
- Curtain Raiser: Guys and Dolls, Fertile Ground and a Portlander on SNL After tw
- Curtain Raiser: Fall of the House Returns! The cast
- Curtain Raiser: When the President Does It, It’s Not Illegal Tonight!
- Curtain Raiser: Unexpected Musicals, Courageous Middle-Schoolers and More John Guare The obviou
- Curtain Raiser: Her thrills rip forth! It’s
thanks for letting people know about the extension – it’s actually my show, and my name isn’t valerie, it’s eleanor.