“I can’t recall the last time I saw a performance as good as Rue’s. It’s a masterpiece.  Rue made my heart swell and break, and then swell and break again.” -Krista Garver, Broadway World

In August 1991 simmering tensions in the racially polarized Brooklyn, New York neighborhood of Crown Heights exploded into riots after an African-American boy was killed by a car in a rabbi’s motorcade and a Jewish student was slain in retaliation. Pulitzer Prize-finalist Fires in the Mirror is dramatist Anna Deavere Smith’s stunning exploration of the events and emotions leading up to and following the Crown Heights conflict. Through her portrayals of more than two dozen adversaries, victims, and eyewitnesses, using verbatim excerpts from their observations derived from interviews she conducted, Smith provides a brilliant, Rashoman-like documentary portrait of contemporary ethnic turmoil.

Click here for an ASL interpreted description.

“Quite simply the most compelling and sophisticated view of urban racial and class conflict that one could hope to encounter.” –New York Times

October 12th – 21st, 2018

Morrison Stage at Artists Rep

Schedule of In Dialogue events:  Enriching pre- and post-show presentations and conversations with Vanport Mosaic, Confrontation Theatre and more.

MORE HERE

CAST & CREATIVE 

Directed by Bobby Bermea

Starring Seth Rue

Peter Ksander, Scenic and Projection Design

Wanda Walden, Costume Designer

Carl Faber, Lighting Designer

Casi Pacilio, Sound Design

Jana Crenshaw, Composer

Mary McDonald-Lewis, Dialect Coach

Robi Arce, Character Coach

Bonnie Ratner, Dramaturg

Karen Hill, Stage Manager

Jamie Rea, Line Producer

Breydon Little, Production Assistant

Explore the Playbill:

Dana Lynn Barbar from The Portland Observer attended a recent rehearsal and shares this piece with you.

“The Rodney King incident is this huge touchstone that rocked the whole country, but it’s just one piece of this story that precedes the founding of this country and continues right on to today, including in Portland.”  -Josh Hecht, Artistic Director

http:/?.m.portlandobserver.com/news/2018/apr/10/voices-riots

Three performances only – April 15, 16 and 17, 7:30pm at Artists Rep

By Anna Deavere Smith

Directed by Josh Hecht

Starring Chantal DeGroat

Chantal DeGroat

Chantal is honored to return to Profile Theatre and work on this brilliant play. AT PROFILE: The Call (Barfield), Bright Half Life (Barfield), Valley Song (Fugard). LOCAL: PCS, Artists Repertory Theatre, Portland Playhouse, Badass Theatre. SEATTLE: Seattle Repertory Theatre, Intiman, Hansberry Project, upstart crow, and Seattle Shakespeare Company. TEACHES WITH: The August Wilson Red Door Project, Seattle Rep. TRAINING: Shakespeare & Company, Emerson College.

Elyse Grimaldi, Costume Designer

Kristeen Crosser, Lighting Designer

Phillip Johnson, Sound Designer

Karl Hanover, Dialect Coach

Breydon Little, Stage Manager

Jamie Rae, Production Manager

Los Angeles, April 1992: Riots break out after the acquittal of four LAPD officers charged with use of excessive force in the arrest and beating of Rodney King.

Broadway, April 1994: Anna Deavere Smith premiers her pioneering work for which she interviewed over 200 people directly impacted or involved in the unrest.  Recreating their accounts and personalities verbatim, she revolutionizes storytelling.

APRIL 2018 nearly 25 years after it rocked Broadway, we remounted this Tony-nominated play with Portland favorite Chantal DeGroat, who transformed herself into dozens of real-life witnesses to the Rodney King riots that rocked LA — and the country — to its core.

This stripped-down CONCERT STAGING was a fully-rehearsed, book-in-hand presentation designed to place the focus on the actor and the words. An intimate theatrical experience that was not to be missed.

“An American masterpiece…the heart and soul of an American tragedy, as expressed by the hearts and souls of the people who were part of it.”  -Newsweek

“Extraordinary and haunting” -People Magazine

April 15th, 16th & 17th 7:30pm 

Alder Stage at Artists Rep

Run time: 2hrs 30mins with 1 intermission.

Starring Chantal DeGroat

THE BOOK OF JOSEPH
By Karen Hartman
Directed by Josh Hecht

March 19th & 2oth  7:30 pm, Alder Stage at Artists Rep   

The Book of Joseph was commissioned by the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, where it premiered last season. Profile patrons will recognize Karen Hartman as the co-author (with Tanya Barfield) of 2016’s Antigone Project and author of the play SuperTrue, which Profile presented as an In Dialogue Reading alongside the 2015 Sarah Ruhl season.

Every family has its secrets. The Hollander family’s spanned three generations and two continents, from World War II Poland to present-day America, all locked in a suitcase in Joseph Hollander’s attic. When his son, Richard, uncovered the suitcase, he found more than just Swastika-stamped letters and legal documents—he found a family he never met, and a father’s legacy that was never mentioned. A family torn apart by war, fighting to escape and survive, an unplanned immigration and quest to stay in the US, and a tale of love lost and found, were all captured in letters uncovered a generation later, which became the book Every Day Lasts a Year. Now adapted into The Book of Joseph, the Hollander family journey offers a story for each of us.

“★★★★ This real-life story … reminds an audience to pay attention to changes in the world.” -Chicago Tribune

“A simple yet wondrous insight into the nature of those who not only survived against all odds, but prevailed.” -Chicago Sun-Times

Free and open to the public – General Admission

 KAREN HARTMAN had four productions of three world premieres in 2016-2017, all with productions in 2017-18 as well: Roz and Ray at Victory Gardens and Seattle Repertory Theater (Edgerton New Play Prize), Book of Joseph at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, and Project Dawn at People’s Light (NEA Grant, NNPN Rolling World Premiere). Other works: Goldie, Max, and Milk (Steinberg and Carbonell Nominations), SuperTrue (Kilroy’s List), Gaza Rehearsal (Victory Gardens Ignition Fest), Goliath (Dorothy Silver New Play Prize), Gum, Leah’s Train (Weissberger Finalist), Going Gone (NEA Grant), Girl Under Grain (Best Drama, NY Fringe), ALICE: Tales of a Curious Girl (Music by Gina Leishman, AT&T Onstage Award), Troy Women. New York: Women’s Project, NAATCO, P73, Summer Play Festival. Regional: Center Stage, Cincinnati Playhouse, Dallas Theater Center, the Magic, and elsewhere. Publications: TCG, Dramatists Play Service, Playscripts, Backstage Books, NoPassport. Honors: McKnight Residency, New Dramatists, Bellagio, Helen Merrill Foundation, Hodder Fellowship, Jerome Fellowship, Fulbright Scholarship. Prose: New York Times and The Washington Post. Ms. Hartman is Senior Artist in Residence at University of Washington, Seattle. www.karenhartman.org

CAST

Cast: (L-R)

Jaclyn Maddox
Samson Syharath
Josie Seid
Jason Glick
Jamie Rea
Murri Lazaroff-Babin
Crystal Ann Muñoz
Anthony Green
Patricia Hunter

Stage Manager: Kira Atwood-Youngstrom

Profile is featured in this article written for American Theater Magazine by local arts writer TJ Acena.  Learn more about the transitions coming at Artists Rep as well as the dire need for art spaces in Portland.

www.americantheatre.org/2018/01/30/portlands-space-race/

“How did a decent girl like me get involved with a cult of murderous secretaries?”

Pretty Patty Johnson is thrilled to join the secretarial pool at the Cooney Lumber Mill in Big Bone, Oregon under the iron-fisted leadership of sultry office manager Susan Curtis. But she soon begins to feel that all is not right—the enforced diet of Slim-Fast shakes, the strange clicking language between the girls, the monthly disappearance of a lumberjack. By the time Patty discovers murder is part of the office skill set, it’s too late to turn back!

In the guise of satiric exploitation-horror, The Secretaries takes an unflinching look at the warping cultural expectations of femininity and the ways women themselves are often the enforcers of sexism.

Click here for an ASL interpreted description.

“One of the most uproarious plays staged in Portland in recent memory” -Willamette Week (Read the review!)

“Loud, Lewd, and Gleefully Weird” -The Oregonian (Read the review!)

“Just what the world needs right now” -Oregon ArtsWatch (Read the review!)

Watch the trailer: 

(Photos by David Kinder)

JUNE 14th – JULY 1st, 2018

Alder Stage at Artists Rep

** See the schedule of vibrant IN DIALOGUE events for this run HERE **  

(Comedians, Novelists & Queers, oh my!)

ABOUT THE FIVE LESBIAN BROTHERS HERE

CAST & CREATIVE  (All-Female!)

(left to right)

Andrea White, Susan

Jamie M. Rea, Dawn

Claire Rigsby, Patty

Jen Rowe, Peaches

Kelly Godell, Ashley

Directed by Dawn Monique Williams

Stephanie Mulligan, Stage Manager

Megan Wilkerson, Scenic Design

Emily Wilken, Props Master

Wanda Walden, Costume Design

Jennifer Lin, Lighting Design

Jen Raynak, Sound Design

Lilo Alfaro, Production Assistant

Kristen Mun, Fight Director

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Read the playbill

Wednesday, February 7th, 2018

by Megan Burbank

“Undeniable and frightening political resonance”

https://www.portlandmercury.com/theater/2018/02/07/19660118/roller-coasters-emotional-and-otherwise-in-25-minute-ride

Wednesday, February 7th, 2018

“A scalding standup routine and a love letter to her father.”

“Packed with affectionate jabs”

“A spectacular showcase for the talents of actress Allison Mickelson”

“Packed with affectionate jabs”

“A spectacular showcase for the talents of actress Allison Mickelson”

http://www.wweek.com/arts/theater/2018/02/07/2-5-minute-ride-recalls-a-drug-addled-trip-to-an-amusement-park-and-a-sobering-journey-to-auschwitz/

A comprehensive introduction to and review of 2.5 Minute Ride.

“A journey worth taking”

“Powerful in its simplicity”  

“Very funny”

“Mickelson makes the perfect Lisa”

A swift and savvy ride