Profile Theater’s current production of “Witch” deserves the critical praise it is receiving. The performances are all fantastic, Josh Hecht’s direction mines Jen Silverman’s witty, sharp play for all the shrewdness tucked into its humor, and a nimble design team helps us imagine the play’s particular world set in the 17th century but resolutely planted in today’s vernacular. Each interaction between the various characters crackles with energy—fury, ambition, revenge, anguish. And each of the players channels that energy fantastically, culminating in Charles Grant’s furious dance choreographed by Adin Walker.
But what I loved most are the play’s central insights about where untapped hope and power reside. Elizabeth, the most isolated character, deemed a witch by the community and the person who apparently has the least to lose, is the one hardest to persuade to sell her soul and the one most capable of the sort of reframe that might pull the rest of the players–including the devil himself–out of their endless conflicts.
The scruples of each of the other characters fall easily; the devil Scratch (a canny Joshua J. Weinstein) deftly spots their vulnerabilities, always linked to self-interest and their sense of who or what stands between them and their due. Not Elizabeth. As brilliantly embodied by the always fantastic Lauren Modica-Soloway, Elizabeth is the one capable of spotting the emptiness of Scratch’s logic and the collective trap in which everyone else is caught. She is the only person capable of moving Scratch to question his purpose, to compel him toward the bigger questions that he otherwise wouldn’t see. And without the energy that persuades people to abandon their scruples, what might be possible? Of course it is the outcast who would be capable of such imagination; when will we learn to examine the pattern of wisdom discarded? Who are we throwing away and why are we doing so? What does the outcast see that others miss? Silverman’s play—offered with consummate skill in this production—lifts up such questions.
Adam Mun-Van Noy | Assistant Fight and Intimacy Director Adam (he/they) grew up in the Pacific Northwest studying as a Graphic Artist and Designer. After meeting and studying under multi award-winning Kristen Mun-Van Noy, he dove head first into the craft of Fight Choreography and Violence Design.
He has been choreographing and training with Kristen for over eight years, and assisted at many local high schools, colleges, theatres and also 2 films in the Portland area. They married in August 2022 and now make quite an effective husband-wife choreo team.
Laurie Robertson | Costume Design Assistant After a long career in Mental Health, Laurie is pursuing her dream of working in costume design. Recent lead designer roles include Steel Magnolias, Don’t Dress for Dinner, Christmas Carol – A Ghost Story and as Co-lead for Amelie, the Musical. Laurie has assisted Ahmad Daniel Santos in several productions at Profile Theater, Portland Center Stage among other projects and is the currently the In-House Costumer/Manager at Magenta Theater. She thanks Ahmad for his mentorship & passion for creating memorable characters through design.
Kristen Mun-Van Noy | Fight and Intimacy Director Kristen Mun-Van Noy (she/her) was born and raised on the island of Oahu. Since 2012 she has been working as a fight choreographer and teacher in the city of Portland, OR. She owes her training to Dueling Arts International and her time as assistant fight choreographer at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (09-10) with resident Fight Director U. Jonathan Toppo. She has received her intimacy training from Theatrical Intimacy Educators and IDC Professionals. Recent intimacy and fight work include 12th Night with PCS, POTUS with Anonymous Theatre, and Paradise Blue with Portland Playhouse.
Rory Stitt | Sound Designer Active primarily as a composer and sound designer, Rory has also worked extensively as an actor, orchestrator, and music director. He has performed his solo work at the Kennedy Center (D.C.), Joe’s Pub at the Public Theatre (NYC) and been represented at the MIDEM music festival in Cannes. Hear his work at www.rorystitt.com!
Blanca Forzan | Lighting Designer Blanca Forzán is a lighting designer, set designer, and writer with a background in Architecture from the Universidad del Valle de México. She has collaborated on international productions such as Faust at the Brooklyn Academy of Music and Hamlet in Cádiz, Spain, as well as at renowned theaters in the United States such as the Aurora Theatre, Artist Repertory Theatre, and Portland State University.
In 2023, Blanca was awarded the Best Lighting prize at the Carbonell Awards for her outstanding work on El Huracán in Miami, Florida. Recently she has worked with Coho Theatre as a set designer and master props in Sanctuary City, as well as in the production of Yohen at the Brunish Theatre with Passinart. In 2024, she participated in 9 theater productions. She designed set and lights for Story Teller at Artist Repertory theater 2025. She is super happy to work with Profile Theatre again.
Peter Ksander | Scenic Designer Peter Ksander is a scenographer and media artist. He was a founding curator of the Incubator Arts Project in NYC, won an Obie award for the scenic design of Untitled Mars (this title may change), and a Bessie award for the visual design of This Was the End. He holds a MFA from CALARTS, and is a Professor at Reed College. He has worked repeatedly with Richard Foreman, Karin Coonrod, Object Collection, and the Portland Experimental Theater Ensemble (PETE), where he is a company member. Recent Portland credits include set designs for Aw Hell, Who’s Afraid of Virgina Woolfe, Another Dialogue, Twelfth Night, Infinite Life, Te Moana Meridian, A Seagull,Il Re Pastore, Cardiac Organ,Apoptosis, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Adin Walker | Dance Choreographer Adin Walker choreographed Profile Theater + Artists Repertory Theater’s co-production of Paula Vogel’s Indecent. Based in SF, recent choreography: Ngozi Anyanwu’s The Last of the Love Letters and Preston Choi’s Limp Wrist on the Lever (Crowded Fire), Cabaret (Theatre Rhinoceros), Indecent (Center REP), and Indecent (Chautauqua Theater). As director + choreographer: Yilong Liu’s PrEP Play, or Blue Parachute (New Conservatory Theater), Adam Ashraf Elsayigh’s Data Queen (Golden Thread), Roger Q. Mason’s The White Dress (Off-Broadway), L M Feldman’s Grace, or the Art of Climbing (Jersey City), and developmental labs of Esperanza Rosales Balcárcel’s Lupe Finds Me in the Garden of Dreams (New York Theater Workshop) and L M Feldman’s Limber, A Love Story (Emerson Stage). Adin collaborates as movement director + associate director with internationally-touring dance, puppetry, and climate-justice focused Phantom Limb Company, whose production Falling Out about the 2011 tsunami and radiation disaster in Fukushima premiered in BAM’s Next Wave Festival. Adin is currently completing a PhD in performance studies at Stanford.
Joshua J. Weinstein as Scratch Born and raised in Tallahassee, FL, Josh moved to Portland in 2011 to be a member of the Portland Playhouse Acting Apprentice Company. At Profile: Indecent (co-production with Artists Rep), The Baltimore Waltz (Drammy Award). As a Resident Artist at Artists Rep: Magellanica, We Are Proud to Present…, The Miracle Worker, 4000 Miles, Tribes, and Foxfinder. Other Portland Credits: Twelfth Night, Miss Bennet, Major Barbara (PCS), Beirut, Tender Napalm (The Shoebox, Drammy Award), A Christmas Carol (Portland Playhouse), The Nether (Third Rail), and Body Awareness (CoHo, Drammy Award). Many thanks to the cast, creative, and production teams for keeping us safe and sharp. And Brandy. Always.
Jessica Tidd as Winnifred Jessica is grateful to be performing in her first production with Profile Theatre. She was most recently seen with Fuse Theatre as Squeaky Fromme in Assassins and as a guest artist for JK2 in their sketch comedy show Till Death Deux We Art.She has performed in Portland for over ten years, and is thankful to have worked with many companies including Staged!, Defunkt, Post5, Shaking the Tree, Badass Theatre, Anonymous, Portland Center Stage and others. Favored roles include Iago, Hedda Gabler, Lisa (A New Brain), and Berger (Hair). Favored ensemble work includes Caucasian Chalk Circle and Bakkhai with Shaking The Tree and numerous productions with Sam Dinkowitz’s sketch comedy group Spectravagasm.
