Artistic Director Adriana Baer discusses the play BUENA VISTA (part of our In Dialogue Series staged readings)

BUENA VISTA
by Edith Freni
directed by Desdemona Chiang
April 12 – 13, 2014

Concept design by Stephen Dobay

by Amy Claussen
Directed by Adriana Baer
March 15 & 16, 2014
Featuring: Karla Mason*, Rafael Miguel*, Melissa Murray, Ben Newman*
Stage Manager: Michelle Jazuk*

…this connection between the human being and the earth.  You need sustenance to keep you going, you know?… [It’s about] hunger.
– Sam Shepard

Good sex, bad sex, right love, wrong love—the hungry body yearns without logic. At The Phoenix Flower Cafe, deep and dry in New Mexico, a comically dysfunctional, fiercely cruel, and deeply loving family awaits the bloom of their namesake flower. The family’s searching hearts reach out for a taste of love in the desert as good ol’ midwestern Dilly eats her feelings, bad-kid Dan fights through his, and Sheila yearns for a last taste of love as her heart fails. Will their door-slamming, food fights, drug-dealing, secret nights, trusting strangers, and unexpected connections find them magic in the end?

In Dialogue Events during Hungry
Amy Claussen joined us for pre and post show talks to discuss her experiences as a playwright and what is it like to be a young, female writer in the world preceded by Sam Shepard and his contemporaries.

Sponsored by:

Amy Claussen [Playwright] Amy is a game designer, freelance writer, and director based in the Bay Area. She most recently directed Lauren Gunderson’s The Heath for Berkeley Repertory Theatre’s Ground Floor Festival and is a Drama League Directing Fellow, having spent a season directing for the Hangar Theatre in Ithaca. She was the assistant director on Nora and Delia Ephron’s off-Broadway hit Love, Loss, and What I Wore, starring a rotating cast of the actresses, including Rosie O’Donnell, Rita Wilson, Kristen Chenoweth, and Tyne Daly. Ms. Claussen holds a theatre degree from Carnegie Mellon in Directing.

*Member Actors’ Equity Association, the professional union of actors and stage managers.

Sarah Ruhl (1974- )

It is a great honor to be in the unbelievably excellent company of the playwrights Profile has produced, and a great honor to be part of such a singular theatrical dedication to the writer. – Sarah Ruhl

Sarah Ruhl’s Plays include The Oldest Boy, In the Next Room, or the vibrator play, The Clean House, Passion Play, Dead Man’s Cell Phone, Melancholy Play; Eurydice; Orlando, Late: a cowboy song, Dear Elizabeth  and Stage Kiss.  She has been a two-time Pulitzer prize finalist and a Tony award nominee. Her plays have been produced on Broadway at the Lyceum by Lincoln Center Theater, off-Broadway at Playwrights’ Horizons, Second Stage, and at Lincoln Center’s Mitzi Newhouse Theater. Her plays have been produced regionally all over the country, often with premiers at Yale Repertory Theater, Berkeley Repertory Theater, the Goodman Theater, and the Piven Theatre Workshop in Chicago. In 2014 she was the second most produced playwright in the country. Her plays have also been produced internationally and have been translated into over twelve languages. Originally from Chicago, Ms. Ruhl received her M.F.A. from Brown University where she studied with Paula Vogel. She has received the Susan Smith Blackburn award, the Whiting award, the Lily Award, a PEN award for mid-career playwrights, and the MacArthur “genius” award. You can read more about her work on www.SarahRuhlplaywright.com. Her book of essays 100 Essays I Don’t Have Time to Write was published by Faber and Faber last fall. She teaches at the Yale School of Drama,  and she lives in Brooklyn with her family.

Sarah Ruhl, winner of the MacArthur “Genius Grant” Fellowship and twice-Pulitzer Prize-nominated playwright, grasps her pen like an alchemist. The style of her plays is entirely unique, structured more like poetry than prose, mixing lyricism with irony, and balancing the sacred and the mundane while capturing the essence of everyday life. She weaves tales of wonder that look like our lives and feel like our lives, but reveal truths we couldn’t see on our own. In her plays, a sea of language and emotion carries us to a deeper understanding of our own innermost selves, as our minds are stretched and we are lured to let our imaginations run free.

Sarah Ruhl writes how life actually feels, not how it looks.  It’s like she’s tapped into the spiritual subconscious of all of us. – Adriana Baer, Artistic Director

View the Full Season Details

JOIN US FOR OUR SEASON ANNOUNCEMENT PARTY
REVEALING OUR 2015 SEASON PLAYWRIGHT!

Following the first night of our In Dialogue staged reading series, join us to celebrate as we announce our 2015 Season playwright. Please join us that evening to be the first to hear this exciting news!

With special performances by Gavin Hoffman, Nicole Accuardi, Jeff Gorham, Shelley Virginia, Don Kenneth Mason … and more!

WHEN: March 15, 2014, at approximately 9pm
WHERE: Artists Repertory Theatre lobby, 1515 SW Morrison St.

Saturday, January 18th: Opening Night reception
After the performance, mingle with cast, crew and Profile staff to celebrate the premiere production of the first season in our new space and enjoy tasty bites by Mixteca Catering!

Sunday, January 19th: Mat Chat – Director
Following our first matinee performance, join Artistic Director Adriana Baer in a conversation with guest director Mikhael Tara Garver, exploring the themes of the play and the way in which they are realized in this production.

Thursday, January 23rd: Eyes for Consuela Dinner Dialogue
Join Artistic Director Adriana Baer and a special guest from our production team for an intimate dinner at one of our favorite local restaurants, Grüner. Click to purchase tickets.
  Additionally, this performance will be ASL-interpreted.

Friday, January 24th:
Before the performance, purchase an authentic taste of Mexico from locally owned La Bonita Restaurant, right in our lobby!  Only $5 – So come to the theatre hungry! Beginning at 6:30pm.

Roasted Green Chiles Tamales
Tamales filled with roasted green chiles (Poblano and Anaheim), onion, tomato and garlic. ~vegan, gluten free

 Chile Verde Pork Tamales
Tamales filled with Pork prepared with green chiles and tomatillo. ~gluten free

Saturday, January 25th:
Profile is thrilled to be partnering with Fusionarte, a local radio station and arts organization, to host a discussion with John Cárdenas exploring how American popular art forms present Mexico as a place of escape. The conversation will begin at 6:45pm in our lobby.

Sunday, January 26th: Mat Chat – Cast
Following the performance, join cast members for a conversation about the production and their performances.

Thursday, January 30th:
Meet some of Profile’s students and hear their original work.  Current participants in our Hands On Theatre residency program at the Metropolitan Learning Center High School will read short pieces that they have written, inspired by Sam Shepard and his writing.  Readings will begin at 6:45pm in our lobby.

Friday, January 31st:
Pre-Performance: actor, fight choreographer (and Buried Child cast member!) Ty Hewitt will lead a discussion about the nature of violence in the work of Sam Shepard. The discussion will begin at 6:45 in our lobby.
Late Night: after the performance, stick around for a late night activity with Director of Education, Lauren Bloom Hanover.  Buy a glass of wine and enjoy exploring the words of Shepard through you own imagination and creativity.

Saturday, February 1st:
Profile is thrilled to host much beloved local musician Joaquin Lopez.  Inspired by Mexican folklore and the Latin American bolero, Joaquin will perform an acoustic set of intimate lush ballads and melodies with his ashen baritone voice underscored by the acoustic beauty of the Paraguayan harp played by Antonio Centurion.  Their performance will begin at 6:45pm in our lobby.

Sam Shepard, the featured writer of our 17th season, is one of the most influential playwrights of the 20th and 21st century.

FOOL FOR LOVE
Nov. 13, 2013
Hollywood Theatre

We are thrilled to partner with Hollywood Theatre to present a screening of Sam Shepard’s 1985 film Fool for Love directed by Robert Altman and starring Sam Shepard with Kim Basinger, Harry Dean Stanton and Randy Quaid.

Fool for Love, originally a play, is quintessential Shepard: a rowdy night, a flea-bitten motel room with lovers, siblings, a ghostly father, and a long-awaited reckoning in America’s dusty west.

Profile Artistic Director Adriana Baer will talk briefly before the film about our upcoming Sam Shepard Season.

Join us for a reception from 6:00-7:00 in Hollywood’s upstairs lobby for beer and music by Bourbon Jockey.

Dates of run: May 29 – June 15, 201
Directed by: Adriana Baer
Featuring: Tobias Andersen*, Tim Blough*, David Bodin, Foss Curtis, Jane Fellows, Ty Hewitt*, and Garland Lyons

“Rare to see so much purpose onstage, so efficiently communicated.” – Portland Mercury

“Disturbingly evocative” – The Oregonian

“Ferocious, raw”  – Oregon ArtsWatch

In a once-idyllic farmhouse, dark and twisted secrets, long buried, are brought to light by an unexpected arrival. Shepard’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play, alternately macabre, familiar and darkly funny, is an epic tale of lost family and the return of prodigal sons.

Design and Production: Kaye Blankenship, Jessica Bobillot, Kirsteen Crosser, Sara Ludeman, Sharath Patel, Alan Schwanke, Thyra Hartshorn, D Westerholm*

Dates of run: November 6 – 23, 2014
Directed by: Adriana Baer
Featuring: Duffy Epstein, Nick Ferrucci, Diane Kondrat* and Ben Newman*

“Uniquely satisfying” – Portland Mercury

“Refreshing” – The Oregonian

“Dynamic” – Willamette Week

“Viciously comic” – Arts Watch

To confront your own nature, you’ve got to fight like hell. Suddenly together after years of separation, brothers Lee and Austin wage a destructive battle through their fraternal bonds. Moments of humor and levity mingle with loneliness while Shepard’s sharply written play makes us witness to a forceful study of family ties and human frailty.

Design and Production: Erica Benoit, Nate Crone, Kristeen Crosser, Jillian L. Gibson, Thyra Hartshorn, Ross Jackson, Sarah Kindler, Sara Ludeman, Kristen Mun, Ruth Nardecchia, Sharath Patel, Alan Schwanke, Brent Sullivan, D Westerholm*

True West was generously sponsored by Bullard Law.

In Dialogue Events for True West.
ASL-interpreted performance: November 13

Click here to view the True West press archive.

*Member Actors’ Equity Association, the professional union of actors and stage managers.