Throughout the run of Blue Door, Profile is partnering with The Children’s Book Bank on their project, A Story Like Mine.

Books are most effective when they are relevant to children’s lives, but our current inventory of culturally diverse books is not nearly sufficient to meet the need of the wide diversity of children and families we serve.  To bridge the gap between the need for culturally diverse books and the lack of availability, we are launching “A Story Like Mine.”  Your support of this project helps us make more culturally diverse books available for all of the children we serve.

So many of the themes in Blue Door connect with storytelling and connection to culture through our shared stories and histories. Profile is thrilled to partner with The Children’s Book Bank on this important work. Children seeing their lives and cultures reflected in the books they read help them become more grounded and whole adults.

When you come to see Blue Door, bring new or gently used books featuring multicultural stories, characters and authors and drop them in our book box by the box office. Profile will deliver all book donations to the Children’s Book Bank when the show closes.

Want some ideas for kids books about African Americans?

Blue Door Director Bobby Bermea recommends Sounder, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, The Egypt Game and Malcolm X.

Actor Seth Rue loves The People Could Fly,  Mirandy and Brother Wind, Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters and The Snowy Day.

Playwright Tanya Barfield recommends Wilma Unlimited.

What an amazing group of artists have come together to build Blue Door!

CAST

Victor Mack*
Lewis
Victor’s Portland credits include: Ralph D. in The Motherfucker with the Hat and Odysseus/Jacob in the World Premiere of Ithaka at Artists Rep; Kenny in Detroit and Turnbo in August Wilson’s Jitney for Portland Playhouse; Henry in The Lion in WInter at NWCTC. Other local credits include: Seven Guitars, Top Dog/Underdog, Superior Donuts and Take Me Out at Artist Rep.; Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (Drammy Award for Actor in a Lead Role), Radio Golf (Drammy Award for Actor in a Supporting Role), King Hedley II and Gem of the Ocean for Portland Playhouse; Hamlet and Frankie and Johnny in the Claire de Lune at Coho Rep.

Seth Rue
Simon/Rex/Jesse
Seth is overwhelmed to make his debut at Profile with this powerful show. To be working with two of his artistic idols in Victor and Bobby is a dream come true. He is humbled to be trusted to give voice and shape to Simon, Jesse and Rex and to tell this story, celebrating self-love and acceptance, family, our journeys of identity, ancestral and spiritual vitality, and of the depth, diversity and beautiful – and often painful – complexity of Blackness in America. He is supremely grateful to Bobby and Profile for this opportunity, and to Tanya Barfield for her incredible work. Look for him in the upcoming production of Cottonwood in the Flood with the Vanport Mosaic Festival.

CREATIVE TEAM

Bobby Bermea
Director
Bobby is a director, a playwright, and an actor and has performed in theatres from New York, NY to Honolulu, HI. He is co-artistic director of the Beirut Wedding World Theatre Project, artistic director of BaseRoots Theatre Company, a company member of of Sojourn theatre, and a company member of Badass Theatre. Recent directing credits include My Soul Grown Deep with BaseRoots Theatre, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and The Sexual Neuroses of Our Parents with Theatre Vertigo, and Wait Until Dark at Northwest Classical.

Megan Wilkerson
Scenic and Props Design
Megan is a resident artist at Artists Repertory Theatre, the Resident scenic designer for Bag&Baggage Productions, and a member of the Rivendell Theatre Ensemble. Her design work has been recognized by The Chicago Tribune, The Oregonian, The Austin Critics Circle and The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Regionally Megan has worked with The Oregon Shakespeare Festival, The Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, The New Conservatory, Renaissance Theaterworks, Milwaukee Chamber Theatre, Broadway Rose, Teatro Milagro, deFunkt Theatre, Theatre Vertigo, Northwest Classical Theatre, Next Act Theatre, Skylight Opera, First Stage Children’s Theatre, Michigan Opera Theatre, Pittsburgh Public, Portland Center Stage and the Portland Opera. She is a member of United Scenic Artists and holds an MFA from The University of Texas at Austin.

Ruth Nardecchia
Lighting Design
Ruth happily returns to Profile Theatre’s design team. Past lighting designs include The Call and Blood Knot at Profile, Cinderella at Northwest Children’s Theatre and Christmas Unplugged at Artists Repertory. She thanks Profile for another opportunity of collaborative art.

Sarah Gahagan
Costume Design
Sarah is a designer for costume and set designer theatre, dance, festivals and stop-motion animation film as well as being adjunct theatre instructor at Portland Community College. She has done theatre design and collaboration work with many of Oregon’s beloved arts organizations including: Artist Repertory Theatre, Oregon Children’s Theatre, Miracle Theatre Group, Oregon Contemporary Theatre, Oregon Ballet Theatre, and Michal Curry Design. Sarah has received Drammy Awards for her costume design work on Eurydice, James and The Giant Peach, Trojan Women, El Quijote, and A Year With Frog and Toad.

Rodolfo Ortega
Sound Design, Music Direction, Additional Compositions
Rodolfo  received his Bachelor’s Degree in Music from the University of Arizona and his Master of Music degree from Manhattan School of Music where he studied piano and composition. He has composed music and designed sound for the recent productions of Artist Repertory Theater’s The Miracle Worker, The Liar, and Broomstick. He has composed several musicals for Northwest Children’s Theater including Snow White, Pinocchio, El Zorrito, and Peter Pan. He has also composed many of the productions at Santa Cruz Shakespeare including their recent productions of Macbeth, Julius Caesar, Man in the Iron Mask and Henry V. Additionally he has composed the music for Denver Center Theater Company’s productions of Three Musketeers and Romeo and Juliet. For the Oregon Shakespeare Festival he composed the music for Tenth Muse.

Kristin Mun
Fight Choreographer
Kristen is happy to be back at Profile as fight choreographer. She has worked for over half a dozen theatre companies in the Portland area including Third Rail Rep, Action Adventure, Post5, Milagro, and Anon it Moves.  She is the recent recipient of the Leslie O. Fulton fellowship has won Drammy Awards for her work on Danny in the Deep Blue Sea, Oedipus El Rey, and Henry IV Part 1.  Outside of Portland she has worked at Utah Shakespeare Festival, Idaho Repertory Theatre, and was the assistant fight choreographer at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival for 2 seasons (09-10).  She is an officer and a recognized fight instructor with Dueling Arts International.

D Westerholm*
Stage Manager
Portland Stage Management credits: The Call; Orlando; Fall Festival: Passion Play Parts 1+2; In the Next Room, or the vibrator play; Dead Man’s Cell Phone; True West; Fall Festival: Festival of One Acts; Buried Child; Eyes for Consuela; The Road to Mecca (Profile Theatre); The Light in the Piazza (Portland Playhouse). Oregon Shakespeare Festival, non-equity Assistant Stage Manager: The Unfortunates (2013), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2013), Troilus and Cressida (2012), The Very Merry Wives of Windsor, Iowa (2012), Julius Caesar (2011), The African Company Presents Richard III (2011). BA in Theatre Management from Western Washington University, MFA in Stage Management from Columbia University. Active member of Actor’s Equity Association

Natasha Stockem
Production Assistant
Natasha is glad to be back at Profile Theatre and a part of Blue Door. Her previous credits include co-stage managing Far Away, assistant stage managing Romeo and Juliet, stage managing Last Summer at Bluefish Cove and most recently with Profile Theatre and Shaking the Tree, Passion Play. She has worked as part of rig and focus crews for a verity of productions, was the blood maven for Macbeth, and the properties mistress for The Importance of Being Earnest and Romeo and Juliet, all at Portland State University, where she received a Masters in theatre studies with a focus in tech. She also works with Prismagic, a local production company that develops mixed medium shows.

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

Well, we started the 2016 Tanya Barfield Season with a crazy swirl of activity! Tanya herself came to visit us and help us get the season off to a roaring start! In case you missed any of the activities and events. Here’s a rundown of all the fun from the opening weekend February 4th – 7th !

Tanya Barfield at MLC

Friday morning started off with a visit to Metropolitan Learning Center, Tanya Barfield’s alma mater, where Profile is currently running a trimester-long theatre class. The residency culminates in the final show of students performing pieces from Tanya’s plays and scenes they’ve written in response to her work. Tanya got to see the student’s work-in-progress and give them feedback. Scene work was followed by a Q&A. It was a great morning! Tanya got to experience young artists performing her work in the very auditorium where she directed her first play!

Tanya Barfield at Playwright Luncheon

Friday afternoon was our elegant Playwright Luncheon in the lobby of Artists Rep. The sold-out event was a pure delight. We had speakers from Profile leadership, former students and then a Tanya gave a talk that had the whole lobby on their feet.

Tanya Barfield at Powell’s Books with OPB crew

Friday afternoon also had Tanya, Profile staff and a crew from OPB shooting on-location around Portland for Oregon Art Beat. Look for Art Beat’s Tanya Barfield story later this month!

Cast and director of The Call with Tanya Barfield. Photo by Artslandia.

Saturday night was opening night for The Call and we had a lovely pre-show conversation with Tanya and Interim Artistic Director Lauren Bloom Hanover. And our post-show opening night reception was extra festive with our playwright in attendance.

Mat chat with Tanya Barfield, Gemma Whelan and Lauren Bloom Hanover.

Sunday’s matinee of The Call had a lively mat chat with Tanya, director Gemma Whelan and Interim Artistic Director Lauren Bloom Hanover.

We could not have asked for a better weekend with our playwright! We are so glad so many of you, our audience, got a chance to meet her and hear her speak. It was such an inspiring kick off to the 2016 Season!

Don’t miss out on any of the remaining plays in the 2016 Tanya Barfield Season. 3 Play Subscriptions are on sale here!

As we head into performances for The Call, we can’t help but think about all things parenting. The themes of the play: the call to parenthood, the yearning for children, the global implications of building a family, inspired us to think about how to support parents in our own community.

So Profile is partnering with Portland Homeless Family Solutions on a diaper drive! Portland Homeless Family Solutions is a nonprofit with a mission to help homeless families with children. Their shelter is just a few blocks from our theatre home. Can you imagine trying to keep up with diapering needs for infants and toddlers if you’re experiencing housing instability? It’s a serious need for these families.

When you come to see The Call, bring diapers, wipes or diaper rash cream and leave them in our bin. We’ll deliver them to PHFS after the show closes!

PHFS Needs

• Disposable Diapers (sizes 4, 5 &6 but especially size 5)
• Pull Ups
• Baby Wipes
• Diaper rash cream

Chantal DeGroat
Drea
Chantal DeGroat is excited to finally work with Profile Theatre, and honored to work in the Barfield season! She is a Portland-based actress represented by Arthouse Talent and Literary. Chantal trained with Shakespeare and Company (Lenox, MA) and Emerson College (Boston, MA), where she studied closely under Kristin Linklater. She is also so darn excited to be Third Rail Rep’s newest company member. Local Companies: Portland Center Stage, Artists Repertory Theatre, Badass Theatre, Portland Playhouse, Clackamas Repertory Theatre, Jewish Theatre Collaborative and Chehalem Players Repertory. Chantal performs and teaches with– The August Wilson Red Door Project, PlayWrite, Inc, Portland Center Stage (Shakespeare outreach program), and abroad at Exeter University in England. Proud to be newly AEA. www.chantaldegroat.com

Jasper Howard
Alemu
This is Jasper’s second production with Profile Theater, the first being a staged reading of  A Lesson From Aloes. Jasper is very excited and humbled to be apart of the wonderful cast and crew that has been assembled to bring to you The Call. Jasper has been in numerous television commercials, print ads and has also had parts on various television shows, such as, Grimm and Leverage, since moving to Portland, from Ohio, seven years ago.

Anya Pearson
Rebecca
Anya Pearson is delighted to be returning to Profile having previously been seen in Nothing But The Truth and Knowing Cairo. She is an actress, playwright, screenwriter, essayist, poet and writing coach. A graduate of the prestigious William Esper Studio in New York City, she is thrilled to be making Portland her home again. After The Call, she can next be seen in Streetcar Named Desire at Portland Center Stage. She is the author of the play, Made to Dance in Burning Buildings, a fusion of poetic text and violent and visceral contemporary dance, which poses the question: how do we heal from trauma? She believes that through the transformative power of performance and literary arts, she will be able to effect meaningful change in the world.

Amanda Soden
Annie
Amanda is delighted to be treading the boards at Profile Theatre once again. Previously, Amanda had the privilege of playing Elsa in The Road to Mecca (Athol Fugard season), Holly in Uncommon Women & Others and Pfeni in The Sisters Rosensweig (Wendy Wasserstein season). Favorite local credits include: The Hen Night Epiphany (Corrib Theatre), Foxfinder (Artists Rep), Snow Falling on Cedars; Misalliance (Portland Center Stage), Statements After an Arrest Under the Immorality Act (Shaking The Tree Theatre), and The Love of the Nightingale (Theatre Vertigo). Amanda has also had the opportunity to create ensemble devised work with Sojourn Theatre and Ping Chong + Company.

Tom Walton
Peter
Tom is thrilled and humbled to be returning to Profile Theatre to work with such a talented cast and crew. Previous Profile credits include HE/Johnny in the staged reading of Stage Kiss, Gideon Le Roux in the staged reading of Playland and Jed in The 5th of July.  Tom has been active in the Portland acting community since 2001 and has been seen in many theaters, independent films and television in that time. Most notably is his 14 year membership with the Northwest Classical Theatre Company.

Gemma Whelan
Director
Gemma is the founding Artistic Director of Corrib Theatre. For Corrib she has directed Little Gem, The Hen Night Epiphany, St. Nicholas, A Night in November (Drammy nomination for Direction). In Portland: Broomstick, Ithaka for Artists Repertory Theatre, Words that Burn for Los Porteños, and at Boom Arts, and JAW. She was the founding Artistic Director of Wilde Irish Productions in the Bay Area. For Wilde Irish: The Importance of Being Oscar (Dean Goodman Award for Direction), U.S. premiere of Ariel by Marina Carr, Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me, Eclipsed and Endgame. Other favorites: Last Summer at Bluefish Cove (Cable Car Nomination for Outstanding Achievement in Directing), Vita and Virginia (Curve Magazine, Best Theatre of the Year Award), for Theatre Rhinoceros; and Equus (Little Theatre Nomination for Outstanding Achievement in Directing). BA Trinity College Dublin, MA UC Berkeley, MFA San Francisco State University. Member SDC (Stage Directors and Choreographers Society). www.gemmawhelan.com

Megan Wilkerson
Scenic Design
Megan Wilkerson is a resident artist at Artists Repertory Theatre, the Resident scenic designer for Bag&Baggage Productions, and a member of the Rivendell Theatre Ensemble. Her design work has been recognized by The Chicago Tribune, The Oregonian, The Austin Critics Circle and The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Regionally Megan has worked with The Oregon Shakespeare Festival, The Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, The New Conservatory, Renaissance Theaterworks, Milwaukee Chamber Theatre, Broadway Rose, Teatro Milagro, deFunkt Theatre, Theatre Vertigo, Northwest Classical Theatre, Next Act Theatre, Skylight Opera, First Stage Children’s Theatre, Michigan Opera Theatre, Pittsburgh Public, Portland Center Stage and the Portland Opera. She is a member of United Scenic Artists and holds an MFA from The University of Texas at Austin.

Ruth Nardecchia
Lighting Design
Ruth Nardecchia happily returns to Profile Theatre’s design team. Past lighting designs include Blood Knot at Profile, Cinderella at Northwest Children’s Theatre and Christmas Unplugged at Artists Repertory. She thanks Profile for another opportunity of collaborative art.

Sara Ludeman
Costume Design
Born and raised in Portland Oregon, Sara graduated from Portland State with a BA in History in 2012. She began working with Profile that same year through their intern program and has since designed the Festival of One Acts in 2014, True West in 2014, and Passion Play in 2015. In addition to her MainStage work, she assists with Profiles outreach program in the public schools teaching kids about the craft of costume design. Additional credits include Once on this Island at Enlightened Theatrics in 2012, High School Musical Enlightened Theatrics 2013, and American Night at Milagro 2014. Outside of costume design, she works as a production glass blower and moonlights as a props designer, credits include Eyes for Consuela Profile 2014 and upcoming Peter and the Star Catcher at Portland Playhouse in 2016.

Sharath Patel
Sound Design
Sharath Patel is very excited to be back for his ninth design with Profile. Portland credits include In the Next Room, Dead Man’s Cell Phone, True West, Buried Child, The Road to Mecca, Blood Knot (Profile Theater), The Price, Tribes, The Mother F**ker with the Hat (Artist’s Rep), The Piano Lesson, The Brother/Sister Plays, Jitney (Portland Playhouse), Waiting for Godot, Mary Stewart, Wait Until Dark (Northwest Classical), American Night, Oedipus el Rey (Miracle Theatre), A Pigeon and A Boy (Jewish Theater Collaborative). New York and International credits include designs at The Westside Theater, La MaMa, Playwrights Horizons, Theater Row, PS122, Columbia, Yale, Harvard, India, France, England. Sharath earned his MFA in Sound Design from the Yale School of Drama.

Emily Wilken
Properties Design
A graduate of Illinois State University’s Scenic Design Program, Emily works with a variety of materials and with various age groups, musicians, organizations and budgets. She enjoyed three seasons in Illinois Shakespeare Festival Prop Shop, has led mural & public arts projects, and has spearheaded puppetry workshops at public schools, libraries and the Children’s Discovery Museum. The Call being her first show with Profile, Emily’s worked with several companies in the area including Northwest Classical Theatre Company, Artists Repertory Theatre, Lincoln High School, Valley Repertory Theatre and Enlightened Theatrics. Navigating the Northwest arts scene, she takes every opportunity to broaden her reach!  www.emilywilken.com

D Westerholm
Stage Manager
Portland Stage Management credits: Orlando; Fall Festival: Passion Play Parts 1+2; In the Next Room, or the vibrator play; Dead Man’s Cell Phone; True West; Fall Festival: Festival of One Acts; Buried Child; Eyes for Consuela; The Road to Mecca (Profile Theatre); The Light in the Piazza (Portland Playhouse). Oregon Shakespeare Festival, non-equity Assistant Stage Manager: The Unfortunates (2013), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2013), Troilus and Cressida (2012), The Very Merry Wives of Windsor, Iowa (2012), Julius Caesar (2011), The African Company Presents Richard III (2011). BA in Theatre Management from Western Washington University, MFA in Stage Management from Columbia University. Active member of Actor’s Equity Association

Jake Turner
Production Assistant
Jake Turner is a performer, stage manager and creator. His previous works include co-stage managing Far Away at Portland State University, stage managing Children of Eden with Alaska Arts Southeast, and assistant stage managing Passion Play with Profile Theatre and Shaking the Tree Theatre. He has performed onstage in shows such as Dead Man’s Cell Phone at Profile  and Romeo and Juliet at Portland State University, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in theater.

I did not want to write this play. I refused. Without realizing what I was doing, I pointedly and stubbornly refused. It wouldn’t make a good play, I thought. And I didn’t know how to write it. What I knew—what I was known for—were plays about the African-American experience through history.  I did not want to write a contemporary play, a play close to me, a play about adoption.

And so I didn’t write.

And I didn’t write.

I didn’t write.

Anything.

As my mentor Marsha Norman had said to me and I had told my students hundreds of times, “Write what you don’t want to write. Even if it’s a comedy, write what makes you uncomfortable.  Let yourself be afraid when you write.”  But, instead, I tried to continue on my steady path.  And yet writing through history—once so easy for me—had become hard.  The characters wouldn’t emerge.  So, reluctantly, I decided to give in and write a contemporary play.  I decided that it would be neat, tidy and well-made with just enough idiosyncratic wordplay and character eccentricity that anyone could enjoy.  A wise play, a funny play that had great ideas and was also  whimsical  and wouldn’t push anyone’s button—especially mine. I didn’t want to write a play that was all heart. So, I began many tidy, whimsical plays but quickly discarded them.  Then, I decided to embrace writer’s block.  “I’m having writer’s block,” I thought, “and it’s going to be poetic.”  It wasn’t. It was not at all similar to a writer’s block from a biography of a great writer.  It was terrible; terribly mundane and uninteresting and excruciating.

After a while, I found myself sitting in my friend Lucy’s kitchen. Stymied and stubborn with the answer right in front of me, but I couldn’t see.

“Just write it,” Lucy said. “Write about adoption, and you don’t have to show it to anyone.”

For over a year, I got up at 4:00am to figure out this play. My kids would wake up two hours later, at which point being a mom would kick-in, leaving little room to write, let alone to write something deeply personal.  Here was a play that required ME—and the many other moms I had met along the way to motherhood —as the primary source material.  It was scary.  It was uncomfortable.

Doubt surrounding motherhood is a taboo subject.  Images of idyllic moms and their babies are everywhere.  The iconography of picture-perfect motherhood fills our culture: perfect moms and perfect babies.  And yet what mother is actually picture-perfect?  In writing The Call, I try not to sugar-coat adoption or the prospect of parenting in general.  When it comes to adoption, many people ask “how can you raise someone else’s child?”  Answering—no, asking—this question is what this play is about.  I love my children more than anything else in the world and I can’t imagine life without them.  It was love at first sight.  But, I’d be lying if I said that I never stopped to question what I was doing and wonder if I was doing it “right.”  I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that self-doubt and tears didn’t accompany the joy and pride.

I’m a bi-racial gay woman, raised by a Caucasian mom and African-American stepdad (who was just Dad to me).  My family wasn’t picture-perfect.  My parents loved me—the same way I love my kids—more than anything else in the world.  Yet, from the time I was a baby, “political” was stamped on my forehead and became the fabric of my identity.  Today, many families are interracial through biology or adoption.  These cross-cultural bonds are still sometimes viewed through the lens of politics but for the most part we have come to understand that it is not politics, but love and care, that weave people together.  Four decades after I was born, Americans are redefining what it means to be a family, and I have found that today my “political” identity is personal to so many.

The Call is about adoption, yes. It’s about race, midlife, Africa and marriage. It’s also about taking a leap, as terrifying as it may be. It’s about stepping outside your comfort zone and committing to something bigger than yourself. It’s about recognizing the power of change and then actually doing it. About being an active member of society—the global society—and improving upon it. It’s about hearing the call to be something more, and then taking that call. As uncomfortable as it may be.

No, I didn’t want to write this play. But I’m certainly glad I did.

Tanya Barfield
December 2012

The Call
By Tanya Barfield
February 4-21, 2016
Buy Tickets Here

Many thanks to Playwrights Horizons for their permission to share this article. See more great content on their website playwrightshorizons.org.

Orlando ran November 5-22, 2015

Throughout the run of Orlando, Profile collected non-perishable food for the Oregon Food Bank.

The most-needed items are:

• canned meats (i.e., tuna, chicken, salmon)
• canned and boxed meals (i.e., soup, chili, stew, macaroni and cheese)
• peanut butter and other nut butters
• canned or dried beans and peas (i.e., black, pinto, lentils)
• pasta, rice, cereal canned fruits and vegetables
• 100 percent fruit or vegetable juice (canned, plastic or boxed)
• cooking oil
• shelf-stable milk

Artistic Director Adriana Baer will be departing Profile at the close of 2015.

“It has been an honor to serve Portland and its theatre community as Artistic Director of Profile, and to transition and grow this company to where it is now. Celebrating Profile’s featured writers with you has been a highlight of my tenure. Profile is on very strong footing and I have great confidence in where it is heading next. While being an administrative leader has been fulfilling in many ways, I am excited to return my focus to the rehearsal room and the classroom. I look forward to joining you as an audience member to applaud the beautiful work on Profile’s stages,” says Adriana.

All of us at Profile will greatly miss Adriana. She has been a visionary leader and gracefully navigated our theatre through challenging times. Since Adriana’s arrival in 2012, Profile moved into our new home at Artists Rep, expanded our education programs and launched our In Dialogue series. Behind the scenes, Adriana and Managing Director Matthew Jones have been hard at work creating systems to ensure Profile’s future success. Creating a multi-year strategic plan,  increasing the staff and nearly doubling the budget have put Profile on a secure foundation to move forward.

“Profile Theatre is truly unique – both in our community and nationally. I deeply believe in its mission and vision and in the wonderful staff and artists that work to bring the art to life,” says Adriana. She will remain involved with Profile as a consultant, helping to establish the company’s new play commissioning program.

A search committee has been formed and a national search has begun for our next Artistic Director.

An end-of-season open house is planned for December 14 to celebrate the significant work Adriana has accomplished with Profile. Stay tuned for more details!

By Marissa Ramirez, Community Engagement and Marketing Intern

Earlier this week I spent an afternoon sitting in on a rehearsal for Orlando.

Actors Crystal Munoz and Beth Thompson.

The afternoon started with a field trip to the stage where Orlando will be performing. It was many of the actors’ first time seeing the space and the partially constructed set. The stage manager encouraged the actors to explore the space, including the stage, the audience sitting areas, entrances and exits, and the backstage. After ten minutes of exploration, we headed back to the rehearsal studio where we spent the rest of the afternoon. The plan for the day was to do a run-through of the entire play, stopping as need to fix problematic areas. However, after five hours the cast had not even made it to intermission. Which was really interesting to watch.

Director Matthew B. Zrebski

A few people asked me throughout the day if I was having fun (pointedly, like they were expecting me to be bored out of my mind), and I was. I found it fascinating to watch as a scene started with a run-through, was teased apart, worked out, put back together and then run-through again, infinitely improved over the first run-through. I got to watch the actors and director find places to add comedy, add character growth, add meaning to great text. I might watch a scene five times in a row and it became funnier and funnier every time because the actors were making new choices, or timing was adjusted.

Ted Rooney, Crystal Munoz, Ben Newman and Beth Thompson.

I got to see adults roll around on the floor, speak in falsetto voices, and generally act like children. Of course I was having fun. There were even cookies. Anyway, after an hour of rehearsal we were still finishing up work on the first scene of the play, which is a serious testament to the total amount of work put into rehearsing an entire play.  The stage manager then called for a ten minute break (giving us time to enjoy the cookies) and then we were back to move on to the next scene.  The afternoon continued like that. Actors would run through a scene, the director would call “Hold!” He would make comments, suggestions, directions. Actors asked questions. The stage manager made notes. Actors re-set and began the scene again with adjustments. Actors called “Line!” (or random expletives). I took pictures. Of course I was having fun.