Jolly Wrapper, That’s “Wrapper” With A “W”! is a Portland-based musical performer, spoken word poet, and visual artist. His work often draws inspiration from personal experiences, interests, people, systems, and social injustices, which he has encountered and observed throughout his life. Although not confined to any one particular genre of music, his most popular songs usually consist of Hip-Hop Rap and Bedroom-Pop.
He’s very established in the local area both as a Portland Poet, and also as an up-and-coming artist in the Portland rap scene as well. He’s not only performed all over Portland, some of his most notable out of town performances were, Houston Texas, Las Vegas Nevada, and one of his biggest feats yet was being flown out by the Smithsonian Institution, located in Washington DC to give a musical performance for the launch of Open Access, the releasing of the Smithsonian’s digital archives to the public.
He enjoys metal detecting, collecting coins, polishing rocks, and his favorite snack is cilantro! His biggest strengths are being creative and problem-solving. Through art and self-expression, he will change the world. When we asked him how he felt he hit us with his famous catchphrase, “I’m Feelin’ Jolly!”
Support him and he’ll support you!
Follow him on Instagram @JollyWrapper
Nel is thrilled to be returning to the stage for the first time in years for this special event! Previous performance credits include; performing for His Holiness the Dalai Lama, collaborating with David Foster, recording with MAH Records, and performing with Radio Disney.
In more recent years Nel has performed in rock bands and solo as a vocalist/bassist/ukulele artist. You can often find them on the Alberta Street Pub stage, or at karaoke. Nel is currently pursuing their other passion in fundraising at Partners for a Hunger-Free Oregon, and is the Front of House Coordinator at Profile Theatre.
DJ is thrilled to perform on this special evening. Most recently, reviving the titular role in Hedwig and the An. gry Inch at Portland Center Stage at the Armory, DJ is honored to revisit the immensely moving piece that was his start with Profile. DJ has been fortunate to perform at New York Fashion Week, alongside members of the North Carolina Symphony through the Manning Chamber Seiries, and with Sally Struthers in Always…Patsy Cline.
Some other notable credits in Portland include Curious Incident of the Dog In the Night time at Portland Center Stage at the Armory, Crowns at Portland Playhouse, and Ghosted with Oregon Children’s Theatre. This is sure to be a wonderful celebration of Profile’s contributions to theatre thus far, and he is honored and humbled to be in attendance. Here’s to many more years of moving stories!
Alex Ramirez de Cruz is originally from Ventura, California but has settled in Portland as an area actor, deviser, singer and theatre-maker. Favorite credits include: Teenage Dick (Artist Repertory Theatre), Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again. (Third Rail Repertory Theatre), This Girl… (COHO Theatre), 26 Miles (Profile Theatre), The Oregon Trail (Portland Center Stage), db (COHO Theatre), Passion Play (Shaking The Tree & Profile Theatre).
She is dedicated to creating original devised theatre and is a proud member of String House, an independent producing title and new works laboratory, nominated for two Drammy Awards for “Best Devised Production.” When she is not onstage, Alex is busy being a coding wizard, embroidering and cuddling her animals and wife.
Jennifer Perrine is the author of three previous books of poetry, most recently No Confession, No Mass (University of Nebraska Press), winner of the Publishing Triangle Audre Lorde Award and the Prairie Schooner Book Prize.
Perrine’s other books include In the Human Zoo (University of Utah Press), which was selected for the Agha Shahid Ali Poetry Prize, and The Body Is No Machine (New Issues). A recipient of fellowships from Literary Arts and the Vermont Studio Center, Perrine lives in Portland, Oregon.
Ngozi Anyanwu Education: University of California San Diego’s (MFA acting) Point Park University (B.A) Acting :The Pittsburgh Public Theatre, Barrington Stage, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater and The Mark Taper Forum. TV credits: Limitless, Deadbeat, The Affair Law and Order SVU and Mysteries of Laura and the upcoming HBO show The Deuce. Producer: National Black Theatre Producing Fellow. Associate Artistic Producer of Now Africa’s Playwrights Festival. She is also on the Literary committee of the Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre. Director: She Gon Learn, by Lisa Strum for the Emerging Arts Festival, United Solo Festival, National Black Theater.
Playwrighting:Good Grief, Nike and The Homecoming Queen. Good Grief was presented as part of the Rising Circle Collective’s 6th annual Ink Tank. Most recently Good Grief won the Inaugural CTG/Humanitas Award. And had a world premiere at the CTG/Kirk Douglas Theatre in the 2016/17 season as well as being listed in the 2016 annual Kilroy’s List and was a semi finalist for the Princess a Grace. NIKE was recently presented as part of the National Black Theatre’s Keep Soul Alive Monday Reading Series and The NewBlack Fest in conjunction with The Lark Playwrighting Development Center.
An excerpt of The Homecoming Queen was developed as part of The Fire This Time’s Inaugural’s Writers group, Page 73’s summer residency and The New Harmony Project. The Homecoming Queen will have a world premiere at The Atlantic Theatre in the 17/18 season and is a Leah Ryan Finalist. Anyanwu is also a recipient of the Mimi Steinberg Award, The Djerassi Artist Residency, as well as Space on Ryder Farm and the LCT Playwrights Residency and The Founders Award with New York Stage and Film.
Anya Pearson is an award-winning actress, playwright, poet, screenwriter, producer, and activist. She was the inaugural winner of the $10,000 Voice is a Muscle Grant from the Corporeal Voices Foundation run by best-selling author Lidia Yuknavitch. The award was given to a writer of color from Oregon who demonstrated exemplary merit (Made to Dance in Burning Buildings) and a passion for social justice.
Made to Dance in Burning Buildings, is a fusion of poetry, theatre, and violent and visceral contemporary dance, which poses the question: how do we heal from trauma? Made to Dance in Burning Buildings played to a sold out house at Joe’s Pub at The Public Theater in April 2018 and received its World Premiere at Shaking The Tree Theatre February – March 2019, (Drammy Award for Best Choreography) where Anya was the Playwright-in-Residence for the 2018-2019 season.
Anya is working on a series of projects (in addition to Made to Dance) aimed at empowering other survivors of sexual violence (especially survivors of color), raising awareness around the lasting effects of PTSD and trauma, and fighting back against rape culture. They include: a collection of poetry, a TV show, a documentary, a memoir, and a guide to healing for survivors co-authored with a leading therapist. It is a huge part of her life’s mission as an artist, an activist, and a survivor to create a more just world for survivors of sexual violence, one in which they are allowed to thrive, not just fight for survival.
C. Julian Jiménez (a.k.a. J. Julian Christopher) is a Queer, Puerto Rican and Dominican playwright. He holds an MFA in Acting from The New School for Drama. Playwriting awards include: New Dramatist Residency (Class of 2025), 2019/2020 Rita Goldberg Playwrights’ Workshop Fellow at The Lark, 2017 & 2018 Pipeline Theatre Company PlayLab, 2018 LaGuardia Community College’s LGBTQ History Project Grant, 2015 Queens Arts Council Grant, 2009 Public Theater Emerging Writers Group, and 2014 Best New Work Motif Award.
Productions include: Man Boobs (Pride Films & Plays, 2011), Nico was a Fashion Model (Counter-Productions, 2013), Animals Commit Suicide (First Floor Theater, 2015), Locusts Have No King (INTAR, 2016), Bundle of Sticks (INTAR, 2020), and Alligator Mouth, Tadpole Ass (Theatre Rhinoceros, 2020). He wrote the book for LatinXoxo at Joe’s Pub in 2019. Other plays include anOTHER, ¡OSO FABULOSO! & The Bear Backs, Julio Down by the Schoolyard, and Bruise & Thorn (2018 PlayPenn Conference). He is a co-producer and co-writer of the hit web series, Bulk, and an Associate Professor of Theatre at Queensborough Community College.
Lisa Loomer is an American playwright and screenwriter who has also worked as an actress and stand-up comic. She is best known for her play The Waiting Room (1994), in which three women from different time periods meet in a modern doctor’s waiting room, each suffering from the effects of their various societies’ cosmetic body modification practices (foot binding, corsetry, and breast implantation).
She also co-wrote the screenplay for the film Girl Interrupted. Many of her plays deal with the experiences of Latinas and immigrant characters. Others deal with social and political issues through the lens of contemporary family life. Beyond that, Loomer’s play The Waiting Room discusses issues such as body image, breast cancer, and non-Western medicine.
VICTOR I. CAZARES (they/them) is a non-binary Poz Queer Indigenous Mexican Artist (enby PQIMA for short) who has had stints at Yale, Brown and other less prestigious centers of rehabilitation. Like any border child, they were born twice: once in El Paso, Texas and another in San Lorenzo, Chihuahua. During the pandemic, Victor debuted virtually at Carnegie Hall as part of the Voices of Hope Festival in partnership with National Queer Theater and The LGBT Center.
They also teach a tuition-free class for emerging immigrant playwrights as part of PEN America’s DREAMing Out Loud program. Plays include: american (tele)visions and Pinching Pennies with Penny Marshall (NYTW); Ramses contra los monstruos, We Were Eight Years in Powder and «when we write with ashes» (NQT and Lincoln Center Restart Stages). Victor is currently the Tow Playwright-in-Residence at New York Theatre Workshop.
