I wrote the first draft of Spain in early 2021. Theater was shut down. Nearly all of the industries that not only employed me, but also gave me purpose and meaning and community, had been shut down. Our larger systems as well appeared to be crumbling: health care, the government. It was hard to get up and just keep doing the daily things I was doing in the face of what felt like an existential re-examination of our individual and collective values. Why do any of it at all? What did any of it mean?
For me, the answer became intrinsically tied to the conversations I was having – across time and space – with novels and plays and poems and movies and music. The ways in which people who had gone before me were speaking back to me, telling their stories in a moment in which I was desperate to hear them. Desperate to understand how other humans had watched the bedrock under their lives crumbling, and then re-assembled it all. Or, even more daringly, how they had jettisoned and rebuilt.
Spain is set against the backdrop of the Spanish Civil War. In the 1930s, Stalinist Russia funded an American documentary film as an active piece of propaganda. It was helmed by Dutch-filmmaker Joris Ivens, who hired Ernest Hemingway as the ultra-American vox populi that would draw attention and therefore help direct American funds toward the Spanish Republican government (who, though it had labelled itself the “Democratically elected” government, was being operated like a puppet by the Russians.)
There is a version of this play that is about political chess-games. There is a version that is about how sometimes we don’t even know the masters for whom we work. (Hemingway did not seem to understand the context in which he was operating… or being operated.) Oddly, neither of these versions was the one that I attached to first. For me, Spain began as a play about how desperately we need to tell stories. Even when those stories are politically circumscribed, even when they get increasingly corrupted, even as they travel further from our control and therefore from our intention, the storytelling instinct itself is so necessary to our happiness.
Even if our imaginations are corrupted by the systems that have formed us. Even if we are desperately seeking and failing to dream outside what we know. Even if limitations have been imposed on us and we are acceding to them. Even then, I have come to believe there is a spell-casting, world-bending, generative capacity inside story-telling. We are changed by the stories we tell and the stories we consume. Sometimes we are changed by inches and sometimes by miles. And if it can only be inches… well, inches add up, over time.
Brian | as Dos Brian is thrilled to be making his Profile Theatre debut. Originally from California, he is a graduate of The American Academy of Dramatic Arts, NY. Locally he has worked with, Clackamas Rep., Lakewood, Milagro Theater, Portland Panto Players, and Mt. Hood Rep. Most recently he appeared in, As You Like It, with The Rose City Stage Company, of which he is a founding member. He would like to thank Stav, Toni, and Penny for the constant love, and support.
Adrian | as Karl Adrian Rosales, baritone, holds a Master of Music in Vocal Arts/Opera from the University of Southern California. Recent appearances include Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia with Opera Bend, Schaunard in La Bohème with Portland Opera, Guglielmo in Così fan tutte with Cascadia Chamber Opera, Mark in José “Pepe” Martínez’s Cruzar la cara de la luna with Opera in the Park Portland, and his straight-theatre debut as Trotter in Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap with Mask & Mirror Community Theatre. Upcoming engagements include solos in Haydn’s Theresienmesse with Eugene Concert Choir, Lena Gabriela Frank’s Conquest Requiem with Resonance Ensemble, and the Count in Le Nozze di Figaro with Opera Bend. He has been praised for his “comedic physicality” by The Boston Musical Intelligencer and for his “good-natured virility and…powerful baritone” by the Bend Bulletin. Rosales is represented by James Greening-Valenzuela of Vocal Artist Management Services. Learn more at adrian-rosales.art.
Jason | as Ernest Jason is thrilled to return to the Oregon stage in his Profile Theatre debut as Hemingway. He was previously seen at Oregon Shakespeare Festival ‘King Henry Vi pt.1’, ‘Richard III’, ‘Doctor Faustus’, ‘King Lear’, and ‘Much Ado…’. TV credits include roles on Grimm, Westworld, and recurring on Shameless. An accomplished Spoken Word Poet, Jason has toured nationally, performing at over 60 venues nationwide, including the Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s Juneteenth Celebration, The Nuyorican Poet’s Cafe, and Chicago’s Green Mill, as well being runner-up in the 2009 Individual World Poetry Slam. Hemingway went to Spain to shed light on a free people’s struggle against fascism. In that light, Jason would like to dedicate this performance to the people of Palestine in their resistance against genocide. May Palestine be free in this lifetime. Learn more about the artist at jasonmcbeth.com
Cycerli | as Helen Cycerli has been blessed to work for Warner Brothers, Lionsgate and her most recent movie released on Amazon prime called Cellar Door starring Laurence Fishburne. This summer (2026) she was honored to star as Mayor Rebecca Grimes in the thriller America’s Favorite starring Dennis Quaid and Dane Dahhan. She’s been seen on Hulu (Pretty Little Liars), TVone (Skinned),BET (Tales) , Amazon prime (The City) She gives all glory to God and is very blessed to do what she loves for a living 🙂 A few Theatre credits: Paradise Blue (Silver) Portland Playhouse, Mrs. Harrison (Aisha), dr. Van Helsing (Dracula ) PCS. Cycerli has taught at Portland State University and George Fox University respectively. She has her MFA in Acting from the University of Tennessee and her BA in Theatre from Rutgers University where she was also a Division 1 athlete in Track and Field. Cycerli has graced many stages. Other credits include: What I learned in Paris (Evie) Penumbra Theatre, Sweat (Cynthia) The Denver Center and Profile Theatre, Spunk (Delia, Missy Mae) Kenny Leon True Colors, a Christmas Carol (Scrooge) Portland Playhouse, Seven Guitars (Vera) Passin Arts. She has worked for The Red Door Project, The Alliance theater, Dominion, and Clarence Brown theater. Fun fact: Black belt in Hapkido.
Solomon Weisbard | Lighting Design Mentor Solomon has created original works in drama, opera, dance, installation, and music across the U.S., Canada, Dominican Republic, Germany, Greece, Italy, Russia, and Slovenia. In addition to being a core collaborator with legendary director Robert Wilson, New York credits include Macbeth (with John Doyle at Classic Stage); The Shape of Things (with Carrie Mae Weems/Park Avenue Armory); Duat (Soho Rep); Men on Boats (World Premiere: Playwrights Horizons/Clubbed Thumb); and associate lighting design for the Tony Award-winning Broadway revival of Jitney. Regionally: Arden, Berkshire Theatre Group, Magic, Merry-Go-Round, Miami New Drama, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Pasadena Playhouse, Pittsburgh Public, Portland Stage, TheatreSquared, Westport, Writers, and Yale Rep. Locally: Broadway Rose, OrpheusPDX, Pickathon, Portland Center Stage, Portland Opera, Portland Playhouse, Third Rail. Solomon is Associate Director of the School of Music & Theater at Portland State University where he seeks to support the next-generation of diverse theater-makers. BFA: Ithaca College, MFA: Yale School of Drama.
Samantha Kemp | Lighting Designer Samantha “Sam” Kemp is a Portland-based creator, artist, and lighting designer for live performance. Born and raised in the tiny town of Lindenhurst, New York before moving to Las Vegas in her adolescence, Sam has always managed to weasel her way into artful spaces despite cultural pressures to stick to the status quo. Design credits include Recent Tragic Events with Third Rail Repertory Theatre, Les Misérables and 8-Track: Sounds of the 70’s at The Broadway Rose, Chekhov!: 3 Farces and The Other Place at 21ten, and Design for Living at Imago Theatre. Additionally, she has acted as an assistant and associate designer for many other works, including Infinite Life designed by Solomon Weisbard with Third Rail Repertory Theatre and Amélie designed by Dan Meeker at Portland Playhouse.
Colin Herring* | Stage Manager Colin is thrilled to be stage managing for Profile for the first time, after being the Line Producer and Production Manager at the organization for more than a year and a half. Beyond their experience with the company as the production manager, you would have recently seen their work as a stage manager for Corrib Theatre’s Stilt as well as Spear, both new contemporary Irish works. In addition to all of their collaboration at Corrib Theatre, Colin house and stage manages around town, as well as does event stage management for companies like OneSource Strategy and Portland Queer Arts. As a proud creative facilitator and collaborator, he is really excited to bring his stage management skills to a company that he loves and cherishes, and hopes you enjoy the show!
*Appearing through an agreement between Profile Theatre and Actors’ Equity Association, the union of professional performers and stage managers in the United States.
Madeleine Tran | Fight & Intimacy Direction Madeleine Tran is a Vietnamese-American soprano, actor, fight choreographer, and occasional street and festival performer. She was born in Tacoma, WA but studied voice at the University of Portland under Dr. Nicole Hanig. Madeleine also studies and teaches stage combat under the mentorship of Kristen Mun. She has performed locally with many companies, including ART, Profile Theater, Third Rail Repertory, Portland Center Stage, Shaking The Tree, Portland Opera, and Renegade Opera.
Nick Ong* | THERAPIST / MOM / COUSIN CHEN / MATCHMAKER Nick Ong is an NYC-based actor, originally from the Bay Area. He is extremely excited to be returning to Profile Theatre, after previously making his debut as Actor 1 in King of the Yees. Some other favorite theatre credits include: Lysander/Flute in Midsummer (Tiltyard) at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival; Fedotik/Ferapont in Madeleine George’s world-premiere translation of Three Sisters (Two River Theater), and Henry in Another Revolution (Ensemble Studio Theatre). Nick received his B.A. in Theatre from The George Washington University. He is also a crewneck enthusiast. A romcom lover. A believer in the top button. And a theater aisle sitter. All the love to his teammates. nickong.com
*Appearing through an agreement between Profile Theatre and Actors’ Equity Association, the union of professional performers and stage managers in the United States.
