From the vault – Recorded nearly a year ago, Community Profile member (and 2024 gala performer) Jane Mantiri describes her father’s determination to bring his family to the United States, the dreams she put on hold until his passing, and her plans to return to her birth country of Indonesia to film a documentary about her story – a trip she just returned from!
Artistic Director Josh Hecht sits down with season featured playwright Lauren Yee to talk about her inspiration for the three plays Profile is presenting in our 3-day Lauren Yee Festival: Mother Russia, The Song of Summer, and Samsara. They also touch on how becoming a mother has affected Yee’s relationship with her work, and what it means to write outside one’s own experience or identity.
A behind-the-scenes look at awe/struck‘s video design process. A lot of people working in creative professions are increasingly wary of how Artificial Intelligence (AI) will affect their industry. awe/struck‘s video designer (Luke Norby) and creative technologist (Scott James) of Five OHM Productions are excited about all of the possibilities AI can offer and view it as a creative asset, rather than a threat.
Our season’s first episode of Satellite orbits awe/struck, the first of three world premieres Profile will produce this year. Satellite host and Director of Community Engagement Tamara Carroll grabs some time with playwright christopher oscar peña and director Josh Hecht (Artistic Director) on their meal break from rehearsal to discuss the play’s origins, its journey and evolution from a Profile staged reading to an imminent world premiere, and the play’s complex interplay of brutality and tenderness.
New York based director Ben Villegas Randle shares the parallels between the play, chris peña’s story, and his own, as well as his process for understanding the world of the play through concrete visual metaphor. This episode makes reference to negative stereotypes and attitudes towards Latiné immigrants, including those that exist within the Latiné community.
In part 2 of this three-part series orbiting How to Make An American Son, we chat with actor Matthew Sepeda, who plays the lead character Orlando in this production. Sepeda draws connections between his character and his own upbringing, and describes his experience portraying playwright christopher oscar peña as a teenager.
We kick off our 3-part series orbiting How to Make an American Son with playwright christopher oscar peña. In April, peña came to Portland to workshop his newest play, Our Orange Sky. Prior to his visit, Director of Community Engagement Tamara Carroll talked to him about what peña refers to as the “alternate metaverse version of my plays, where they are a fictitious but also factual take on me and my family.” Peña discusses the real life story that inspired American Son, the variables of power and privilege, and why he calls the play “a love letter to my father.”
How to Make An American Son runs June 8-25, 2023 at Imago Theatre.
In part 2 of the Playwright Convening Satellite series, we hear reflections on the week’s work from the playwrights and workshop directors.
In the first half, Director of Community Engagement, Tamara Carroll, sits down with christopher oscar peña and Kristoffer Diaz at the end of their week-long Portland residency, where they workshopped two plays that will enjoy their world premieres at Profile next season – our orange sky, and Reggie Hoops.
In the second half, we hear from directors Leah C. Gardiner and Dámaso Rodríguez about their techniques for effectively staging a reading specifically for the purpose of helping the playwrights develop their work.
In this episode, Artistic Director Josh Hecht helps position the Convening, both within The American Generation season, and in Profile’s own history. Following that, Kristoffer Diaz (Chad Deity, Welcome to Arroyos) describes the evolution of his new play Reggie Hoops, and christopher oscar peña shares just how closely his art imitates his life in both How to Make an American Son, and our orange sky.
