Three Amazing Interpreted Shows This Week

Sometimes we have to make choices and sometimes we spend three days in a row at the theater! Make this a 'three interpreted shows in three days' week if you can.  All three shows have a run time of around 90 minutes.

These three plays explore:
- Portland Playhouse's "Wakey, Wakey" - What are we here for?  You just might be surprised!
- Portland Center Stage's "A Life" - What is the meaning of life? It's not as serious as it seems.
- Profile Theatre's "Fires in the Mirror" -  Death, retaliation and contemporary ethnic turmoil.

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Portland Playhouse presents an interpreted performance of

Written by Will Eno

LOCATION: 602 NE Prescott St, Portland, Oregon 97211

DATE & TIME: Wednesday, October 17th at 7:30 pm

INTERPRETERS: Dot Hearn and Carli Jones

ASL tickets are $25 (choose the ASL option when ordering online)

What are we here for? Is time a friend or an enemy? Do we all eventually end up in the same place, but take different routes to get there? This funny, moving, and thought-provoking new play challenges the notion of what really matters and recognizes the importance of life’s simple pleasures. (All of which might sound dreary, but there’s a chance this will be a really good experience.)

Critics' Pick! "Profoundly moving!"
- Ben Brantley, The New York Times

"A work of humor, humanity and grace."
- Frank Rizzo, Variety

"Alive with rippling depths of sorrow and warming currents of bliss."
- David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter

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Portland Center Stage at The Armory presents
an interpreted performance of

Written by Adam Bock

LOCATION: 128 NW 11th  Portland OR 97209
[in the Ellen Bye Studio, lower level]

DATE & TIME: Thursday, October 18th at 7:30 pm

INTERPRETERS: Kassie Hughes and Andrew Weaver

TICKETS: Use promo code SIGN to get right seats, right price  (28.50)

A wickedly funny play about the meaning of life. Nate Martin is hopelessly single. When his most recent breakup casts him into a funk, he turns to the only source of wisdom he trusts: the stars. Poring over astrological charts, he obsessively questions his past and his place in the cosmos. The answer he gets is shockingly obvious — and totally unpredictable.

" Exquisite in detail and throws a jaw-dropping curveball.” —Time Out New York

Commissioned by Portland Center Stage at The Armory | West Coast Premiere!

Run Time: Approximately one hour and 25 minutes, no intermission. 

Note: Recommended for ages 13 and up. Contains adult situations and language. Children under 6 are not permitted at any production at The Armory.

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Profile Theatre presents an interpreted performance of

the Pulitzer Prize finalist

Written by Anna Deavere Smith

LOCATION: 1515 SW Morrison, Portland OR 97205
[on the Morrison Stage, upper level, in the ART Hub]

DATE & TIME: Friday, October 19th at 7:30 pm

INTERPRETER: Richard Hall

TICKETS: Call the Box Office to get ASL seating ($20)

503.242.0080

In August 1991 simmering tensions in the racially polarized Brooklyn, New York neighborhood of Crown Heights exploded into riots after an African-American boy was killed by a car in a rabbi’s motorcade and a Jewish student was slain in retaliation. Pulitzer Prize-finalist Fires in the Mirror is dramatist Anna Deavere Smith’s stunning exploration of the events and emotions leading up to and following the Crown Heights conflict. Through her portrayals of more than two dozen adversaries, victims, and eyewitnesses, using verbatim excerpts from their observations derived from interviews she conducted, Smith provides a brilliant, Rashoman-like documentary portrait of contemporary ethnic turmoil.

“Quite simply the most compelling and sophisticated view of urban racial and class conflict that one could hope to encounter.” –New York Times
Run Time: approximately 105 minutes, no intermission

"As on the Stage: Increasing the Diversity of Performance ASL Interpreters"

Training Opportunity for Interpreters of Color

Do you have an interest, or potential interest, in performance interpreting? Would you like to explore what is involved and earn some CEUs?

I am offering a performance interpreting training for interpreters of color which officially starts next week (the week of October 1, 2018) - with watching the interpreted performance of The Color Purple* (*no cost to workshop participants, see details and an overview below).

My RACC grant application for "As on the Stage: Increasing the Diversity of Performance ASL Interpreters" - a training for POC interpreters, was approved - which means that the cost of this workshop/training is free for Interpreters of Color. The training includes discussion and instruction, as well as hands-on experience and watching other performance interpreters do the work. The interpreters involved in the the hands-on "internship" shows will be paid, thanks to the grant. The grant will also cover the cost of tickets to see the interpreted shows, so there will be no out of pocket expense to you.

The culmination of the training is preparing to interpret and interpreting "Crowns" at Portland Playhouse in March. For this, Pam Cancel will be coming up to Portland to be the primary mentor in that show preparation; and the 4-5 of the participants who interpret that show will all be paid performance interpreter rates. Pam will be involved at other times, as well; the how and when are being worked out.

There is no obligation in terms of future performance interpreting work. We need POC interpreters in the theater and I hope that you will find it fun and want to join us! If you want to check it out, give it a try, email me with any questions or to sign up **with IOC training in the subject line.

The basics:

- there will be a total of 15 hours of in-person workshop spread out, starting in October and going into March (process of preparation, resources, tips and tools, practice with source material, and so on). Participation in this training is free for POC Interpreters. 

- attend the interpreted performance of "The Color Purple" at Portland Center Stage on Thu 10/4 at 7:30 pm. The cost of tickets for participants is covered by the grant. The reason I hope everyone can make this show is because the story was written by a POC playwright about POC experience, with POC actors and POC interpreters (Pam and Edwin Cancel are coming up from Ashland). If a participant cannot attend this performance, another one will be substituted.

- Participants will observe two interpreted performances, hopefully The Color Purple will be one, plus one more, between Oct-Mar (there are more than 15 to choose from in that time frame).

- participants will do a hands-up internship on one interpreted performance prior to "Crowns" : the two selected shows are "Twist Your Dickens" on 12/13/18 @7:30pm and "Sense & Sensibility" on 1/31/19 @7:30pm. These internships are paid, thanks to the grant. (If neither of those work, we will negotiate a different play.)  Preference for these hands-on internship positions will be given to interpreters with more than two years of interpreting experience. Newer POC interpreters are absolutely welcome at the training; and there will be additional internship opportunities if needed so that everyone has the hands-on experience.

- several participants (probably 4) will interpret "Crowns" on March 20th @7:30pm. We'll be adding Pam Cancel as mentor and she will be in town for a week to work with those interpreters. All interpreters will be paid regular performance interpreting rate, thanks to the grant.

- CEU approval is pending. This is most likely going to be done as PINRA due to an emergency with the original sponsor. As of now, the estimated CEU total is 3 (not interpreting Crowns) to 4 (interpreting Crowns). The grant covers all costs associated with CEU processing. 

stickers available at  HandSCreationsShop on Etsy

PICA's TBA: 3 interpreted shows

*

As a part of their annual TBA* Festival , PICA** presents three interpreted performances

*Time-Based Art

**Portland Institute for Creative Art

Sat 9/8 "Jack &"

Wed 9/12 "Unexploded Ordnances (UXO)"

Fri 9/14 "Album"

Sat 9/8 "Jack &"

at PORTLAND’5: WINNINGSTAD THEATRE  1111 SW Broadway, Portland OR

6:30 pm

tickets $20-25

JACK & is a stand-up routine turned sitcom baking fiasco that mingles cakes and kitchen disasters, recipes and remedies, jokes, and goldfish to paint the portrait of a dream interrupted and resumed. The comedy of errors is structured on social codes and training from prison reentry programs to debutante balls. The performance considers re-entry to society after prison, focusing not the time one has served but the measure of one’s dreaming that is given to the state.


“Jack” works the night shift at an industrial bakery. He returns home to bake a cake for his wife “Jill”; “Jack” ends up whirling through a dance—part dream, part ritual—re-entering his own internal life. The performance draws on aspirational class stories like those in The Honeymooners and Amos & Andy; the paintings of Agnes Martin, Ellen Gallagher and Ruth Azawa; tigers in Harlem; real and imagined entering society ceremonies like Cotillion balls; and markers of transition from John Canoe traditions, to the mirroring and mimicry found in African American dance pageantry of the late nineteenth Century.

Wed 9/12 "Unexploded Ordnances (UXO)"

at ARTISTS REPERTORY THEATRE  1515 SW Morrison St, Portland OR

7:30 pm

tickets $25-35

Combining a Dr. Strangelove-inspired performance with a daring forum for public conversation, Unexploded Ordnances (UXO) explores aging, anxiety, hidden desires, and how to look forward when the future is uncertain. Adopting the characters of a bombastic general and an ineffectual president, Peggy Shaw and Lois Weaver of the performance troupe Split Britches lace this interactive piece with playful urgency and lethargy, to encourage discussion about the political landscape. In the “Situation Room,” twelve audience members are invited to become a Council of Elders to discuss the global issues of the day, as the company weaves in satirical insights and humour. The two pioneering theatre-makers see undisturbed ordnances as a metaphor for the disregarded potential in elders, and hope to uncover buried resources in us all.

Founded in New York in 1980 with Deb Margolin, Split Britches continues with the duo and solo work of Lois Weaver and Peggy Shaw which spans satirical, gender-bending performance, methods for public engagement, videography, digital and print media, explorations of aging and well-being, and iconic lesbian-feminist theatre.

Fri 9/14 "Album"

at PICA  15 NE Hancock St., Portland OR

8:30 pm

tickets $16-20

US WEST COAST PREMIERE ALBUM is a solo performance that unites text, song, and dance inside of the content of an album—a picture album, a song album, an autobiographical album, a herstorical album—and the work finds ways to be an archive, or altar, for Valencia’s body. Through factual, humorous, and grave observations, a frame of self-identification is established and charged with the task to preserve and perform a self herstory as an album in image and song. Valencia’s relationship to urbanity, vampires, love, and marginality arise with equal importance as she orbits the primary curiosity: Who will write herstory? ALBUM starts this process—so the author of Valencia’s herstory can have good notes.

2018-19 Short List of Interpreted Dates

A quick list of interpreted performances and cultural events for the 2018-19 season. Also check for updates and more information at PAIA on Facebook, as well as Dot Hearn's events for future shows. This list will be updated as interpreted performances are added during the season. (updated 10/21/18)

[name links connect to event webpage]

*

2018

NOVEMBER

___ PCC     11/17   A Midsummer Night's Dream *at 7:00 pm*

DECEMBER
___BOOM 12/01    Longing Lasts Longer & The Girl Who Knew Too Much
___ PCS     12/06    A Christmas Memory & Winter Song  

___ PROF  12/07    In The Wake   

___ PPH     12/08    A Christmas Carol  *matinee*  

___ PPH     12/12    A Christmas Carol  *evening*  

___ PCS     12/13    Twist Your Dickens 
___NWCT 12/22     Mary Poppins

2019

JANUARY
___ PCS    01/31    Sense & Sensibility

FEBRUARY
___ PPH     02/06    No Candy

___ PCS     02/07    Buyer & Cellar 

___PROF   02/15    Ping Chong & Company
___NWCT 02/16    The Starlings Present: Dinosaurs!

___CORR  02/22    Four Last Things

MARCH
___ PCS     03/14    Tiny Beautiful Things 

___ PCC    03/14     Cyclops (matinee at 11 AM)

___ PPH     03/20    Crowns   

APRIL
___ PCS     04/04    Until the Flood 

___CORR  04/27     How to Keep an Alien

MAY
___ PCS     05/02    Crossing Mnisose 
___NWCT 05/04    Tenali: The Royal Trickster

___BOOM 05/11    PRIMER FOR A FAILED SUPERPOWER
___ PCC    05/18     Jesus Christ Superstar

___ PCS     05/23    The Breath of Life

___ PROF  05/24    Let Me Down Easy   *performed at Portland Playhouse*  

___ PROF  05/31    Well    *performed at Portland Playhouse*      

JUNE
___ PCS    06/13    Native Gardens

Key to Theatre Company Abbreviations

PCS : Portland Center Stage at The Armory
PPH : Portland Playhouse
PROF : Profile Theatre
BOOM : Boom Arts
CORR : Corrib Theatre
NWCT: Northwest Children's Theater and School
PCC    : Portland Community College, Sylvania
TBA    : PICA's T:BA:18 Festival

Previous interpreted performances for current season

SEPTEMBER
___ TBA    09/08   Jack &
___ TBA    09/12   Unexploded Ordnances (UXO)
___ TBA    09/14   Album 

OCTOBER

___ PCS     10/04    The Color Purple  

___ NWCT 10/06    Elephant & Piggie's We Are In A Play
___ PPH     10/17    Wakey, Wakey 

___ PCS     10/18    A Life 

___ PROF  10/19    Fires in the Mirror 

JAW: The Fun Begins!

Portland Center Stage at The Armory
128 NW Eleventh NW Ave
Portland OR

Heads up! 

The playwrights are in town; rehearsals and revision begin on Monday, July 16th.

All staged readings on the Big Weekend will be interpreted.

A Playwright Festival

FREE and open to the public. No reservations needed!

The Big Weekend

The JAW Big Weekend features public readings of the four new works selected by the JAW reading committee, presented at 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, July 28 and 29. Kicking off the festivities,  Friday, July 27 at 8 p.m., is the work of this year’s Promising Playwrights.

All of the staged readings will be interpreted

Friday, July 27

• Promising Playwrights Kickoff Event 8 p.m. | Ellyn Bye Studio 

Saturday July 28

• three girls never learnt the way home by Matthew Paul Olmos 4 p.m. 
• The Tasters by Meghan Brown 8 p.m.  

Sunday, July 29

• Pick a Color by Emily Feldman 4 p.m.  
• The Birds of Empathy by Clarence Coo 8 p.m.  

More information is available about these plays at

Performing Arts Interpreting Alliance's page in Facebook (paiaPDX)

 Portland Center Stage's JAW webpage

reminder: WE CAN LISTEN : I AM A SURVIVOR 6/12/18

      We Can Listen and Urban Haiku presents:

Empowering Survivors of Sexual Violence & their Allies

at The Old Church Concert Hall

11th Ave, Portland, Oregon 97201

Tuesday, June 12th at 7:00 pm

FREE - ages 18+

The presentations and the panel will be ASL interpreted.

Performance interpreter: Dot Hearn

Panel discussion interpreters: Dot Hearn and Dana Walls

Screenings of socially conscious art, a talk by artist Anya Pearson, 

and a panel discussion, which ask the question: 

How do we heal from trauma?

Anya Pearson is an award-winning actress, playwright, poet, producer and activist living and working in Portland.

Anya is the author of the choreopoem, Made to Dance in Burning Buildings, which is a fusion of poetry, theatre, and violent and visceral contemporary dance which explores PTSD and trauma. The showcase production of Made to Dance in Burning Buildings recently played to a sold-out house at Joe's Pub at The Public Theater in New York City. NY Theatre Critic, Anthony J. Piccione, called it a "standout." The World Premiere of Made to Dance in Burning Buildings will take place at Shaking the Tree Theatre in Portland in February 2019. She is also producing a documentary, which follows the development of the play as well as her passionate quest to empower other survivors. The documentary will also feature the stories of other survivors.

Anya's latest piece, Above a Whisper, is a fusion of poetry, narrative, dance, visual art, and film about Sexual Harassment. An excerpt of this full-length piece debuted at Shaking the Tree's SALT in May 2018 in Portland, Oregon. 

Anya is the inaugural winner of the prestigious $10,000 Voice is a Muscle Grant from the Corporeal Voices Foundation ran by best-selling author Lidia Yuknavitch. Anya has recently received a $10,000 commission from Bag & Baggage Theatre in Hillsboro to adapt Measure for Measure with an African-American lens focused on the prison industrial complex. As an actress, she has appeared in numerous regional theater productions as well as independent films. She is a proud member of Actors’ Equity Association. Her poems have been published in the literary journals Elohi Gadugi and M Review. Her poem, “The Accomplice” was also featured in the BaseRoots Theatre Company main stage show, My Soul Grown Deep, which she also co-produced. She is a graduate of the prestigious two-year program at the William Esper Studio in New York City where she studied acting with Terry Knickerbocker. She is also a graduate of the writing program at Marylhurst University. Her best production is truly her 5 ½ year old daughter, Aidan.

We Can Listen is funded in part by The Old Church Concert Hall and RACC and strives to build community, educate, and share the positive impact that truly listening to diverse voices can have on us all. Through a cultural intersection of storytelling, film, music, and personal expression we support individuals and grassroots organizations as they raise their voices on compelling social justice issues Portlanders have demonstrated are important to them. We hope these persona stories will reach audiences they haven’t reached before, and provide the opportunity, for all who hear them, to increase their understanding of issues that require action and awareness in our greater community.

Moderated by Grammy-nominated local recording artist and theatrical performer, Julianne R. Johnson, each We Can Listen event explores a topic of current, social, political, or environmental importance in an atmosphere of trust and respect for both speakers and audience alike.

reminder: 5/19 "Bus Stop" - interpreted performance

Portland Community College presents
an interpreted performance of

Bus Stop

by William Inge

DATE & TIME: Saturday, May 19, 2018 at 7:00 pm

LOCATION: Sylvania Campus, Performing Arts Center

                     12000 SW 49th Ave. Portland, OR 97219

TICKETS: $5 - $10 at the door (see details below)

INTERPRETERS: Marie Groshans & Dana Walls

"Bus Stop" is set in a diner about 25 miles west of Kansas City in early March 1955. A freak snowstorm has halted the progress of the bus, and the eight characters (five on the bus) have a weather-enforced layover in the diner from approximately 1 to 5 a.m. The characters pass the time exploring their unique lives, loves and challenges to great humor, drama and intrigue.

The production is appropriate for ages 10 and older, and contains light violence and some verbal sexual references.

Running time is 90 minutes, with no intermission.

Tickets on sale at the door - cash or check only.
Students, seniors, veterans, PCC alumnae and staff: $5
PCC retired staff: Free with ID
All others: $10 (except where noted on special event performances)

With our 400 seat theatre there are always tickets available at the walk-up box office in the PAC lobby one hour before the performance is scheduled to begin. Please use cash or check only.

There is no assigned seating and plenty of room for groups to sit together, as well as family and friends to accompany wheelchair seating. Our back rows are reserved for wheelchair, limited mobility patrons and late seating.

5/8/18: Laughter, Access, Diversity, & Inclusion: Jess Thom, Changing the World One Tic at a Time

reminder

Boom Arts and Disability Art & Culture Project present,

as part of the Dis/Representation: Evolving Disability Conversations series:

Laughter, Access, Diversity, & Inclusion:

Jess Thom, Changing the World One Tic at a Time

Date & Time: Tue, May 08, 2018,  6:00 to 7:30pm

Location: U.S. Bank Room - Multnomah County Central Library

Cost: *free*

** First come, first served.**

Internationally acclaimed UK writer, artist and part-time superhero Jess Thom (Touretteshero) is committed to increasing opportunities for those living with Tourette’s Syndrome. She characterizes herself as a ‘superhero’ not a ‘sufferer’ of the condition she has experienced since she was a child. In her thoughtful, funny, and groundbreaking presentation, Ms. Thom will speak about making visible the hidden barriers that exclude people with disabilities, and others, from public spaces. Whose responsibility it is to adapt to our culture? What are our preconceptions about disability? How can disability be reconceptualized as a springboard for creativity and spontaneity? How does diversity and inclusive thinking benefit all of us? Together, Ms. Thom argues, we can ‘change the world one tic at a time.’

Presented in collaboration with Boom Arts and Disability Art & Culture Project as part of the Dis/Representation: Evolving Disability Conversations series.

 

5/8/18 - NATIVE PERSPECTIVES ON ARTS, CULTURE & JUSTICE

Native Arts and Cultures Foundation and We Can Listen

present

NATIVE PERSPECTIVES ON ARTS, CULTURE & JUSTICE

*it will be ASL interpreted *

*free*

Date & Time: Tuesday, May, 2018 at 7:00 pm; doors open at 6:30pm


Location: The Old Church1422 SW 11th Ave., Portland, OR 97201


Programmed by the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation and We Can Listen, seven Native American artists share their perspectives through their art.  The first half of the program will focus on each artist’s story through their work.


In the second half of the program, the discussion will focus on how the artists’ work addresses justice issues that affect Native communities locally and globally. The conversation will also include an exploration on how the artists’ work address issues around visibility, identity, essentialism and stereotype.


In conjunction with a city-wide movement to raise awareness of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women – click here for information about another wonderful FREE event we are hosting May 2nd -we will be screening the award winning short film “Missing Indigenous.” Members of the film crew are featured guests in our panel.

reminder: "Fences" interpreted 5/9/18

Portland Playhouse presents
an interpreted performance of

Fences

by August Wilson

Directed by Lou Bellamy

DATE & TIME: Wed May 9th at 7:30 pm

LOCATION:  602 NE Prescott St, 
                     Portland, Oregon 97211
TICKETS:  Select "ASL tickets" when making  your purchase for the community discount
INTERPRETERS: Pam and Edwin Cancel





Husband, father, former athlete, garbage collector – 53-year old Troy struggles to define himself both inside and out of his 1950s PittsburgH home. Winner of the Tony Award for Best Play, the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play, Fences asks “What makes us choose the things we keep at a distance and what we decide to let in?”

This will be the seventh of Wilson’s 10-play “American Century Cycle” that the Playhouse has staged.

Director Lou Bellamy (Obie award for Two Trains Running) is the founding Artistic Director of Penumbra Theatre Company, which has produced more August Wilson productions than any company in the world, including the premiere of Jitney!