2017-18 Season Pocket Guide

Here is the quick list of plays for the upcoming season. Links will be added to the theatres and the plays. I will also be doing individual entries for each play. You can also check in Facebook for the events for the various shows (under my page, Dot Hearn). I will add individual productions to this list as they are scheduled.

The Short List of Interpreted Performances

[note: date links go to the theatre's page for that production]

OCT 2017
____ 10/5  PCS Fun Home 
____ 10/7  NWCT Amelia Earhart's First Flight
____ 10/12 PCS Every Brilliant Thing 

NOV 2017 
____ 11/10 PROF Water by the Spoonful *Quiara Alegria Hudes*
____ 11/17 PROF Happiest Song Plays Last *Quiara Alegria Hudes*
____ 11/19 PCS  Mojada (Sunday)  
____ tba   PCC  Pride and Prejudice

DEC 2017 
____ 12/7   PCS A Christmas Memory  & Winter Song
____ 12/13  PPH A Christmas Carol  @ 7 pm
____ 12/20  PPH A Christmas Carol  @ 2 pm *matinee*
____ 12/21  PCS Twist Your Dickens  

JAN 2018 
____ 1/24 PPH Weaving Women Together

FEB 2018 
____ 2/8  PCS Astoria Pt 2  
____ 2/2  PROF 2.6 Minute Ride  *Lisa Kron*
____ 2/22 PCS Kodachrome 

MARCH 2018 
____ 3/14 PPH Scarlet   *collaboration with PHAME and Bitch Media*
____ 3/22 PCS The Magic Play 
____ tba  PCC *play also tba*

APRIL 2018 
____ 4/19 PCS So We Walked 

MAY 2018 
____ 5/3 PCS Major Barbara 
____ 5/9 PPH Fences 

JUNE 2018 
____ 6/14 PCS  Lady Day 
____ tba  PROF The Secretaries *The Five Lesbian Brothers*

A few known shows for 2018-19 season.

OCT 2018
____ 10/26 PROF Fire in the Mirror *Anna Deavere Smith*

DEC 2018
____ tba  PROF  In the Wake *Lisa Kron*

Spring 2019 dates TBA
____ PROF  Lay Me Down Easy *Anna Deavere Smith*
____ PROF  Well *Lisa Kron*

Key to Theatre Company Abbreviations

PCS   : Portland Center Stage
PROF: Profile Theatre (each show includes link to interpreted play description)
PPH  : Portland Playhouse
PCC  : Portland Community College
NWCT: NW Childrens Theatre and School

T:BA:17 *free* conversation with "Schmerm" creator - interpreted

PICA presents, as a part of T:BA:17

a free special event:

Becca Blackwell

creator & performer of "They, Themself, and Schmerm"

 In Conversation

with Shawna Lipton and bart fitzgerald

date & time: Tuesday, September 12th at 12:30 - 1:30 PM

location: PNCA at 511 NW Broadway, Room 107, Portland OR

This public event will be interpreted.

Free Admission

"Becca Blackwell shares insights into the creation of They, Themself, and Schmerm, including themes of gender and transition, strategies of humor, and forms of comedy and personal narrative. In dialogue with TBA Guest Scholar bart fitzgerald and Shawna Lipton, Chair, MA in Critical Studies, Pacific Northwest College of Art."

* * *

"They, Themself, and Schmerm" : Part classic standup comedy special, part teen zine vomit confessional, They, Themself and Schmerm is Becca’s disturbingly hilarious personal tale of being adopted into a Midwestern religious family, trained to be a girl, molested, and plagued by the question, “How do I become a man and do I even want that?” Becca engages in loving confrontation with the audience, asking what it truly means to be authentic in these meat carcasses.

T:BA:17 "Boner Killer" - interpreted 9/11/17

PICA presents
as a part of T:BA:17
an interpreted performance of

"Boner Killer"

written and performed by
Erin Markey

TIME & DATE: Monday, September 11th at 8:30 pm

LOCATION: A.R.T at 1515 SW Morrison, Portland OR

TICKETS: $20 Member / $25 General (All Ages)

INTERPRETER: Jayodin Mosher

"Comprised of her signature story-driven stand-up and scored by sensual homemade pop, Erin Markey’s Boner Killer is an intimate musical conversation between what Markey thinks she can’t have and how she’d have it if she could. Driven by Whitney Houston’s lesbian mythologies, Europe™, and a Pretty Woman accident, Markey and bandmate Emily Bate sacrifice their lives to transform personal humiliations into naked feminist hope.

 

Erin Markey has “laser-beam eyes, a hair-raising singing voice, and an intense, almost predatory sexuality” (The New Yorker). She’s a “magnetic diva” (New York Times). She’s one of Brooklyn’s 50 Funniest People (Brooklyn Magazine). And she wants to tell you some stories.

Named one of “Brooklyn’s 50 Funniest People” (Brooklyn Magazine), Erin Markey makes music, shows and videos. "

T:BA:17 "They, Themself, and Schmerm" - 9/9/17 @ 8:30p

PICA presents
as a part of T:BA:17
an interpreted performance of

They, Themself and Schmerm
written and performed by
Becca Blackwell

TIME & DATE: Saturday, September 9th at 8:30 pm

Co-presented with Artists Repertory Theatre’s Frontier Series

LOCATION: A.R.T at 1515 SW Morrison, Portland OR

TICKETS: $20 Member / $25 General (All Ages)

INTERPRETER: Dot Hearn; preparation team Dana Walls

"US West Coast Premiere:  Part classic standup comedy special, part teen zine vomit confessional, They, Themself and Schmerm is Becca’s disturbingly hilarious personal tale of being adopted into a Midwestern religious family, trained to be a girl, molested, and plagued by the question, “How do I become a man and do I even want that?” Becca engages in loving confrontation with the audience, asking what it truly means to be authentic in these meat carcasses. They, Themself and Schmerm is Directed by and Developed with Ellie Heyman.

Becca Blackwell is a New York City based trans actor, performer and writer. Existing between genders, and preferring the pronoun “they,” Blackwell works collaboratively with playwrights and directors to expand our sense of personhood and the body through performance. Some of their collaborations have been with Young Jean Lee, Half Straddle, Jennifer Miller’s Circus Amok, Richard Maxwell, Sharon Hayes, Theater of the Two Headed Calf and Lisa D’Amour. They were recently seen in Erin Markey’s tour of A Ride on the Irish Cream and Richard Maxwell’s Samara. Becca is a recipient of the Doris Duke Impact Artist Award 2015. "

*related free special event"

Becca Blackwell In Conversation with Shawna Lipton and bart fitzgerald

date & time: Tuesday, September 12th at 12:30 - 1:30 PM
location: PNCA at 511 NW Broadway, Room 107, Portland OR

This public event will be interpreted.

Free Admission

"Becca Blackwell shares insights into the creation of They, Themself, and Schmerm, including themes of gender and transition, strategies of humor, and forms of comedy and personal narrative. In dialogue with TBA Guest Scholar bart fitzgerald and Shawna Lipton, Chair, MA in Critical Studies, Pacific Northwest College of Art."



Theatre as Fresh as it Gets: interpreted

Portland Center Stage at The Armory
presents



JAW

(Just Add Water)

a playwright festival

Sat July 29 & Sun July 30

4:00 and 8:00 pm each day

(see full schedule below)

All reading are free and open to the public (no reservation required)

Portland Center Stage at The Armory

128 NW Eleventh Ave, Portland, OR

 Four new plays. Four playwrights. Ten days of workshop. A large company of stage managers and actors, directors and productions assistants, and more.

Four readings in two days. One performance of each and all four will be interpreted.

Be among the first to see these fresh off the computer plays.

THE SCHEDULE

Saturday July 29

4 p.m. – Tiny Houses by Stefanie Zadravec

8 p.m. – Testmatch by Kate Attwell

Sunday, July 30

4 p.m. – In Old Age by Mfoniso Udofia

8 p.m. – Small Steps by Briandaniel Oglesby

THE PLAYS

Tiny Houses
by Stefanie Zadravec

On July 17, 2014, Malaysian Flight MH-17 rained down upon a tiny, war-torn Eastern Ukraine village after being targeted by a surface-to-air missile launched by pro-Russian Separatists. Bodies and objects alike become fodder for those trying to escape the circumstances in which they were born. TINY HOUSES is a comic riff on Pandora’s Box that explores the ripple effect on several women who suddenly realize they can disrupt the status quo.


Testmatch
by Kate Attwell

Present day: A rained out women's cricket match between India and England leaves tensions bare and as the rainy day drones relentlessly on, no one can play nice any more. Then: The British East India Company rules in eighteenth century West Bengal, as two members of the Royal Cricket Team, ardent players of the game, debate the rules of engagement, the problem of the women, the trouble with mosquitoes, all against the backdrop of a country that they are destroying through famine. And before that?... Testmatch is a new play about women’s sports, mangos, cricket, and ever present legacy of colonialism; written for an all-female cast.


In Old Age
by Mfoniso Udofia

Isolated within the walls of her derelict New England home and suffering the residual pain of years of abuse, an ancient Abasiama Ufot makes an unlikely spiritual connection with an elder stranger, Azell Abernarthy. Just as life takes a new turn, Abasiama and Azell learn the true nature of love and forgiveness.


Small Steps
by Briandaniel Oglesby

Finally fed up with the bot-and-disappointment-filled world of online gay dating, Skip Powers volunteers to go to Mars. And NASA says, “You'll do.” This is a comedy that traverses 50 million miles and a million years.

PCS's JAW *4 interpreted plays* 7/29 & 30 - free

Portland Center Stage at The Armory announced that they will be interpreting all four of the JAW staged readings on the weekend of July 29 and 30.

What is "JAW,"? you may be thinking. Let me start by explaining what it is, and then I will tell you about these exciting new plays which are going to be presented to the public for free. There will be one staged reading of each of the selected plays, and all of the performances will be interpreted.

JAW (Just Add Water) is PCS's  annual playwright festival. Selected playwrights, chosen from over 200 submissions, come to Portland "to spend two weeks collaborating with directors, dramaturgs, actors, and other theater professionals from across the nation. During these workshops, JAW playwrights get to hear, revise, and sometimes completely rewrite their plays in a supportive environment where their creative needs set the agenda. The festival culminates in a vibrant outpouring of artistic energy: staged readings of the JAW plays are presented to the public, while unique performances from local artists enliven our building and bring our community together. "

This festival is about "the vitality of this ever-changing, crazy fun, wild world of theater."

This will be the first time these plays are presented to the audience. The work is fresh and exciting, the stories vibrant and alive.

You can visit the JAW webpage for more information about the process and the festival, and about the playwrights. Below is the schedule and a summary of each play.

Schedule of JAW 2017 play readings

Saturday July 29 at 4 p.m.

Tiny Houses

by Stefanie Zadravec

On July 17, 2014, Malaysian Flight MH-17 rained down upon a tiny, war-torn Eastern Ukraine village after being targeted by a surface-to-air missile launched by pro-Russian Separatists. Bodies and objects alike become fodder for those trying to escape the circumstances in which they were born. TINY HOUSES is a comic riff on Pandora’s Box that explores the ripple effect on several women who suddenly realize they can disrupt the status quo. 


Saturday July 29 at 8 p.m.

Testmatch

by Kate Attwell

Present day: A rained out women's cricket match between India and England leaves tensions bare and as the rainy day drones relentlessly on, no one can play nice any more. Then: The British East India Company rules in eighteenth century West Bengal, as two members of the Royal Cricket Team, ardent players of the game, debate the rules of engagement, the problem of the women, the trouble with mosquitoes, all against the backdrop of a country that they are destroying through famine. And before that?... Testmatch is a new play about women’s sports, mangos, cricket, and ever present legacy of colonialism; written for an all-female cast.


Sunday, July 30 at 4 p.m.

In Old Age

by Mfoniso Udofia

Isolated within the walls of her derelict New England home and suffering the residual pain of years of abuse, an ancient Abasiama Ufot makes an unlikely spiritual connection with an elder stranger, Azell Abernarthy. Just as life takes a new turn, Abasiama and Azell learn the true nature of love and forgiveness.


Sunday, July 30 at 8 p.m.

Small Steps

by Briandaniel Oglesby

Finally fed up with the bot-and-disappointment-filled world of online gay dating, Skip Powers volunteers to go to Mars. And NASA says, “You'll do.” This is a comedy that traverses 50 million miles and a million years.


.You can read more about the history of JAW since its inception in 1999.

Reminder: "26 Miles" Profile Theatre, Fri 6/23

Profile Theatre presents
an interpreted performance of

26 Miles

by Quiara Alegria Hudes

DATE & TIME: Fri June 23 at 7:30 pm

LOCATION: 1515 SW Morrison, Portland, OR on the Morrison Stage

TICKETS: reserve online, request interpreted section

        (check here to see if you qualify for any discounts)

INTERPRETERS: Dot Hearn and Carolyn Brockway

Summary: A desperate midnight phone call spurs a spontaneous road trip for a brilliant teen and her estranged mother. The reunited pair runs fast and furious from the secrets in their lives. So what if reality’s nipping at their heels? Colliding together, they find connection, forgiveness and a part of their identities that has been missing all along.

Featuring: Jimmy Garcia, Chris Harder, Alex Ramirez de Cruz, Julana Torres

Charming, spunky, and ultimately heartrending. The car trip from Paoli, PA to Yellowstone Park is transforming and restorative.
–The New York Times