Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Looking Back at the 2006-2007 Season

followspot@hotmail.com
May 30, 2007

Busy season: 105 productions threaded (about one-fourth premieres); many others spotted. Mixed reviews. Gerding opens. Stark closes. No runaways; small, individual victories among disperse abundant local talent. Somewhat franchise season wanting semblance of mission, original vision. How much impact did our work have? Anecdotal box office uptick. Followspot traffic doubles.



A Feminine Ending

A Lesson from Aloes

A Midsummer Night's Dream

Act a Lady

Address Unknown

Aladdin

An American Daughter

And Then There Were None

Arcadia

B Sides

Bad Dates

Bark!

Beauty and the Beast

Betrayal

Buried Child

Can't Say I Do

Chateau Joyeux

Disney's High School Musical On Stage

Dora's Box

Escape from Happiness

Extremities

Fences

Flawed Genius

42nd Street

Frida, un retablo

Grease

Hedwig and the Angry Inch

Henry V

Herringbone

H.M.S. Pinafore

Hot 'N' Throbbing

Hot Buttered Butt

I Am My Own Wife

I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change

In Apparati

Insanity/Sane?

Inspecting Carol

Ireland: Bloody Beautiful

It Goes: You Me You Me You Me You Me

Jingle Spree

La Carpa Calavera: El Di­a de los Muertos Festival

Leni

Lost Wavelengths

Macbeth

Mars on Life: The Holiday Edition

Metamorphoses

Misalliance

Mix Up

Moby Dick: The Musical

Mr. Marmalade

Mutt

Neon Orange

Number Three

Oklahoma!

One Day

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Orestes

Other Women

Plaid Tidings

Portland Catacombs

Private Eyes

Private Lives

Ragtime: The Musical

Reefer Madness

Repeat After Me

Rest Room

Romeo & Juliet

Sea Marks

Secondhand Smoke

Silence

Sisters Christmas Catechism: The Mystery of the Magi's Gold

Sisters of Swing: The Story of the Andrews Sisters

Sonia Flew

Sun-Clothed Woman

Tango

Telethon

The Brain That Wouldn't Die

The Case of the Dead Flamingo Dancer

The Children's Hour

The Christmas Revels

The Early Applicant

The Fall of the House: Episode 1

The Fall of the House: Episode 2

The Fall of the House: Episode 3

The Fall of the House: Episode 4

The Heidi Chronicles

The Listener

The Maids

The Odd Couple

The Pavilion

The Pillowman

The Rainmaker

The Red Badge of Courage

The Retreat from Moscow

The Road to Xibalba

The Sisters Rosensweig

The Thugs

The Trestle at Pope Lick Creek

The Trial

They Came From Way Out There

Theater District

This Wonderful Life

Valparaiso

Vanya

West Side Story

Working Title

6 comments:

followspot said...

FYI - Followspot broke a new record: more than 10,000 visits in the month of May.

Anonymous said...

"small, individual victories among disperse abundant local talent."

interesting. care to elaborate?

followspot said...

Sure, but it's pretty clear: In my humble opinion, there's a lot of talent in this town, but often this past season it was spread thinly among many many many productions. It was difficult (though not impossible) to point to any breakaway productions where everything gelled. Instead, it felt as if there were many individual steps forward, rather than collective leaps. That actor showed a new face, that designer worked differently in that space, or even down to a line reading. That sort of thing.

Anonymous said...

Man, what a lot of work, energy, and diversity in subjects, approaches, and genres. You could go to the theatre every weekend and still not see everything. (Which makes me feel a little less guilty about not seeing all my friends' plays.) Applause all around for all of you.

Anonymous said...

For lack of a better place to put this notice, Portland playwright Steve Patterson has started a Portland theatre discussion group on MySpace. Here are the details, copped from the Theatre Vertigo message board:

Dear Colleagues:

For the heck of it, I've launched "Portland Theatre"--a MySpace group dedicated to discussing Portland theatre shows, arts, events, and whatnot. Here's the mission statement:

Portland, a mid-sized city with a vibrant arts community, has well over 100 theatres companies. This is a place for our producers, playwrights, actors, directors, techies, and audiences to come together to chat, kvetch, discuss projects, find collaborators, promote shows, and generall discuss the state of the art.

And the address: groups.myspace.com/portlandtheatre

Please check it out if the subject interests you, and, if you like what you see, invite like-minded friends.

Thanks,

Steve Patterson
Pavement Productions
Portland, OR

Anonymous said...

"This is a place for our producers, playwrights, actors, directors, techies, and audiences to come together to chat, kvetch, discuss projects, find collaborators, promote shows, and generall discuss the state of the art."

. . . and don't forget: beat up on the critics.