Portland Center Stage
July 26, 2009
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Showing posts with label JAW. Show all posts
Showing posts with label JAW. Show all posts
Saturday, July 25, 2009
JAW: On The Nature of Dust by Stephanie Timm
Portland Center Stage
July 26, 2009
Review by peanutduck
A precise, deliberated, tightly-structured (in retrospect, bordering on cold) adventure that queries: What do you do when your daughter transforms into a chimpanzee and, gradually, a sunfish? How do you fit the unknowable into your religious and/or scientific schematic? Ingenious situation, sharp dialogue make fresh oft-explored coming of age drama.
July 26, 2009
Review by peanutduck
A precise, deliberated, tightly-structured (in retrospect, bordering on cold) adventure that queries: What do you do when your daughter transforms into a chimpanzee and, gradually, a sunfish? How do you fit the unknowable into your religious and/or scientific schematic? Ingenious situation, sharp dialogue make fresh oft-explored coming of age drama.
JAW: Middletown by Will Eno
Portland Center Stage
July 25, 2009
Review by peanutduck
Middletown: a town (or state-of-being) between two places long extinct; where people experience life unfiltered, without assumptions - creating new answers to old questions - with innocent (but not naïve) wonderment and awareness of their singular loneliness and futility. A playful, poignant journey through the absurd, meaningless patter of everyday.
July 25, 2009
Review by peanutduck
Middletown: a town (or state-of-being) between two places long extinct; where people experience life unfiltered, without assumptions - creating new answers to old questions - with innocent (but not naïve) wonderment and awareness of their singular loneliness and futility. A playful, poignant journey through the absurd, meaningless patter of everyday.
JAW: Futura by Jordan Harrison
Portland Center Stage
July 25, 2009
Review by peanutduck
Premise: A la 1984/Farenheit 451, information and “writing” are electronic, changeable, controlled by the Company, thereby nullifying free will. But first section - a stimulating lecture celebrating typography’s socio-political history - doesn’t fit premise or second section, where conflict isn’t about type, but disappearance of physical text, ie, paper and handwriting.
July 25, 2009
Review by peanutduck
Premise: A la 1984/Farenheit 451, information and “writing” are electronic, changeable, controlled by the Company, thereby nullifying free will. But first section - a stimulating lecture celebrating typography’s socio-political history - doesn’t fit premise or second section, where conflict isn’t about type, but disappearance of physical text, ie, paper and handwriting.
Friday, July 24, 2009
JAW: 遠西奇器述 (Translation: Concerning Strange Devices from the Distant West) by Naomi Iizuka
Portland Center Stage
July 24, 2009
Review by peanutduck
It’s easy to release imagination to the sweeping waves of metaphor; forceful characters; radiant yet lonely photographic, mythic, and linguistic imagery; delicate, mournful sounds of Naomi Iizuka’s polymorphous Japans. Eventually I got lost in the rapid-fire blackmails, time swapping, proliferate unveiling of untruths; occasionally Iizuka overwrites, unnecessarily explaining her story.
July 24, 2009
Review by peanutduck
It’s easy to release imagination to the sweeping waves of metaphor; forceful characters; radiant yet lonely photographic, mythic, and linguistic imagery; delicate, mournful sounds of Naomi Iizuka’s polymorphous Japans. Eventually I got lost in the rapid-fire blackmails, time swapping, proliferate unveiling of untruths; occasionally Iizuka overwrites, unnecessarily explaining her story.
Monday, July 20, 2009
JAW: Festival Weekend
Portland Center Stage
July 24 - 26, 2009 - Free!
A whirlwind weekend of plays-in-progress readings, theatre fair, happy hours, and site-specific performances.
Friday
4pm: Birds of a Feather by Marc Acito
8pm: 遠西奇器述 (Translation: Concerning Strange Devices from the Distant West) by Naomi Iizuka
Saturday
11am - 1pm: Plays: The Art of Commissioning, Developing and Producing New Plays
1 - 4pm, 6 -8pm: Theater Fair - Meet and chat with your favorite theatre companies
Devise & Conquer - Site-specific performance pieces by Fever Theater, Third Rail Rep, Action/Adventure, and tEEth
4pm: Futura by Jordan Harrison
8pm: Middletown by Will Eno
Sunday
4pm: On The Nature of Dust by Stephanie Timm
8pm: 99 Ways to Fuck a Swan by Kimberly Rosenstock
July 24 - 26, 2009 - Free!
A whirlwind weekend of plays-in-progress readings, theatre fair, happy hours, and site-specific performances.
Friday
4pm: Birds of a Feather by Marc Acito
8pm: 遠西奇器述 (Translation: Concerning Strange Devices from the Distant West) by Naomi Iizuka
Saturday
11am - 1pm: Plays: The Art of Commissioning, Developing and Producing New Plays
1 - 4pm, 6 -8pm: Theater Fair - Meet and chat with your favorite theatre companies
Devise & Conquer - Site-specific performance pieces by Fever Theater, Third Rail Rep, Action/Adventure, and tEEth
4pm: Futura by Jordan Harrison
8pm: Middletown by Will Eno
Sunday
4pm: On The Nature of Dust by Stephanie Timm
8pm: 99 Ways to Fuck a Swan by Kimberly Rosenstock
Thursday, July 16, 2009
JAW: Bad Family by Andrea Stolowitz
Portland Center Stage
July 16, 2009
Review by peanutduck
Semi-predictable dysfunctional (possibly due to a Wiccan curse) family comedy-drama that wraps up in an uplifting bow (the curse is reversed), with a sage immigrant guiding the wayward angry teen thrown in. Best moments are when characters (and script) break free from hyper-articulate self-awareness, e.g., during the energetic badminton game.
July 16, 2009
Review by peanutduck
Semi-predictable dysfunctional (possibly due to a Wiccan curse) family comedy-drama that wraps up in an uplifting bow (the curse is reversed), with a sage immigrant guiding the wayward angry teen thrown in. Best moments are when characters (and script) break free from hyper-articulate self-awareness, e.g., during the energetic badminton game.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
JAW: The Missing Pieces by Nick Zagone
Portland Center Stage
July 15, 2009
Review by peanutduck
1980. Mt. St. Helens explodes; precocious Timmy aspires to live in the Playboy mansion. Remaining characters are similarly wacky – always a Zagone strength, along with keen wit – but wackiness isn’t fueling dramatic action - play stagnates through repetitious dialogue, overextended schtick; volcanic eruption only an inconsequential backdrop for ash jokes.
July 15, 2009
Review by peanutduck
1980. Mt. St. Helens explodes; precocious Timmy aspires to live in the Playboy mansion. Remaining characters are similarly wacky – always a Zagone strength, along with keen wit – but wackiness isn’t fueling dramatic action - play stagnates through repetitious dialogue, overextended schtick; volcanic eruption only an inconsequential backdrop for ash jokes.
Monday, July 13, 2009
JAW: Made in Oregon
Portland Center Stage
July 13 - 16, 2009, 6pm
The Made in Oregon Series features Oregon playwrights for one night only readings of works in progress. Free!
July 13th: The Lost Boy by Susan Mach
July 14th: In School Suspension by Brian Kettler
July 15th: The Missing Pieces by Nick Zagone
July 16th: Bad Family by Andrea Stolowitz
July 13 - 16, 2009, 6pm
The Made in Oregon Series features Oregon playwrights for one night only readings of works in progress. Free!
July 13th: The Lost Boy by Susan Mach
July 14th: In School Suspension by Brian Kettler
July 15th: The Missing Pieces by Nick Zagone
July 16th: Bad Family by Andrea Stolowitz
Monday, July 06, 2009
Prepare for JAW: A Playwrights Festival
Portland Center Stage
July 13 - 26, 2009
New work, new work, new work!
J.ust A.dd W.ater (West) opens with its first Made in Oregon reading: The Lost Boy by Susan Mach, and that's just the beginning of the festivities.
Check out the website for full details.
July 13 - 26, 2009
New work, new work, new work!
J.ust A.dd W.ater (West) opens with its first Made in Oregon reading: The Lost Boy by Susan Mach, and that's just the beginning of the festivities.
Check out the website for full details.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
JAW: Pony
Portland Center Stage
July 20, 2008
Review by peanutduck
Great characters but the story and relationships are unclear. What interested: no one is who he or she seems to be – physically or emotionally. Three of the characters are trans or passing; nice Marie finds a murderous crime of passion erotic. Passing thought: would this work better as a movie?
July 20, 2008
Review by peanutduck
Great characters but the story and relationships are unclear. What interested: no one is who he or she seems to be – physically or emotionally. Three of the characters are trans or passing; nice Marie finds a murderous crime of passion erotic. Passing thought: would this work better as a movie?
JAW: Crazy Enough
Portland Center Stage
July 20, 2008
Review by peanutduck
How can one not enjoy the lyric, “my vagina is eight miles wide,” carried by Storm’s throaty voice? Her history is fascinating. Fingers crossed that revisions strengthen the text, which doesn’t yet do her story justice, and she relaxes, enabling her passion, palpable in song, to flow through her storytelling.
July 20, 2008
Review by peanutduck
How can one not enjoy the lyric, “my vagina is eight miles wide,” carried by Storm’s throaty voice? Her history is fascinating. Fingers crossed that revisions strengthen the text, which doesn’t yet do her story justice, and she relaxes, enabling her passion, palpable in song, to flow through her storytelling.
JAW: A Brief Narrative of an Extraordinary Birth of Rabbits
Portland Center Stage
July 19, 2008
Review by peanutduck
Of Swanson’s original one-act, one page survives; she leaves with 99 new pages of an incomplete, wildly imaginative two-act involving a surrogate mother birthing rabbits, a philosophical stork, an obstetrical farce puppet theatre. It has a too-many-writers-wielding-the-pen feeling but once the guiding voice is found, it’ll be a laugh-your-ass-off adventure.
July 19, 2008
Review by peanutduck
Of Swanson’s original one-act, one page survives; she leaves with 99 new pages of an incomplete, wildly imaginative two-act involving a surrogate mother birthing rabbits, a philosophical stork, an obstetrical farce puppet theatre. It has a too-many-writers-wielding-the-pen feeling but once the guiding voice is found, it’ll be a laugh-your-ass-off adventure.
Saturday, July 19, 2008
JAW: Paradise Street
Portland Center Stage
July 19, 2008
Review by peanutduck
Enter TJ, a combative, homeless woman whose attack on a post-post-feminist theorist catalyzes the downfall of three of the privileged upper-class – one to prison, two working at “Mega-Mart.” Congdon’s play is a tornado of ideas, ironic commentary, and keeps us guessing. Second act weaker as it meanders, loses focus, tension.
July 19, 2008
Review by peanutduck
Enter TJ, a combative, homeless woman whose attack on a post-post-feminist theorist catalyzes the downfall of three of the privileged upper-class – one to prison, two working at “Mega-Mart.” Congdon’s play is a tornado of ideas, ironic commentary, and keeps us guessing. Second act weaker as it meanders, loses focus, tension.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
JAW: A Playwrights Festival
Portland Center Stage **Poster image by David Emmite**
July 8 - 20, 2008
J.ust A.dd W.ater (West)
Newspeak: A 2-week developmental festival of new work for the stage.
The Truth: A chance for PCS to loosen the hairnet. It's 2 weeks of playing rough in the dirt with Oregon and national playwrights, jumping into some site specifics, and lots 'o mingling. Check out what that drafting, re-drafting, re-creating, tossing-it-all-out-and-writing-it-again is all about.
JAW is awesome. It's free. It's the 10th anniversary and they're pullin' out all the stops.
July 8 -10: Made in Oregon Readings
Friday, July 18: Commission! Commission!
Saturday, July 19: Theatre Fair & You Are There
Workshop Readings: Crazy Enough
A Brief Narrative of an Extraordinary Birth of Rabbits
Paradise Street
Sunday, July 20: Playwright's Slam
Workshop Readings: Crazy Enough
Pony
Enchantment
Thursday, July 26, 2007
JAW 2007
A spot for observations, thoughts, input on this year's JAW.
Mead Hunter - Interview
Jason Grote - Interview
Dan LeFranc - Interview
7/12 - Sometimes A Great Notion
7/16 - Driving Under the Influence
7/17 - First Beard
7/19 - The Book of John
7/22 - Playwrights' Slam
7/22 - A Story About a Girl
Mead Hunter - Interview
Jason Grote - Interview
Dan LeFranc - Interview
7/12 - Sometimes A Great Notion
7/16 - Driving Under the Influence
7/17 - First Beard
7/19 - The Book of John
7/22 - Playwrights' Slam
7/22 - A Story About a Girl
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Friday, July 20, 2007
JAW - Playwrights' Slam
For an interview with Slam curator Andrew Golla, click here.
The Slam lineup (alphabetical by author):
CHUCK FROM FINANCE, OR THE HAPPY PENGUIN by Hunt Holman
TRYING NOT TO STARE by Ellen Margolis
[TITLE UNKNOWN] by Alex Reagan
GHOSTS OF CELILO by Marv Ross
Music by Marv Ross, Chenoa Egawa, Arlie Neskahi, and Mel Kubik-Bondy
8 VIEWS TOWARD CENTER by Francesca Sanders
New Adaptation of Aristophanes' PEACE by Keith Scales
The Slam lineup (alphabetical by author):
CHUCK FROM FINANCE, OR THE HAPPY PENGUIN by Hunt Holman
TRYING NOT TO STARE by Ellen Margolis
[TITLE UNKNOWN] by Alex Reagan
GHOSTS OF CELILO by Marv Ross
Music by Marv Ross, Chenoa Egawa, Arlie Neskahi, and Mel Kubik-Bondy
8 VIEWS TOWARD CENTER by Francesca Sanders
New Adaptation of Aristophanes' PEACE by Keith Scales
JAW - The Book of John - Cynthia Whitcomb
JAW at Portland Center Stage
July 19, 2007
Somewhat formulaic, who-didn’t-do-it cliffhanger about a man on death row, why he’s there, and whether he’ll get the juice. Sharp ingredients used, but result feels more inspired by recipe than craft. Story seems uncertain which of several possible directions to follow. Sudden reversals and surprise appearances detract from core drama.
July 19, 2007
Somewhat formulaic, who-didn’t-do-it cliffhanger about a man on death row, why he’s there, and whether he’ll get the juice. Sharp ingredients used, but result feels more inspired by recipe than craft. Story seems uncertain which of several possible directions to follow. Sudden reversals and surprise appearances detract from core drama.
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