We are thrilled to share with you the faces of our Fall Reading Series!

During the month of October, supporters of Portland Playhouse will be opening the doors of their creative and personal homes across the city of Portland to host readings of new works by playwrights Sam Chanse,  Emma Stanton, and Mónica Fainzaig.

Acclaimed actors of the Portland stage will bring these works to life in settings ranging from an intimate in-home performance for 25 to a small theatre hosting 100 patrons. You'll be one of the first to hear these new works and have a chance to talk to the playwright and actors following the reading.

All events are free of charge, but you must reserve your seats. Visit our Fall Reading Series webpage for more information and to reserve your seats.

The Opportunities of Extinction - October 8 & 13

By Sam Chanse , resident playwright at New Dramatists , member of Ars Nova ’s Play Group and the  ma-Yi Writers Lab

Featuring : Andrea Vernae*, Ayanna Berkshire*, Paul Susi

Arjun and Mel have come to Joshua Tree National Pak to get away together, discuss his recent dismissal from the University and her recent decision to turn down a lucrative job she hates in order pursue her passion. Georgia, a park employee, shares her knowledge of about ecology, Joshua trees and how they grow (or don’t).

There is a dream. They are all in it. There is poetry and a fiery relationship.

No Candy - October 7 & 15

By  Emma Stanton  Artistic Director of Chicago’s  Walkabout Theater , 2016-2017 Playwrights Unit Member at the Goodman Theatre and the 2016 Princess Grace Fellow at New Dramatists

Featuring: Val Landrum*, Jacklyn Maddux*, Dana Green*, Agatha Olson, Winslow Corbett*, Ben Newman*, Jessica Hillenbrand*

At the center of No Candy is a multi-generational community of Bosnian Muslim women who survived the Srebrenica genocide and, years later, open a gift shop for tourists who visit the Srebrenica memorial. While No Candy is very much about how trauma inhabits the body and shapes a community, it is also about the persistence of humor, art, and absurdity in an unimaginable time.

Middle of Nowhere - October 6 & 14

By Mónica Fainzaig , winner of the Argentine National Theatre Award

Featuring: Gretchen Corbett* and Nikki Weaver*

Two women, unknown to one another, are trapped on a desert highway at a bus stop in the middle of nowhere. Lily, twenty years ago, was an a car crash at this very same bus stop. Barbara has just fled her house after experiencing, for the first time in her sheltered life, a tragedy. As their personal dramas unfold, they help each other understand the essence of their situations, and face up to and choose - life, or death?

*Member of Actors Equity Association  

APPRENTICES AROUND TOWN

This week you can catch former apprentices in theatres throughout the Portland area.

Quinlan Fitzgerald and Rachel Lewis blaze their way in T rails at Broadway Rose . Tonight, Lindsay Reed raises her voice in a staged reading of the world premiere musical Shanghaied! This weekend is also the last chance to catch Joe Gibson, Andrea Vernae and Alex Ramirez in An Octoroon at Artists Rep .

Looking ahead, starting October 14, you can catch James Webb's Sibling Rivalry directed by La'Tevin Alexander at Confrontation Theatre.

At a rehearsal for Every Brilliant Thing at Portland Center Stage last week, Portland Playhouse apprentice Kayla Kelly got some special attention from the hilarious and compassionate show's star Isaac Lamb. Isaac will be on stage at Portland Playhouse in February, starring in our world premiere of the musical Scarlet. You can catch him in Every Brilliant Thing now through October 29.

btw...Isaac, if you're reading this, you owe Kayla a cupcake!

Thanks to our sponsors:  

The 2017-18 season is presented by Harold Goldstein & Carol Streeter and Ronni Lacroute 

Our work is made possible by Mary & Don Blair, Ellyn Bye, Colas Construction, The Collins Foundation, Joel Hamberg Painting, Mary Chomenko and Greg Hinckley, Kinsman Foundation, Lagunitas Brewing Company, Oregon Cultural Trust, ME Fitness, Meyer Memorial Trust, James F. and Marion L. Miller Foundation, Roy and Diane Marvin Fund of the Oregon Community Foundation, M. J. Murdock Charitable Trust, Ned Ludd, Raymond Family Foundation, SERA Architects, Judy Shih & Joel Axelrod, State of Oregon, Phillip Terranova, Phyllis L. Weaver Memorial, Steve & Elsie Weaver, James B. Wiley Fund of the Oregon Community Foundation, Wrather Family Foundation, and Friends of Sandra Zickefoose. 

Thanks to the Regional Arts & Culture Council, including support from the City of Portland, Multnomah County and the Arts Education & Access Fund.

Portland Playhouse receives support from the Oregon Arts Commission, a state agency funded by the State of Oregon and the National Endowment for the Arts.