QUARTERLY At the intersection of visual and performing arts
ISSUE 2 :: FEBRUARY 2021
THE PREMIERE PORTLAND AREA ARTS QUARTERLY MAGAZINE
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MISSION STATEMENT ART Quarterly—at the intersection of visual and performing arts. An ad-free publication that celebrates arts and highlights our diverse community of artists and audiences who take creative risks. Our mission is to build and support the vibrant arts community, in its multitude of forms, and delve into its interconnectivity with the performing arts. ART Quarterly will be an inclusive space to elevate artists’ stories through their craft or an in depth look at the
Artwork by Stacey Robyn.
artmaking process.
Cover artwork by Claudia Chanhoi.
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CONTENTS 6
ART Upcoming Events
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Editor’s Note
10 Contributors to the ART Quarterly 13 Get Into the World 14 From the Notebook of Dámaso Rodríguez
Advice to My Younger Self, or Scenes from a Love Story by Dámaso Rodríguez
18 What a Wonderful Thing, to Work With the Person You Love by Sara Hennessy 24 ‘Tip Brown Butts’: How Cat Hollis and the Haymarket Pole Collective are fighting for a just workplace for BIPOC strippers by Sararosa Davies
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30 An excerpt from Magic Gardens by Viva Las Vegas
38 Self Love in the Time of COVID by Gretchen Leigh
40 Love Songs: The Love Song I Hear by Joe Kye
44 Beyond Sex: Intimacy in our Creative Space by Amanda K Cole 46 Theatre How-To The Work it Takes to Create Magic: The Intimacy Director by Kristen Mun 58 Recipe: Chocolate Orgasm ... the cake.
62 Black and Queer, That’s the Easy Part by DeReau Farrar
68 Finding the Joy - A Sex Positive Theatre by Eleanor O’Brien
76 Porch Portraits by Lava Alapai
82 Serial: Keyboards in Love Part 1 by Kisha Jarrett 86 Community Voices: Tight Lipped by Sararosa Davies
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ISSUE 2 :: FEBRUARY
A R T Q U A R T E R LY Staff PUBLISHER Kisha Jarrett kjarrett@artistsrep.org EDITOR Leslie Crandell Dawes ldawes@artistsrep.org ADVISOR Dámaso Rodríguez drodriguez@artistsrep.org ASSISTANT EDITOR Luan Schooler lschooler@artistsrep.org ASSISTANT EDITOR Christina DeYoung cdeyoung@artistsrep.org COPY EDITOR Charlotte Rubin crubin@artistsrep.org
ARTISTS REPERTORY THEATRE’S (ART) mission is to produce intimate, provocative theatre and provide a home for a diverse community of artists and audiences to take creative risks. Artists Rep believes that stories help us make sense of the world. However, it is hard to make any sense of the violent murders and unjust racist actions in this country. Our anger rises due to the inhuman disregard for Black lives and the persistence of systemic racism and we will work with urgency towards an organization in which safety and justice are a right for everyone and not default to what has always been done. ART gratefully acknowledges our theatre rests on the traditional lands of the Multnomah, Wasco, Cowlitz, Kathlamet, Clackamas, Bands of Chinook, Tualatin Kalapuya, Molalla and many other tribes who made their homes along the Columbia River. Artists Repertory Theatre recognizes that we are a predominately white organization and operate within systemic racism and oppression, and that silence and neutrality are actions of complicity. We recognize the critical role the arts play in our culture and national conversation, and accept our responsibility to make positive change through our work, our practices, and our policies. We commit ourselves to the work of becoming an anti-racism and anti-oppression organization, and will work with urgency to end racial inequities in our industry and our culture. Led by Executive Artistic Director Dámaso Rodríguez, Executive Director J.S. May, and Managing Director Kisha Jarrett ART (est. 1982) is Portland’s oldest professional theatre company and has become a significant presence in the U.S. regional theatre with a legacy of world, national, and regional premieres of provocative new work with the highest standards of stagecraft. In 2016, ART became the 72nd member of the League of Resident Theatres (LORT) and is an Associate Member of the National New Play Network (NNPN). Plays developed by ART have subsequently been produced in New York, Chicago, London, and throughout the country. Recognition for ART commissioned plays includes the Dramatists Guild Foundation Award, the Edgerton New Play Award, NEA Funding, the Mellon Foundation National Playwright Residency Program, American Theatre Magazine’s Most-Produced Plays, and coverage in the New Yorker and the New York Times.
ART EVENTS 2020 Magellanica by E.M. Lewis Audio drama Forget Me Not, America by Josie Seid Short film Better Maybe by Caridad Svich Short film 2021 The Berlin Diaries by Andrea Stolowitz Audio drama Drop the Mic A Back Fence PDX + ART Storytelling podcast See Me A DNA: Oxygen Short film Today is My Birthday by Susan Soon He Stanton Audio drama The Carlalogues by Anthony Hudson Audio play Nobody’s going to fund this by Anthony Hudson Audio play Flower Joy by Vin Shambry Multi-media
TABLE|ROOM|STAGE (T|R|S), established in 2015, is Artists Rep’s new work program. The T|R|S mission is to develop and produce new work that vividly expresses Artists Rep’s aesthetic values. T|R|S focuses and offers work by BIPOC writers, women, LGBTQIA+ and gender nonconforming writers, and offer an environment where these playwrights can create provocative, intimate new theatre pieces that challenge, illuminate, and inspire. Through T|R|S, Artists Rep is an Associate Member of the National New Play Network (NNPN). Information about Artists Rep’s 2020/21 season is found at artistsrep.org Copyright © 2020 ART Quarterly Magazine. All rights reserved.
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SELF CARE - SELF LOVE - SELF ... ISH?
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hen I close my eyes and imagine what self-love means I hear; Sam Cooke singing, I feel the cool quiet of a dark corner of a nightclub, I sense the allure of being mysterious. I think of alone time and if I locked the bathroom door when trying to get a minute away from my four kids. Self-love is appreciation and self-care and letting my hair down, and as Lizzo reminds us, ‘feel good as hell.’ Sex can be intimate, it can be bold, it can be private, in can be in front of a camera or live. To be aroused and to let others in to know your sexual desires is all about letting yourself be free. And I believe that at the core of sex is connection. Connection with others to allow your body to be fully open to a pleasurable experience. Within these pages are my gift to you; to read insightful narratives about what sex and love is to the artistic community without fear of the taboo. The theatre we make at ART strives to take an intimate dive into characters so that we can feel that spark, that glimpse, that moment of connection. I hope you enjoy the stories and art inside. These stories are written by and created for people like you and me. Love yourself, love others, because as Lin Manuel Miranda said, “Love is love is love is love is love.” This is the second issue of ART Quarterly, and we’re here to turn you on.
Photo provided by the author.
Leslie Crandell Dawes Editor P.S. While you will find entertaining, challenging, and enlightening content on the pages, what you won’t find is advertising. The ART Quarterly is made possible because of three generous donors without which this magazine would not have come to fruition. However, sponsorship alone will not sustain the magazine. Subscriber support helps us pay our contributors for their work. By becoming a Subscriber Member to Artists Repertory Theatre you will receive the ART Quarterly as a member benefit. An individual subscription to ART Quarterly allows us to keep producing the kind of high-quality content you find in these pages today. A PUBLICATION OF ARTISTS REPERTORY THEATRE
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