Hedda - NW Dance Project by Artslandia

AT TH E P E R FO R M A N C E A CIT Y PL AYBILL AND PERFORMING ARTS MAGA ZINE

CONTENTS 7

WELCOME LETTER

HEDDA & FLAMINGO 37

22 ARTSLANDIA

ARTS CALENDAR

26 FROM THE EDITOR-AT-LARGE

30 CHRIS COLEMAN: EXIT TO DENVER

The Artistic Director for The Armory reflects on his tenure.

34 VEDEM: A JEWISH RESISTANCE ‘ZINE FROM THE HOLOCAUST

The story of a teen-written magazine that united a Nazi concentration camp.

41 THE GRASS DANCE

FLOURISHES

Gerry RainingBird nurtures powwow dance tradition.

46 WHO IS SUSANNAH MARS? Get to know the artist.

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Photo / Blaine Truitt Covert Dancers / William Couture + Kody Jauron + Elijah Labay + Franco Nieto + Anthony Pucci

WELCOME TO HEDDA + FLAMINGO 37 Thank you so much for joining us tonight as we premiere a pair of truly special and unique works. We are delighted and honored to have acclaimed Spanish choreographer Cayetano Soto return to the company after a decade’s absence. NW Dance Project was the first company in the country to commission and premiere his unmistakable work — Not Yet in 2007 and Last But Not Least in 2008, which featured dancer Andrea Parson. Soon after, his career skyrocketed with creations for leading companies around the world, winning numerous awards, to his current role as Resident Choreographer for Ballet BC.

ENVISIONED, CREATED, AND LED BY SARAH SLIPPER, WE REMAIN DEDICATED TO PROVIDING CHOREOGRAPHERS THE OPPORTUNITY TO BRING THEIR ARTISTIC DRIVES AND DREAMS TO FRUITION FROM THE STUDIO TO THE STAGE AND CHARTING THE FUTURE OF CONTEMPORARY DANCE.

“A COMPANY OF SLICK, SKILLED DANCERS” –The New Yorker

Known for his technical, high-pitched, and unpredictable choreography, Flamingo 37, finds Cayetano taking his signature skills and and focusing them through a lens of whimsy. We are sure you will love this new work as much as we do. On the other end of the spectrum is Hedda, the latest creation from NW Dance Project’s Artistic Director, Sarah Slipper. Furthering her fascination with, and transformations of, acclaimed literary and theatrical works featuring strong and unconventional female lead characters, Hedda is her updated yet reverent take on the iconic play by Henrik Ibsen, Hedda Gabler. The prolifically-produced 19th century play is regarded as a classic of realism and world drama, and the title character of Hedda is considered one of the great dramatic roles in theatre. Now she comes to new life through dance. There is no other character quite like Hedda, but there are many views of her… Is she unsatisfiable, manipulative, deceptive, and destructive? Is she strong, irresistible, untamable, and untrappable? Is she the victim, or is she the perpetrator? Yes, she is… Creating Hedda’s new world has been a true collaboration, both inside and outside the studio. We are fortunate to have again secured the abundant talents of set designer Luis Crespo (who created the captivating sets for our Carmen production last spring). Additionally, and marking a first for Sarah, Hedda features an original score from noted dance and film composer Owen Belton, which was generously commissioned by our friends Marilyn Crilley and George Rowbottom – thank you! As always, we are so thankful to have our amazing Lighting Designer Jeff Forbes and our Production Manager Thyra Hartshorn at our side again. Finally, we give many heartfelt thanks to our friend, theatre aficionado, and arts champion, Ronni Lacroute, whose leading sponsorship made these two works possible in this challenging time of reduced grant funding for our art form. Thank you, Ronni! Thank you again for being here and thank you for supporting NW Dance Project. Enjoy the show and we will see you in the lobby at intermission and downstairs at the ArtBar after the show!

Sarah Slipper | Artistic Director

Scott Lewis | Executive Director HEDDA • NW DANCE PROJEC T

PRESENTS

HEDDA + FLAMINGO 37 ARTISTIC DIRECTOR Sarah Slipper

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Scott Lewis

DANCERS Samantha Campbell Kody Jauron Franco Nieto

SPONSORS

William Couture Elijah Labay Andrea Parson Julia Radick

Katherine Disenhof Lindsey McGill Anthony Pucci

MAJOR SUPPORT PROVIDED BY

Ronni Lacroute Marilyn Crilley George Rowbottom MEDIA SPONSORS

The use of photography or other recording equipment is prohibited. Please silence your cell phones. PLEASE NOTE: Food, beverages, cameras, and recording devices are not permitted in Newmark Theatre. Smoking is not permitted in the theater or in the building.

NW DANCE PROJEC T â&#x20AC;¢ HEDDA

Photo / Blaine Truitt Covert Dancers / Lindsey McGill + Franco Nieto

NW DANCE PROJECT 2017–18 SEASON

NW DANCE PROJECT WAS FOUNDED IN PORTLAND IN 2004 BY PRINCIPAL DANCER, AWARD-WINNING CHOREOGRAPHER, AND ACCLAIMED DANCE MENTOR SARAH SLIPPER, AND IMMEDIATELY BEGAN MAKING A SPLASH AND A NAME FOR ITSELF BY DOING THINGS A BIT DIFFERENTLY IN DANCE. Our dedication to providing dancers and dance makers the resources and artistic freedom needed to create and take new, inspired dance works to the stage led Dance International Magazine to proclaim that we are “changing the way dance is created” and established NW Dance Project as “a laboratory, factory and repository for risk-taking new works from the next generation of choreographers from Europe and North America.” NW Dance Project has grown into a world-class contemporary dance company and an international leader in the creation and premiere of significant new contemporary dance works. We commission gifted choreographers from around the world to create on our classically trained yet daring and fearless professional company, giving them full artistic freedom and all the resources needed to bring their artistic drives, inspirations and dreams to fruition and to the stage. With over 250 new dance works created and premiered in Portland to date — more than any other company in the country — NW Dance Project truly is “the ‘it’ company…one of the most dynamic dance troupes in the country” (Oregon Public Broadcasting) and “an essential part of the city’s arts scene” (The Oregonian), with “some of the best dancers you will ever see.” (Calgary Herald) And while Portland gets to experience our works first, the world is watching. NW Dance Project took the Audience Award at the prestigious 25th annual Hannover Choreographic Competition in Germany in April 2011. Later the same year, we were picked the winner, out of nearly 200 entrants from around the world, of the 2011 Sadler’s Wells Global Dance Contest, and as the winner, enjoyed two sold-out, standing ovation London performances in June 2012 as part of the Cultural Olympiad.

We are so proud that four of our talented dancers have been awarded the most prestigious award in dance — The Princess Grace Award: Andrea Parson in 2010; Franco Nieto in 2012; Viktor Usov in 2014; and Ching Ching Wong in 2015. Audiences in Oregon, New York, Seattle, Arizona, St. Louis, Salt Lake City, Colorado, Los Angeles, Houston, London, throughout Canada and Germany, and even Mongolia have been similarly wowed by the company’s touring performances. NW Dance Project is proud to represent Portland and further our city’s glowing and growing reputation as a destination for dance and inspired new works of art. We are equally proud of the work we do in our cherished local community that occurs off the theater stage. Our innovative and interactive Dance Moves outreach program brings free dance classes and workshops to thousands of at-risk and low-income young members of our community each season. Our Arts Access initiative provides numerous fully accessible, professional dance performances locally each season, even drawing a record breaking, 4000-strong crowd to the Washington Park Rose Garden Amphitheater to experience the company perform select works from our all-original-repertoire. NW Dance Project is also an extraordinary and comprehensive training center for all dancers. We hold open community classes for adults and youth seven days a week in our beautiful Creative Center at 211 NE 10 th Avenue, as well as special opportunities for professional and pre-professional dancers such as our signature LAUNCH project and our esteemed Summer Dance Intensive. NW Dance Project believes in dance. We believe everyone can dance and anyone can appreciate the beauty and power of human movement. We believe that dance can, and should, touch and enrich each and every person’s life. And with tonight’s special performance, we believe you’ll agree.

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“SARAH SLIPPER IS TRULY GIFTED. THIS IS WHAT DANCE SHOULD BE ... SHE FOUND THE POINT AT WHICH THE FORM OF DANCE (STEPS, TECHNIQUE, FEET, PERFORMANCE) COMBINE TO CREATE A WORK OF ART.” —The News Record

Photo / Christopher Peddecord Dancers / Franco Nieto + Andrea Parson

ARTISTIC DIRECTOR / SARAH SLIPPER Sarah Slipper was born and raised in Vancouver, British Columbia, and received her professional training at the Royal Ballet School in London, England and the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School. In 1980, she made her professional debut with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet as a corps de ballet member, and became one of the company’s leading dramatic ballerinas. Sarah worked closely with many internationally renowned directors, choreographers and teachers, including Arnold Spohr, Rudi van Dantzig, Hans van Manen, Jirí Kylián, Agnes de Mille, Galina Yordanova, and Alla Savchenko. Sarah was noted for her classical line and dramatic abilities, dancing the principal roles in classical ballets such as Swan Lake, Les Sylphides, Giselle, and The Nutcracker. In addition to the classical repertoire, she received worldwide acclaim for her performances of contemporary ballets, most notably Nobert Vesak’s The Ecstasy of Rita Joe and the award winning Belong pas de deux. After Sarah left the stage, she continued her passion for music and drama, studying theatre at the honours 10

NW DANCE PROJEC T • HEDDA

level at the University of Winnipeg, and in Oxford, England. During the 1996/97 season, she served as ballet mistress of Alberta Ballet, and from 1997/99 as ballet mistress of Oregon Ballet Theatre. Sarah’s command of classical and contemporary styles is demonstrated in her active role of teaching and coaching younger dancers. As a guest master teacher, Sarah has worked with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Washington Ballet, Ballet Austin, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, The Jefferson Dancers and the Dance Departments of the University of Utah, Cornish College of the Arts, and the University of Iowa. An award winning independent choreographer, Sarah is presently based in Portland, Oregon, creating dance worldwide. She has worked with prominent dance companies including the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Cincinnati Ballet, Oregon Ballet Theatre, Nashville Ballet, Washington Ballet, Ballet Jorgen, Louisville Ballet, BalletNY, Alberta Ballet, Ballet Pacifica, Cornish Dance Theater, NW Dance Project and The Jefferson Dancers. She was awarded the Grand Prize for Choreography

at the International Choreographic Competition Saint Sauveur 2000 for her ballet Shattered Night, which was created on the Royal Winnipeg Ballet. During her choreographic residency at Festival des Arts in Quebec, Canada, her ballet A River In A Dry Land, was described by the Montreal Gazette as “one of the finest choreographies produced in residency.” Sarah’s works have been described as “absolutely remarkable... grippingly pits breezy romanticism against a sinister undercurrent.” (The Oregonian) and “...a complete, enclosed world, a somber yet hopeful winter landscape across which the three couples thread in a long, smoothly unfolding skein of dance” (The New York Times). A Fine Balance, her pas de deux created during NW Dance Project’s inaugural season, was a finalist for the prestigious Benois de la Danse award in 2006 and was performed at the Bolshoi Theatre as part of the award’s gala celebration. Sarah is currently working on several new creations and serves as the Artistic Director of NW Dance Project.

The Golden Gala MAY 12 / 2018 / 5:30PM

celebrate. experience . suppor t. tables + tickets nwdanceproject.org 503.828.8285

Photo /Photo Blaine Truitt Covert / Blaine Truitt Covert Dancers / Andrea Parson + William Couture Dancers / William Couture + Elijah Labay + Kody Jauron + Anthony Pucci + Franco Nieto

Photo / Michael Slobodian ©

NW DANCE PROJECT GUEST CHOREOGRAPHER

CAYETANO SOTO BALLET BC RESIDENT CHOREOGRAPHER

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Born and based in Barcelona, Cayetano Soto has created works for major companies worldwide. His technical, high-pitched and unpredictable choreography can be seen at international festivals in Europe, USA and Canada. He started his dance education in Barcelona at the Instituto del Teatre and continued his studies at the Koninklijke Conservatorium in The Hague. After receiving his degree in Classical Dance, Cayetano danced with IT Dansa Barcelona in 1997, before joining Ballet Theater Munich a year later where he created several successful ballets and one of his first signature pieces, Fugaz. Since 2005, he has worked as a freelance choreographer and has received commissions from Ballet BC, Nederlands Dans Theater, Royal Ballet of Flanders, Zurich Ballet, Balé da Cidade de São Paulo, BJM Montréal, Introdans, Introdans voor de Jeugd, Gauthier Dance Company, Companhia Nacional de Bailado, Perm Opera, Ballet Theater, Národní Divadlo Brno, Aspen Santa Fe Ballet, Tanz Luzern Theater, Ballet Hispanico, Maggio Danza Opera di Fierenze, Ballet X in Philadelphia, and NW Dance Project in Portland — the first company to commission and premiere his work in the US. He also created several ballets with German companies, such as Stuttgart Ballet, Staatstheater

Braunschweig, Hessisches Staats Ballett Wiesbaden, Augsburg Ballett, Ballett im Revier, Staatstheater Nurnberg, and Ballett Dortmund. In 2009, Cayetano began a continuous collaboration with Aspen Santa Fe Ballet and Introdans voor de Jeugd, creating a number of new ballets. For Ballett Dortmund he created a new full evening version of Carmen. Due to the success in Dortmund, Národní Divadlo Brno in Czech Republic staged Carmen in 2010. Since September 2015, Cayetano has been appointed Resident Choreographer at Ballet BC for next three seasons. Arte 1 Brazil broadcasted a documentary of six episodes of his 2015 creation ADASTRA for Balé da Cidade de São Paulo. ADASTRA was nominated for Best Dance Performance of the Year by the press in São Paulo. In season 2016/17 Cayetano was choreographic Fellowship Mentor for Philadelphia’s Ballet X. He was awarded first prize for his ballet 24FPS at the choreographic competition Uncontainable Project at the Royal Ballet of Flanders in 2006. Canela Fina, commissioned by Balé da Cidade de São Paulo, was awarded best dance production of 2008 by the Brazilian newspaper Folha de São Paulo. In 2011 Cayetano was nominated for the most prestigious dance award in Russia, the Golden Mask Award, for his choreography Uneven.

EVERYONE CAN DANCE PORTLAND’S “BEST DANCE STUDIO” - Willamette Week Reader’s Poll 2015 – 2017

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DANCER BIOGRAPHIES

by Aszure Barton, Nelly van Bommel, Thang Dao, James Gregg, Felix Landerer, Joshua Manculich, Jirˇí Pokorný, Ihsan Rustem, and Yin Yue.

KATHERINE DISENHOF

SAMANTHA CAMPBELL

is from Salt Lake City, Utah. She attended the University of Utah as a Ballet major and graduated with a B.F.A. in May 2007. She was a member of Utah Ballet for three years while at the University, danced with Alabama Ballet and danced on scholarship at the Lou Conte Dance Studio (Hubbard Street Dance Chicago). Samantha has danced original roles in NW Dance Project works by Didy Veldman, Lucas Crandall, Sarah Slipper, Donald McKayle, James Canfield, Patrick Delcroix, Wen Wei Wang, Andrea Miller, Pedro Dias, Loni Landon, Benoit-Swan Pouffer, Noam Gagnon, Edgar Zendejas, Maurice Causey, Lauren Edson, Carla Mann and Minh Tran.

was born and raised in Mill Valley, California, where she trained at Marin Ballet. She graduated from Stanford University in 2012 with a B.A. in Human Biology and received the Louis Sudler Prize in the Performing and Creative Arts. Katherine was a member of Robert Moses’ Kin for four years, with which she toured internationally and was part of a cast that received the 2015 Isadora Duncan Award for “Outstanding Achievement in Performance-Company.” She was also on staff at Alonzo King LINES Ballet for five years as the BFA Program Coordinator and Graphic Designer. Katherine attended NW Dance Project’s 2017 LAUNCH project.

ELIJAH LABAY

was born in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, and started training at Ballet Arts Academy in Spokane, Washington. In 2004, Elijah joined Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet Professional Division and then attended the Fellowship Program at The Ailey School on full scholarship. He received a Professional Advancement Award at Jacob’s Pillow to work with Aszure Barton, Helen Pickett, and Tero Saarinen. In 2009, Elijah joined Florida Dance Theatre directed by Carol Erkes and had the opportunity to choreograph Kaos in Wonderland. Elijah attended NW Dance Project’s LAUNCH:4 project where he worked with choreographers Loni Landon and James Gregg. He was featured in NW Dance Project’s premiere of André Mesquita’s duet, A Short History of Walking, and in other original NW Dance Project works created by Patrick Delcroix, Ihsan Rustem, Lucas Crandall, Pedro Dias, Loni Landon, Sarah Slipper, Noam Gagnon, Olivier Wevers, Carla Mann and Minh Tran.

KODY JAURON

WILLIAM COUTURE

was born and raised in St. Paul Minnesota, where he attended the Saint Paul Conservatory for Performing Arts, and from there went to San Francisco to study at Dominican University of California with LINES ballet. While in college Will traveled as a guest artist to perform with the Southern California Ballet, Santa Rosa Ballet, and LINES ballet. In 2013 Will received a scholarship with the Dizzy Feet Foundation and was invited to perform a solo at their gala event. After graduating in 2015 Will returned to Minnesota to dance with Shapiro and Smith Dance and teach.

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hails from Phoenix, Arizona where he began his formal dance instruction at age 15 with Andrew Needhammer. Shortly after, Kody furthered his pre-professional studies with the Miami City Ballet School and Ballet Austin’s Professional Division Trainee Program where he was honored to become a recipient of the Sarah & Ernest Butler Scholarship. After one year at Ballet Austin, Kody was promoted to an apprentice to the company where he danced for two additional seasons. Kody has supplemented his training at Lou Conte Dance Studio’s scholarship program, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, The School at Jacob’s Pillow, Springboard Danse Montréal, and most recently at NW Dance Project’s LAUNCH:10. Prior to joining NW Dance Project, Kody danced with DanceWorks Chicago under the tutelage of Julie Nakagawa and has been a featured guest artist with the Ruth Page Civic Ballet, Evansville Ballet, and Salt Creek Ballet. He has had the opportunity to perform works

LINDSEY MCGILL

was born in Houston, Texas. She began her formal dance training under Elizabeth and Rosemary Molak in Orange County, California and continued training at the Houston Ballet Academy under the direction of Ben Stevenson, Clara Cravey and Priscilla Nathan Murphy. Since graduating from Houston Ballet Academy, Lindsey has worked with Jane Weiner’s Hope Stone Dance, Michele Brangwen Dance Ensemble, iMEE, Dominic Walsh Dance Theater, O Dance, NobleMotion

Dance, The Next Stage Project, KDNY and Dayton Contemporary Dance Company 2. She has also had opportunities to dance in projects by a number of independent artists including Jhon R. Stronks, Paola Georgudis, Teresa Chapman, Amy Ell’s Vault and Freneticore. Lindsey participated in NW Dance Project’s LAUNCH:5 project.

FRANCO NIETO 2012 PRINCESS GRACE AWARD WINNER

was born and raised in Vancouver, Washington. Franco was an athlete playing football for seven years before making his choice to dance. Franco began his training at Vancouver School of Arts and Academics, and Columbia Dance, later studying under Tracey Durbin as a student and an assistant in Portland. Franco graduated from Point Park University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with a B.F.A. in Jazz in 2009. Franco has danced original roles in NW Dance Project works by Didy Veldman, James Canfield, Sarah Slipper, Luca Veggetti, Pedro Dias, Maurice Causey, Wen Wei Wang, Andrea Miller, Noam Gagnon, Loni Landon and Lauren Edson. In August 2012, Franco was one of only six dancers in the U.S. to win a Princess Grace Award for Dance. Franco received a full page feature in the February 2014 issue of Dance Magazine.

Angeles in 2008. Andrea has taught dance throughout Oregon and Washington and has participated in workshops with the Joffrey Ballet, San Francisco Conservatory of Dance, anoukvandijk dc and the NW Dance Project. She has danced original roles in NW Dance Project works by Patrick Delcroix, Sarah Slipper, James Canfield, Luca Veggetti, Pedro Dias, Ihsan Rustem, Andrea Miller, Aszure Barton, Noam Gagnon, Benoit-Swan Pouffer, Maurice Causey, Lucas Crandall, Wen Wei Wang, Alejandro Cerrudo, Cayetano Soto, Loni Landon, Edgar Zendejas, Carla Mann and Minh Tran. In June 2010, Dance Magazine named Andrea their dancer “On the Rise.” The following month, Andrea received her biggest career honor to date, winning a 2010 Princess Grace Award for Dance and she appeared on the cover of Dance Spirit Magazine in February 2011, which did a feature on her and another on the company.

JULIA RADICK

was born and raised in New York City. She graduated from LaGuardia Arts High School and earned her B.F.A. in Dance from the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. She has also trained at North Carolina School of the Arts, Boston Ballet, Alonzo King LINES Ballet, and with Batsheva. Julia has danced original works by Nathan Trice, Brunilda Ruiz, James Sutton, Cherylyn Lavagnino, Aszure Barton, and Kate Weare. She was a member of the Yomoco and has performed with Classical Contemporary Ballet Theatre. Julia is a certified Mind Body Dancer™ yoga instructor. Julia took part in NW Dance Project’s LAUNCH:7 project. Company Portraits / Michael Slobodian©

ANTHONY PUCCI

was born and raised in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, began his dance training at Studio Dance under Michele Burke. He attended the University of Iowa, where he received a B.F.A. in Dance Performance and Choreography. While attending university, he had the privilege to perform extensively in faculty, graduate, and undergraduate work — most notably a site-specific work at the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia with the visually stunning Tori Lawrence & Co, as well as an evening-length work exploring energy cultures at an Anthroprocene symposium hosted by the University of Wyoming with Incite Insight Arts. Anthony danced for the past four years with Cedar Rapids Opera Theatre in their productions of Carmen, Don Giovanni, and others. Anthony is also a 200-hour certified yoga instructor through the Yoga Alliance. In 2017 he attended NW Dance Project’s LAUNCH project.

ANDREA PARSON 2010 PRINCESS GRACE AWARD WINNER

began her early dance training in Hillsboro, Oregon, at NW Conservatory of Dance under the direction of Anita Mitchell. She received her B.A. from Loyola Marymount University in Los

HEDDA • NW DANCE PROJEC T

THANK YOU PATRON $10,000+ Craig Aalseth The Collins Foundation Marilyn Crilley & George Rowbottom James F. & Marion L. Miller Foundation Alan & Sharon Jones - North Country Productions Juan Young Trust Ronni Lacroute Oregon Arts Commission The Oregonian Media Group The Regional Arts & Culture Council, including support from the City of Portland, Multnomah County and the Arts Education & Access Fund The Shubert Foundation Peter & Ann van Bever

BENEFACTOR $5,000–$9,999 The Boeing Company Vaunda Carter Gregory & Betsy Hatton The Jackson Foundation Scott Lewis Missy & Mark MacDonald Carole Montarou Sarah Slipper Al Solheim West Portland Physical Therapy Clinic Work For Art, including contributions from more than 75 companies and 2,000 employees Serena Zilliacus & PierreLaurent Baudey

CHAMPION $2,500–$4,999 All Classical Public Media, Inc. Altabira City Tavern The Autzen Foundation Domaine Serene Winery Intel Corporation J & J Foundation Gary S. Leavitt Gary LeClair & Janice Friend The Mark Spencer Hotel Missionary Chocolates Rose E. Tucker Charitable Trust Steve Neighorn ProGraphics Portland Flower Works Poster Garden Skies America Susan Matlack Jones & Associates Jane & Steven Tighe The Valspar Corporation Lucinda Welch & Dennis Nolan

PRODUCER $1,000–$2,499 Anonymous Action Video Productions NW Blaine Truitt Covert Photography 18

NW DANCE PROJECT DONATIONS: NW Dance Project would like to thank the following individuals, foundations, corporations and government agencies for their generous support. Listing reflects gifts received from February 1, 2017 through February 15, 2018. If you have a question or a correction to the listing, or would like to add or deepen your support, please contact Executive Director Scott Lewis at 503.756.1912 or info@nwdanceproject.org.

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PARTNER $250–$499 Anonymous Carole Alexander Bob Alvis Paul Andrews

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NW DANCE PROJECT

STAFF

ARTISTIC DIRECTOR Sarah Slipper EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Scott Lewis COMPANY MANAGER Michael De Farias Moura EDUCATION & OUTREACH COORDINATOR Caitlin Warren ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT Jennifer Hancock STUDIO STAFF Kolina Chitta + Morgan Lunsford + Kasandra Martinez LIGHTING DESIGNER & TECHNICAL DIRECTOR Jeff Forbes STAGE MANAGER Thyra Hartshorn COSTUME & WARDROBE MANAGEMENT Alexa Stark ACCOMPANISTS Ray McKean + Susan Schroeder GRAPHIC DESIGN Rachel Beckwith

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

DANCE TEACHERS

Pierre-Laurent Baudey Alan Jones Gary Leavitt Scott Lewis Carole Montarou Steven C. Neighorn Sarah Slipper Jane Tighe John Tracy Peter van Bever Lucinda Welch Serena Zilliacus

Andre Baker Allison Brando Samantha Campbell James Canfield Micah Chermak Kim Choeychan William Couture Lucas Crandall Jason Davis Michelle Davis Mariecella Devine Tracey Durbin Cora Guren Charlene Hannibal Izzy Holmes Kody Jauron Sharee Lane Ella Matweyou Lindsey McGill Morgan Moore Thorey Mountain Franco Nieto Andrea Parson Anthony Pucci Nicholas Petrich Julia Radick Yellie Shustack Sarah Slipper Vanessa Thiessen Gerard Theoret Caitlin Warren Deanna White Holly Woodridge

ARTISTIC DIRECTOR Sarah Slipper

WEB SUPPORT Christopher Peddecord

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

PHOTOGRAPHY Blaine Truitt Covert + Christopher Peddecord + Michael Slobodian

COMPANY MEMBERS

VIDEOGRAPHY Ralph Davis, Action Video + Michael Slobodian HEALTH & WELLNESS Dr. Katharine Zeller PHYSICAL THERAPY West Portland Physical Therapy Clinic ACCOUNTING Richard Winkel, CPA

Scott Lewis

Samantha Campbell William Couture Katherine Disenhof Kody Jauron Elijah Labay Lindsey McGill Franco Nieto Andrea Parson Anthony Pucci Julia Radick

BOOKKEEPING Susan Matlack Jones & Associates PRINTING & MAILING ProGraphics + MetroPresort STUDIO SUPPORT Jonathan Floyd + Kristalyn Gill + McKaye Harris + Morgan Lunsford + Kasandra Martinez Company Portraits By Michael Slobodian

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CONTACT Studio

503.421.7434

Ticket Info

503.828.8285

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Creative Center

Website

nwdanceproject.org

211 NE 10TH Ave Portland, OR 97232

Program Photo / Michael Slobodian

Dancers / Andrea Parson + Elijah Labay

“A COMPANY OF SLICK, SKILLED DANCERS”

PERFORMANCES

SUMMER

– THE NEW YORKER

JUN 14 - 16 / 7:30 PM TICKETS NWDANCEPROJECT.ORG 503.828.8285

LINCOLN PERFORMANCE HALL

WORLD PREMIERE - IHSAN RUSTEM MEMORYHOUSE - SARAH SLIPPER THIS TIME TOMORROW - DANIELLE AGAMI

HEDDA • NW DANCE PROJEC T

WHAT TO SEE IN ARTSLANDIA ARTS CALENDAR

ALICE (IN WONDERLAND)

OREGON BALLET THEATRE Follow an exuberant young girl as she plunges down a rabbit hole into an extraordinary, imaginative world. OBT is thrilled to bring you the West Coast premiere of a new full-length ballet suitable for families. Created in 2012 by Septime Webre with an original score by American composer and violinist Matthew Pierce, the mad adventure is brought to life with surreal sets, zany costumes, puppetry, and powerfully expressive dance. Don’t be late! FEBRUARY 24–MARCH 4; KELLER AUDITORIUM

KODACHROME

PORTLAND CENTER STAGE AT THE ARMORY A world premiere from the 2015 JAW Festival! Welcome to Colchester, a small town where everybody knows each other, and the pace of life allows the pursuit of love to take up as much space as it needs. Our tour guide is Suzanne, the town photographer, who lets us peek into her neighbors’ lives to catch glimpses of romance in all its stages of development. A play about love, nostalgia, the seasons, and how we learn to say goodbye. FEBRUARY 3–MARCH 18; PORTLAND CENTER STAGE AT THE AMORY, ELLYN BYE STUDIO

BLIND PILOT

OREGON SYMPHONY Since forming in 2008, Blind Pilot has emerged as one of the most innovative indie bands to arrive on the national scene. Now they return to Portland, sharing the stage with their hometown orchestra to perform from their third album, And Then Like Lions, as well as old favorites. Conducted by Norman Huynh. MARCH 1; ARLENE SCHNITZER CONCERT HALL

THE MAGIC PLAY

PORTLAND CENTER STAGE AT THE ARMORY A theater is a realm of illusion. So is a magic show. Playwright Andrew Hinderaker mashes these traditions together with alluring results. The Magic Play follows a young magician trying to get through a live show, just hours after his partner has left him. As the performance progresses, he confronts the fact that the spectacular tricks that impress people onstage don’t serve him as well when it comes to building truthful personal relationships. This mesmerizing new play questions the extent to which we must be honest with ourselves to be so with those we love. MARCH 3–APRIL 1; PORTLAND CENTER STAGE AT THE ARMORY, U.S. BANK MAIN STAGE

ALONG THE OREGON TRAIL

OREGON SYMPHONY Young travelers head out on a musical journey that spirits them on an adventurous musical tour of the Wild West and the great Northwest. Conducted by Norman Huynh. MARCH 4; ARLENE SCHNITZER CONCERT HALL

ARTSL ANDIA AT THE PERFORM ANCE

MUSIC

DANCE

THEATER

VERDI’S REQUIEM

OREGON SYMPHONY Verdi’s Requiem combines the dramatic thrust of opera with powerful symphonic music, vocal solos, and choruses of breathtaking emotional intensity. Conducted by Carlos Kalmar. MARCH 10–12; ARLENE SCHNITZER CONCERT HALL

HEDDA

NW DANCE PROJECT Sarah Slipper’s distinctly dark, theatrical, and vivid choreography takes on Henrik Ibsen’s incomparable 19th-century play, Hedda Gabler, a classic of realism and world drama, with an original score by Owen Belton and a striking set by Luis Crespo. For the first time since his U.S. choreographic debut with NW Dance Project in 2007, world-renowned choreographer Cayetano Soto, Ballet BC Resident Choreographer, makes his way back to unveil a full-company work filled with whimsy and pounds of pink. MARCH 15–17; NEWMARK THEATRE

BRAHMS’ VIOLIN CONCERTO

OREGON SYMPHONY One of the greatest violin concertos ever written, Brahms’ work is a stunning display of the violin’s emotional and virtuosic qualities. A colleague of Brahms’ exclaimed, “It is a concerto for violin against the orchestra—and the violin wins!” Conducted by Carlos Kalmar. MARCH 17–19; ARLENE SCHNITZER CONCERT HALL

A CELTIC CELEBRATION (BAGPIPES, GREEN BEER, AND CELTIC-INSPIRED MUSIC)

VANCOUVER SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Extend your St. Patrick’s Day observance an extra day by joining The VSO for their jamboree in celebration of all things Celt. Bagpipes and green beer round out this presentation of music inspired by the Celtic speakers of Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Brittany (France), and Galicia (Spain). Distinct in rhythm and melody, the genre dates back to the 1600s and is known for both its rousing dance tunes and heartbreaking ballads. MARCH 18; KIGGINS THEATRE, 1011 MAIN ST., VANCOUVER

JURASSIC PARK IN CONCERT

OREGON SYMPHONY One of the most exhilarating science fiction adventures ever made, Jurassic Park transports audiences to a wondrous island theme park of cloned dinosaurs. What could go wrong? Masterfully directed by Steven Spielberg and featuring one of John Williams’ most iconic scores performed live by the Oregon Symphony, the only thing more thrilling might be Jurassic Park itself! Conducted by Norman Huynh. MARCH 24 & 25; ARLENE SCHNITZER CONCERT HALL

CULTURE

ONE NIGHT ONLY

FAMILY SHOW

AND SO WE WALKED

PORTLAND CENTER STAGE AT THE ARMORY A frank, funny, and sometimes misguided story of a contemporary Cherokee woman who goes on a sixweek, 900-mile journey with her father along the Trail of Tears in search of her heroic self. Through this personal odyssey, her sense of identity—both as a contemporary Cherokee and as a woman—is tested by the people and places she encounters. MARCH 31–MAY 13; PORTLAND CENTER STAGE AT THE AMORY, ELLYN BYE STUDIO

RAVEL’S DAPHNIS AND CHLOE

OREGON SYMPHONY Enjoy the rare opportunity to hear Ravel’s complete score for his 1912 ballet. Widely regarded as his finest orchestral music, Ravel’s self-titled “choreographic symphony” is full of passion and the gorgeous, color-saturated harmonies of French impressionism. Conducted by Carlos Kalmar. APRIL 7–9; ARLENE SCHNITZER CONCERT HALL

RICK SPRINGFIELD

OREGON SYMPHONY Don’t miss Grammy-winning singer/songwriter Rick Springfield—whose 17 Top 40 hits include Jessie’s Girl, Don’t Talk to Strangers, An Affair of the Heart, I’ve Done Everything for You, Love Somebody, and Human Touch—with the Oregon Symphony. Conducted by Norman Huynh. APRIL 12; ARLENE SCHNITZER CONCERT HALL

MAN/WOMAN

OREGON BALLET THEATRE This five-part program juxtaposes all-female and all-male ballets to explore gender stereotypes, and adds in one of Resident Choreographer Nicolo Fonte’s most successful works to bring the two sexes together. They open with one of the most iconic female roles in all of ballet, that of The Dying Swan. Created by Michel Fokine for the legendary Anna Pavlova, this masterpiece epitomizes the ethereal beauty and fragility of a romantic-era ballerina. APRIL 12–21; NEWMARK THEATRE

VSO POPS SERIES: ADVENTURES IN FILM & FANTASY

VANCOUVER SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA The musicians of The VSO showcase their versatility with the performance of music from legendary films and symphonic video games. Selections from Lord of the Rings, Back to the Future, Magnificent Seven, Legend of Zelda, and more ensure a delightful family outing for all generations. Please visit The VSO website for additional information. APRIL 14 & 15; SKYVIEW CONCERT HALL, 1300 NW 139TH ST., VANCOUVER

MARCH & APRIL 2018 MAJOR BARBARA

PORTLAND CENTER STAGE AT THE ARMORY When her daughters Sarah and Barbara are both engaged to be married, Lady Britomart decides to ask her estranged industrialist husband for support. Barbara, a Major in the Salvation Army, agrees to let her father visit her mission in the East End of London. In exchange, she promises to visit his munitions factory. The clash between Barbara’s philanthropic idealism and her father’s hardheaded capitalism are at the heart of this witty and timely appraisal of capitalism, war, religion, and politics. APRIL 14–MAY 13; PORTLAND CENTER STAGE AT THE ARMORY, U.S. BANK MAIN STAGE

ANNUAL SCHOOL PERFORMANCE

OREGON BALLET THEATRE The School of the Oregon Ballet Theatre showcases student dancers with inspiring works that demonstrate the versatility and artistry of this program. APRIL 21 & 22; NEWMARK THEATRE

SAINT-SAËNS’ ORGAN SYMPHONY

OREGON SYMPHONY Saint-Saëns’ most popular symphony combines a full orchestra, the emotional quality of a tone poem, and the majestic sound of the organ. So powerful is the grand finale that film composers, Disney World, and pop musicians alike have adapted it. Conducted by Sascha Goetzel. APRIL 21–23; ARLENE SCHNITZER CONCERT HALL

THE HOT SARDINES

OREGON SYMPHONY Called “simply phenomenal” by The Times (London), The Hot Sardines add a hip, modern twist to the sounds of New York speakeasies, Parisian cabarets, and New Orleans jazz halls, making those wonderful old sounds new again. Conducted by Jeff Tyzik. APRIL 28 & 29; ARLENE SCHNITZER CONCERT HALL

LOOKING AHEAD.

3RD ANNUAL EVENING OF JAZZ

VANCOUVER SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA The VSO’s Third Annual Evening of Jazz, a live benefit concert, features the extraordinary jazz clarinetist and saxophonist Ken Peplowski. From the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra and the Benny Goodman Band to Dixieland and jazz, the award-winning Mr. Peplowski has played with legendary figures from Mel Torme and Peggy Lee to Madonna and Woody Allen. His life on the road has taken him from small clubs to the Hollywood Bowl, headlining in Las Vegas, the Newport Jazz Festival, pops concerts, and European festivals and clubs. On this night, he’s all yours. APRIL 28; CLARK COLLEGE, 1933 FORT VANCOUVER WAY, VANCOUVER

JOSHUA BELL

OREGON SYMPHONY There’s not much Joshua Bell hasn’t done throughout his phenomenal career. The Avery Fisher Prize winner and bestselling recording artist has played for First Lady Michelle Obama, commissioned and premiered new concertos, and performed the solo violin role in John Corigliano’s Oscar-winning filmscore for The Red Violin. Now Bell returns to Portland to perform Leonard Bernstein’s Serenade with the Oregon Symphony, a work that won him a Grammy nomination and a reputation as one of Bernstein’s greatest interpreters. MAY 12–14; ARLENE SCHNITZER CONCERT HALL MARCH | APRIL 2018

AT TH E P E R FO R M A N C E

M ARCH | APRIL 2018

PUBLISHER + FOUNDER Misty Tompoles EDITOR-AT-LARGE Barry Johnson MEMBERSHIP MANAGER Katrina Ketchum COPY EDITOR Kristen Seidman DESIGNERS Lisa Johnston-Smith Dan Le Jackie Tran EDITORIAL COORDINATOR Blanche Minoza MEDIA DIRECTOR Chris Porras SALES DIRECTOR Lindsey Ferguson PUBLISHING COORDINATORS Bella Showerman Janelle Bonaficio CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Hannah Krafcik Nim Wunnan PHOTOGRAPHERS Christine Dong Max McDermott PODCAST HOST Susannah Mars

Artslandia at the Performance is published by Rampant Creative, Inc. ©2018 Rampant Creative, Inc. All rights reserved. This magazine or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher. Rampant Creative, Inc. /Artslandia Magazine 6637 SE Milwaukie Ave. #207 | Portland, OR 97202

ARTSLANDIA.COM 24

ARTSL ANDIA AT THE PERFORM ANCE

FROM THE EDITOR-AT-LARGE

HELLO, NEW YORK TIMES ! Who is Poppy? “Poppy is...an Android-themed pop star.” If The New York Times had a digital assistant, it might sound like Poppy: The content would be less important than the autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) her voice generates, that “tingling sensation on the skin that typically begins on the scalp and moves down the back of the neck and upper spine,” as Wikipedia defines it. And yes, the assistant’s voice would “sound feminine.” Thus, the gender-specific pronouns. She would sound like Siri or Alexa or Cortana or the nameless Google Assistant. She would supply information that is readily available. Her voice would have the faintest of computer-generated catches and a fetching computer stiffness. And it would generate the same ASMR effect as they do. And as Poppy does… Poppy is not a robot, not computer-generated. She’s a YouTube star. She’s a pop music star. She’s an internet pop phenomena. She’s also an actress who is difficult to dislodge from her Android theme, but human nonetheless. In her pop single, Bleach Blonde Baby, she sings, in her breathy monotone, “Being flawless every day, that’s my only skill.” Her long, straight blonde hair is immaculate; so is her make-up and the gloss on her full lips; and on her model-thin body, her expressive little-girl fashions hang as perfectly as though Poppy were a mannequin. But Poppy is a human playing a robot. 26

ARTSL ANDIA AT THE PERFORM ANCE

“Humans are merging with the technological world—not just adapting to it but taking on the aspects of the technological themselves, just as technology has produced increasingly persuasive simulacra of humans.”

That’s the point of Amanda Hess’ Critics Notebook article, The Rise of the Social Media Fembot, in The Times online on Feb. 4, 2018. Humans are merging with the technological world—not just adapting to it but taking on the aspects of the technological themselves, just as technology has produced increasingly persuasive simulacra of humans. We, tech interfaces with the human, and humans themselves imitate each other. Pinocchio wanted to be a real boy. Poppy wants to be a puppet. Or a human playing a puppet. Lots of people want to see her do it: According to the article, Poppy’s videos, masterminded by her creator/handler/director Titanic “Not My Real Name” Sinclair, have had 257 million views. Why? Poppy herself suggests an

“We’re just a bunch of monkeys with big brains swiping on glowing rectangles.”

answer: “Poppy’s world is a magical place... and it’s the most free part of the entire universe.” Maybe Poppy and Titanic are offering us an escape, an internet dream vacation, where nothing truly bothersome ever happens, and if it did, you just wouldn’t like it. Titanic admits that Poppy can make even the pop-besotted uncomfortable at times. In an interview with NPR’s Scott Simon: “I think it’s fun to be uncomfortable sometimes—being able to have that kind of Goldilocks zone where you’re not too hot, not too cold with comfort is missing a lot. I think it motivates a lot of what we make.”

The Oregon Community Foundation can help your tax-deductible gift pave the way toward a bolder, brighter outlook for Oregon’s future.

That discomfort is revelatory: Titanic and Poppy are making art, a splendid homage to Warhol that uses Japanese and Korean pop forms and attitudes, merging them with the fembots that Hess names in her article. Later on in the interview with Simon, Titanic observes, “We’re just a bunch of monkeys with big brains swiping on glowing rectangles.” Poppy is his way of showing that to us. Maybe. But what if we really embraced it, that “magical place,” that “flawless” place, where we could go and escape the ugliness around us in “real” life, fight it with fashion and cosmetics. Hess observes that Kylie Jenner (and lots of other celebrities) uses Instagram and Snapchat constantly to update her image, push her cosmetics line, represent a specific representation of herself. And her affect is...blank. Hess quotes Chris Wallace of Interview magazine, who called Kylie (NOT Poppy) “sex-doll sanguine.” And she notes the similarity to the CGI fembots of recent science fiction films and TV series (Ex Machina, Westworld, Humans)—who only become dangerous when they develop minds of their own. Minds of their own. >>>>

oregoncf.org

QUIETLY

by Owen McCafferty Directed by Gemma Whelan

Apr 13 – May 6, 2018 Thu – Sat 7:30pm, Sun 2pm

at New Expressive Works, 810 SE Belmont St, Portland Two middle-aged men meet in a Belfast bar where a horrific event transformed their lives over 30 years before. A powerful story of violence and forgiveness in the aftermath of The Troubles. Contemporary Irish theatre in Portland, Oregon

corribtheatre.org

Use code “Artslandia” for $3 off

MARCH | APRIL 2018

Grand opera returns to Portland this spring!

Photo by Cory Weaver/Portland Opera

VERDI

May 4 – 12

Keller Auditorium DIRECTED BY

Christopher Mattaliano CONDUCTED BY

George Manahan

A Season of Legendary Tales APRIL 14

BIG NIGHT Keller Auditorium

Don’t miss it: a one night only celebration of opera’s greatest hits!

JUNE 8, 10m, 14, 16

JULY 13, 15m, 19, 21, 25, 28

JULY 27, 29m, 31 | AUG 2, 4

GOUNOD

ROSSINI

GLUCK

Keller Auditorium

Newmark Theatre

FAUST

A haunting new vision inspired by the art of John Frame—with Angel Blue and Jonathan Boyd.

LA CENERENTOLA Rossini’s classic opera will glitter as brightly as Cinderella’s royal ball gown.

ORFEO ED EURIDICE Celebrate the transformative power of love and music in this epic myth.

Single tickets start at $35 portlandopera.org | 503.241.1802 concierge@portlandopera.org 28

ARTSL ANDIA AT THE PERFORM ANCE

FROM THE EDITOR-AT-LARGE Continued from page 27

“I think people are getting to a point where they don’t want to think, and this is easier.”

>>>> Here’s Warhol in a 1963 radio interview: Q: “Do you think pop art could survive, let’s say, without PR people?” A: “Oh, yeah.” Q: “You do?” A: “Well, because I think people who come to the exhibition understand it more. They don’t have to think. And they just sort of see things, and they like them, and they understand them easier. And I think people are getting to a point where they don’t want to think, and this is easier.” Think how much more mediated the space we share is now. Poppy offers an escape— from thinking too deeply about things, from worrying. We’re living in the dystopia. We want to escape it.

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Hello Google/Siri/Alexa! What is the relationship between “art” and “beauty”? “I’m not sure. I have noticed that you’ve spent a lot of time hovering over Tolstoy’s What Is Art?, which demolishes any argument equating the two. Has that helped you get more friends or followers, clicks, likes, or shares? Are you a YouTube star yet? (I know the answer to that one!)” Like Poppy, Lil Miquela is another YouTube sensation. Unlike Poppy, she’s computer-generated. My favorite line from her pop hit, Not Mine: “I’m just out here living my life.”

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That’s because “here” and “living” and “my life” put me in a Goldilocks zone, not too real and not too virtual, and yet never “just right.” And that gives Poppy and me an autonomous sensory meridian response. . MARCH | APRIL 2018

Chris Coleman:

EXIT to

DENVER By Barry Johnson Photo by Christine Dong

WHEN PEOPLE LEAVE PORTLAND for jobs in another city, all good journalists understand that they have just opened a door, not just on a new future for themselves but on the past, too. Or at least a more candid view of the past they shared with us while they were here. Nothing like putting a city and a job in the rearview mirror for loosening the tongue about the place they are leaving. Not that anyone leaving Portland for Denver these days—as Portland Center Stage Artistic Director announced he was doing last November after 17-anda-half years here—can feel entirely unrestrained in conversation with a journalist. The more “dynamic” parts of such an interview will inevitably cross the Rockies. But still, at the very least, the leave-taking interview, the exit interview, can lead to a reflective state of mind that can be very valuable for those of us who remain. In February, just after Coleman’s epic farewell to Oregon, Astoria: Part Two, opened, we got together on the mezzanine level of The Armory building, home to PCS to talk about anything Coleman wanted to discuss. For our purposes here, I’ve focused on the very first topic and slightly edited Coleman’s responses for length and clarity.

ARTSL ANDIA AT THE PERFORM ANCE

WHAT WERE THE BIGGEST CHALLENGES YOU FACED WHEN YOU STARTED AT PORTLAND CENTER STAGE? THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE YOU FACED IN THE MIDDLE OF YOUR RUN HERE? THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE YOUR SUCCESSOR WILL FACE? The biggest challenge when I got here was moving the programming. I think the board was hungry for more adventure; the staff was hungry for more adventure, but nobody had checked in with the audience. And so I leaned forward at their encouragement, and I leaned too far forward, I think, initially.1 If I had to do it over again? Julie Vigeland [who was the board President of Center Stage when Coleman was hired] and I have wrestled with this over and over. If I had it to do it over again, I think I would have been a little more evolutionary than revolutionary, because I think I could have kept more people in the fold longer, and it would have made for a less difficult first couple of years. Julie feels like, you know what, we needed to say things have changed, and this is where we’re going.

It was painful emotionally. It was painful financially. And it was scary initially. So it was definitely trying to figure out, where is this community or this audience for this organization aesthetically, and how does that fit with what I want to do, and how do we line up a little bit better? That was huge. And then, the organization was tremendously under-resourced for a company that was trying to fill 900 seats [in the Newmark Theatre]. The budget my first season was $3.2 million, and boy, that is a brutal equation. So selling the vision, trying to figure out where the community was, and trying to increase our resources so we could put better work onstage, those were the biggest challenges early on. WHAT ABOUT THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE IN THE MIDDLE OF YOUR TIME HERE? We’re sitting in the middle of the biggest challenge, in the middle. It’s profoundly challenging to build a new building, and it ended up being a $38.6 million project. And that in itself, if you have all the winds at your back, is profoundly challenging.

we needed to say things have changed, and this is where we’re going. There were so many people in the community—and probably rightly so—who didn’t believe we were ready or that we could pull it off.2 We were 15 years old at the time, and we didn’t have the deep donor base that could give those big gifts. So that was hugely challenging. And there were so many times when it looked like we just should have said, ‘OK, it’s not going to work. Good try.’ But luckily we’re here in Year 11 in the building [The Armory], and it’s been humongously successful. It’s a fantastic building. >>>>

1. Coleman’s first show as Artistic Director of Center Stage was Elizabeth Egloff ’s adaptation of Dostoyevsky’s The Devils, which featured simulated sexual molestations and other sexual activity onstage. A few years later, a Merchant of Venice that included male nudity generated angry emails, too, Coleman said.

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EXIT TO DENVER Continued from page 31

>>>> WHAT CHALLENGES ARE YOU LEAVING CENTER STAGE WITH THAT YOUR SUCCESSOR IS GOING TO HAVE TO WRESTLE WITH? They are just beginning the search for my successor. What will they have to wrestle with? Luckily, there’s not much to fix right now. The senior management team is super strong and talented and creative and funny. Ticket sales are up: Ten thousand more tickets last year than the year prior. And subscriptions are up this year by almost a thousand. Donations are increasing. So there are a lot of trendlines that are moving in really good directions. I think the challenge will be coming in and inspiring the board and the audience base and patron base through the work and through your vision to take it to the next level. Because I really do think the organization is poised. I think it’s really thought of very well nationally, and it’s poised to be one of the top five, six, theaters in the country. And that’s going to take a deeper financial investment than we have inspired yet. But the pieces are in place if the next person comes in and inspires people. WHAT DOES THAT NEXT LEVEL LOOK LIKE? It’s more resources to say “yes” to more work of scale, so Astoria is not such a once-in-alifetime thing, and it is the ability to say yes to more development of new work, perhaps the development of new musicals. That is the area that I think we’re just right behind the top five or 10 regional theaters in the country. They just have deeper resources to be able to say yes to projects that then go on to raise the profile and create more of a national conversation about the work that the organization is doing. Every play you do is a risk. Whether it’s Hamlet or Oklahoma, every play you do is a risk.

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2. A Willamette Week article about The Armory project attacked the financial arrangements, the role of Bob Gerding (who was both developer of the Brewery Blocks, including The Armory, and President of Center Stage at the time), and the use of public money in the project. Coleman: “Some guy that I vaguely knew said, ‘Oh, my God, I read that article. What are you going to do now?’ I said, ‘Well, we’re going to raise a bunch of money and rehab The Armory. What do you think we’re going to do? Do you think we’re going to sit down and cry?’”

“just when you think you’ve figured out what the audience is going to show up for, they surprise you, and I think that’s just the nature of this business.”

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You cannot predict who is going to show up, [whether you’ve] set your income numbers well, but a new work that’s untried with an author that may or may not have marquee value is an added risk. Like any R & D in any organization, you have to have financial support that lets you invest in a way that you are not expecting an ROI (Return On Investment) immediately the way you would on a regular production.

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I think artistic risk is the same question. It is a lot easier to have the appetite to lean forward if your financial house is in good order, and you know that you are not endangering the solvency or long-term health of the organization by putting the play onstage. OK, maybe you’re going to take a hit on that one, maybe the audience didn’t show up for that one. OK, what can we learn from it? But it’s not putting the organization’s future at risk.

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I learned it over and over and over. I think just when you think you’ve figured out what the audience is going to show up for, they surprise you, and I think that’s just the nature of this business. So especially on new work, you try to be conservative on your income goals. But there’s always a battle in my head between the part that just wants to leap forward and go for it artistically, and the part that is really aware of the institutional costs if the audience doesn’t show up or it alienates a particular pocket of the audience too deeply. .

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VEDEM

A JEWISH RESISTANCE ‘ZINE FROM THE HOLOCAUST By Nim Wunnan

The first exhibits at the new home for the Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education include the story of a teen-written, underground magazine

he Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education has a new home and big plans. Founded in 1990 as a “museum without walls” in the Multnomah County Central Library, the museum has been “peripatetic” ever since, according to Director Judith Margles. It has found temporary homes at Montgomery Park, an Old Town storefront, and a more comfortable, longer-term but still-temporary location on Northwest Kearney street. They’ve now found their forever home in the former location of the Museum of Contemporary Craft, on the North Park Blocks at the corner of Northwest Davis Street.

Many of us in Portland still feel the sting of the sudden closure of the beloved contemporary craft museum that was considered, in the words of Oregon ArtsWatch’s Bob Hicks, “a pacesetting institution [by] both the city and a tightknit national craft art scene.” Luckily, the unexpected announcement of MoCC’s closure came at a time when the Oregon Jewish Museum had already begun a formal study to find a permanent location. That space was “too good to miss,” according to Margles. After initial discussions with the owner, Pacific Northwest College of Art, a 45-day exclusivity period was extended to OJM, giving them much-needed time to complete a fast, dedicated, and ultimately successful fundraising campaign that raised more than $5 million, mainly in large donations. The new location is part art gallery, curated by Bruce Guenther, and part historical museum, with engaging exhibits from Bryan Potter Design and Janice Dilg at HistoryBuilt, and part cozy café. Add those parts together, and it sums to something more like a cultural center—a place for history, issues, and exploration of what it means to be Jewish and Jewish in Oregon. They’ve already begun hosting events in their 100-seat auditorium, most recently the panel discussion, “Never Again: A Jewish Response to the Rohingya Crisis.”

The new location of the OJMCHE at 724 Northwest David Street includes museum exhibits, an art gallery, gift shop, café, and a children’s play area. Photo by Max McDermott.

ARTSL ANDIA AT THE PERFORM ANCE

Most of the second floor of the museum is dedicated to their three “core exhibits.” The first, Discrimination and Resistance, An Oregon Primer, looks at the history of official state discrimination—against Jews, African Americans, and others—while documenting and celebrat-

ing the resistance techniques that have been used to combat it. The second, Oregon Jewish Stories, gets specific and personal about the stories of the Jewish community of Oregon with a collection of artifacts, photographs, and historical accounts arranged to encourage exploration and curiosity. Next to these exhibits, which directly address current issues of oppression and discrimination, The Holocaust, An Oregon Perspective presented by the Center for Holocaust Education offers a somber and weighty cautionary tale with stories of Oregon and southwest Washington residents who survived.

Egypt in the context of Holocaust survivorship. Wander’s prints use iconography from concentration camps and World War II to link the story of liberation from Ancient Egypt to the living memory of the Jews who survived the Holocaust.

captives of Terezin, who had been taken from their lives in the thriving intellectual culture of pre-war Prague. Vedem itself was more than a publication—the boys who produced it, led by Ginz and later also Sidney Taussig, called themselves “The Republic of Shkid” in reference to a Russian book about a children’s orphanage shared with them by Walter Eisinger. Eisinger supervised the boys in the foster home where they lived together in a converted schoolhouse on three-tier bunks. There, they found a discarded typewriter. The initial issues of Vedem were typewritten on smuggled supplies, and when the typewriter ribbon wore out, the boys of Shkid handwrote the magazine.

THESE READINGS BECAME AN IMPORTANT SOCIAL AND CULTURAL HUB FOR THE CAPTIVES OF TEREZIN, WHO HAD BEEN TAKEN FROM THEIR LIVES IN THE THRIVING INTELLECTUAL CULTURE OF PRE-WAR PRAGUE. VEDEM ITSELF WAS MORE THAN A PUBLICATION.

The first floor hosts the main gallery, which recently closed I AM THIS, an excellent collection of paintings and sculptures by Jewish artists with a connection to Oregon, including Mark Rothko. A promising R.B. Kitaj retrospective will be opening in June, following two remarkable, newly installed book-arts exhibits—To Tell the Story: The Wollach Holocaust Haggadah and Vedem: The Underground Magazine of the Terezin Ghetto. To Tell the Story: The Wollach Holocaust Haggadah Commissioned by Helene and Zygfryd B. Wolloch, the Wollach Pessach Haggadah in Memory of the Holocaust is a richly illustrated modern take on the Haggadah. With lithographic prints by David Wander and calligraphy by Yonah Weinreb, this beautiful, handmade tome places the traditional text of the Jewish liberation from slavery in

Vedem: The Underground Magazine of the Terezin Ghetto Called “the Dead Poets Society of Terezin” by the Jewish Journal, Vedem was an extraordinary, vibrant, handmade magazine produced by a collective of teenagers under terrifying conditions in the Terezin ghetto/concentration camp during WWII. With a title that means “in the lead” in Czech, Vedem was founded in Terezin by a 14-year-old artistic prodigy, Petr Ginz. Born in Prague, Ginz was a writer, poet, and artist who had written several novels while still a child. Creating Vedem and driving its weekly production became his final and most influential achievement before he was deported to Auschwitz and killed at the age of 16. Vedem ran for 83 issues, published every Friday and distributed by being read aloud at secret meetings. These readings became an important social and cultural hub for the

More than 60 boys contributed under various pseudonyms over the run of Vedem, and Ginz was the engine behind the project. Many of the printing supplies came from Ginz’s parents, who still lived in Prague and were thus protected by the Nuremberg Laws. They regularly sent their son packages of art materials and food. He assigned projects to other children such as interviewing other residents of Terezin, writing poetry, or drawing illustrations of their daily life. As these were children risking their lives to produce the articles, they were often delivered as notes scribbled in secret on scraps of paper. Ginz groomed them to the editorial standards of Vedem. When there weren’t enough articles for the week’s issue, he’d bribe children to write with treats from his parents. If that didn’t work, he’d write the whole thing himself, under multiple pseudonyms. >>>>

Vedem Editor, Petr Ginz (age 12). Photo courtesy of Rina Taraseiskey.

Pages from the Holocaust Haggadah, commissioned by Helene and Zygfryd B. Wolloch, illustrated with lithographic prints by David Wander and calligraphy by Yonah Weinreb.

MARCH | APRIL 2018

VEDEM Continued from page 35 >>>> Taussig first joined as a sports writer but became essential to the magazine’s survival. His father was employed in the administration of the camp, and Taussig himself had the job of delivering corpses to the crematorium. Urged by Ginz to write something more substantial than his sports column, he eventually produced an account of the operations of the crematorium, one of the most harrowing and significant contributions to Vedem. Partially because of his father’s position, he was the only member of the Shkid boys to remain after the rest of them were shipped to Auschwitz about two years after the founding of the magazine.

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Alone, Taussig retrieved all the existing magazine material from the empty schoolhouse where his friends once lived and, with the help of his blacksmith father, built a metal box to store the archive along with 120 of Ginz’s paintings. He then smuggled the box to the edge of the city, where he interred it in the wall of the city moat, out of sight but above the waterline. After liberation, Taussig dug the box up and carried it with him on the journey back to Prague by horse and carriage, preserving the legacy of Vedem and Petr Ginz. Taussig currently lives in Florida. In the years since, Vedem has been recognized as a singular artifact of the Holocaust. The first Israeli astronaut, Ilan Ramon, even carried a drawing by Ginz into space. However, this traveling exhibition is the first major survey of the art and history of Vedem. The exhibit is the brainchild of Rina Taraseiskey. A documentarian and granddaughter of Holocaust survivors and resistance fighters, Taraseiskey was moved to begin work on a documentary about Vedem and Petr Ginz after learning about the magazine at the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust. She flew to Prague with survivors, including Taussig, and interviewed Ginz’s sister. While working on the documentary, the richness of the material in Vedem made her feel “selfish that she was keeping it all to herself.” Taraseiskey partnered with designer Michael Murphy and writer Danny King to create a dynamic, highly visual exhibition. Cartoons from the pages of Vedem are blown up to wall-sized graphics that frame the facts of life in the Terezin ghetto/camp. Sixteen of the Shkid boys, including Ginz and Taussig, are profiled in the “masthead” section, identified by their nicknames and drawn portraits. The highly-designed presentation of this material emphasizes the subversive, youthful nature of Vedem. Taraseiskey wants to show how the

ARTSL ANDIA AT THE PERFORM ANCE

THIS IS AN EXCELLENT OPPORTUNITY TO CONSIDER THE DEEPLY POLITICAL ROOTS OF INDEPENDENT PUBLISHING IN PORTLAND, BEYOND THE CONTEMPORARY “ZINESTER” CULTURE.

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rebellious humor, subversive art, and spirit of resistance that drove Vedem is as energetic and vital as the youth movements of resistance, independent publishing, and music of today.

It’s very clear from the museum’s current programming, updated collection, and these upcoming exhibits that, though the stories the Oregon Jewish Museum tells are from a Jewish perspective, they with all of us, one way or another, regardless of our beliefs or backgrounds. .

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Given how prominent independent publishing and progressive politics are in Portland’s present identity, this exhibit shouldn’t struggle for relevance here. Just as the museum encourages connections between the history of Jews in Oregon and the present issues facing all marginalized populations and voices, this is an excellent opportunity to consider the deeply political roots of independent publishing in Portland, beyond the contemporary “zinester” culture. For example, influential anarchist newspaper, the Firebrand, was published out of Sellwood in the 1890s before being shut down for “obscene materials,” which included a Walt Whitman poem. Then there’s Oshu Nippo, a Japanese-language daily that became essential to the large Japanese community in Portland in the first half of the 20th century. Oshu Nippo was seized by federal agents the day that Pearl Harbor was bombed, and its printing press was later used by the U.S. government to print anti-Japanese propaganda while its founder, Iwao Oyama, was held in an internment camp in New Mexico. It’s worth noting that The Oregon Jewish Museum now stands just a few blocks from the waterfront Japanese American Historical Plaza, which commemorates the executive order that destroyed Portland’s Japantown by sending its residents, including Oyama, to internment camps. Likewise, the exhibits documenting the forced demolition of Jewish neighborhoods in Southwest Portland in the 1950s make the obvious connections to the destruction of Black communities after the Vanport flood, using the same language that we currently use to discuss the economic displacement of gentrification.

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MAR. 31 – MAY 13

THE GRASSf lourishes DANCE GERRY RAININGBIRD NURTURES A POWWOW DANCE TRADITION

“OH, I FOLLOW ALL KINDS OF DANCE,” says Gerry RainingBird of the Nehiyaw Tribe (Cree) of his eclectic interest in the subject after casually mentioning that American Ballet Theatre’s Misty Copeland had recently taken a ballet class in town at BodyVox. “The expression through physical movement can be really emotional, and it’s very dynamic for me.”

By Hannah Krafcik. Photos courtesy of the artist.

TOP: CEREMONIAL DRUM. LEFT: GERRY RAININGBIRD DANCING IN FULL REGALIA.

RainingBird, the new Executive Director of Portland-based nonprofit Wisdom of the Elders, Inc., has cultivated his practice as a grass dancer for more than five decades. Grass dance has historically been practiced mostly by young men at powwows—gatherings of Native communities in North America. This style sits within an array of powwow dances, each with their distinctive traditional elements. Grass dancers move swiftly, sometimes with legs swinging in arcing motions and feet skimming, alighting, and touching down to the earth, again and again, on the beat of the drum. “I think, because it was such a powerful dance, that people were pulled to it,” says RainingBird, noting that he and many of his peers were drawn to practice the dance at a young age. Unlike ballet or other proscenium dance performance, a powwow is “not a show,” according to RainingBird. “It’s a very spiritually based and symbolic connection to our culture, our history, and our ancestors.” RainingBird describes participation in powwows as both an “important part of being Native,” and also an opportunity to share with the general >>>> MARCH | APRIL 2018

THE GRASS DANCE FLOURISHES Continued from page 41

>>>> public “that we’re still here—Native people are still alive. They’re still very much a part of this particular community.”

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RainingBird grew up with the powwow experience. He remembers watching his father create regalia for powwows at the local community center in Rocky Boy’s Indian Reservation, located in north central Montana, where the community and tribe would come together weekly to feast and socialize during the winter months. Dancers in regalia were joined by drummers—usually of four to eight men each— surrounding large, traditional drums. As with other forms of dance, the movements tell a story. RainingBird offers a beautiful example: There was once a young man who was without the full use of one of his legs. He turned to his grandfather for wisdom because he could not join his peers for activities such as hunting parties. Upon receiving advice, the young man went to a hill where he had a vision in which horses, excited by an impending storm, began to jump and move in response to the thunder and lightning. Strong winds swayed the surrounding tall grass, and as the storm subsided, a rainbow appeared in the sky, and the horses began grazing peacefully.

ARTSL ANDIA AT THE PERFORM ANCE

The young man shared the experience with his grandfather, and his grandfather interpreted it as relating to the young man’s purpose— part of which was to share this “dance” of the horses from his vision. With the support of his grandfather, the young man danced for his tribe, repeating all movements with both the right and left sides of his body—miraculously healing his leg in the process. From then on, the young man led teams of men to scout out new hunting and camping grounds, stomping down the tall grass in advance of the tribe.

– THE NEW YORKER

In fact, the tradition of the powwow is also a symbol of the Native peoples’ resilience. Given a history of systemic oppression by the U.S. government, it is also no surprise that Native dances fell under scrutiny. In 1923, for instance, the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Charles H. Burke, worked to cap the number of times per year that Native peoples could gather in dance.

“The ceremonies that we performed and held dear were outlawed and basically forbidden, and our people were punished, taken to jail,” RainingBird reflects. However, he continues, “our people, especially those that were very connected to our spiritual principles, continued to practice and to encourage our people not to be deterred.”

According to RainingBird, the grass dance will always be a “healing dance for ourselves and for the people.” In describing his own practice, he expresses a desire to create movement that allows for a spiritual connection to those present who are not dancing or are unable to dance. “That’s when the real power and the sense of healing takes place, for both dancer and spectator.” “It’s all about being a part of the circle where everyone has a voice; everyone has an opportunity to contribute,” he explains. “It’s not just about dancing. It’s not just about attending a powwow or putting on some moccasins. It’s about the values, the principles, the philosophy, and the spiritual power of the whole.” .

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RainingBird emphasizes that the dancers’ regalia is not a “costume.” The ceremonial dress has direct ties to the stories surrounding the tradition—fringe reminiscent of swaying grass; porcupine hair, eagle feathers, and beadwork or other elements representing the rainbow color spectrum and connection to the animal world. “Many people make that mistake of asking about our costumes.” In response, RainingBird finds it especially important to share “about something cultural that many people may see as just being a public display of entertainment or a dance recital...It’s more than that.”

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Carlos Kalmar, conductor • Joshua Bell, violin * Measha Brueggergosman, soprano Hindemith: News of the Day Overture • Bernstein: Serenade * Gabriel Kahane: Commission (World premiere)

The world’s most famous violinist returns to the Oregon Symphony to perform Bernstein’s Serenade, often described as a “love piece” by the composer. Brooklynite singer-songwriter Gabriel Kahane (son of classical pianist Jeffrey Kahane) makes his Oregon Symphony debut with the world premiere of his composition.

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Romeo and Juliet The Book of Will (W Coast Premiere) Love’s Labor’s Lost

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Royer Bockus & Tatiana Wechster in Oklahoma!

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WHO IS

SUSANNAH MARS?

Artslandia podcast host and Portland theater arts luminary SUSANNAH MARS pulls back the curtain on her long and illustrious career.

When playing a widow of a “certain age,” I want to challenge potential groupthink about who she can be based on her age. How is this role or project a different experience than any you've done previously? New work is thrilling, and the opportunity to be engaged with the playwright and composer (in this case, they are one person) is a real delight. Michelle (Horgen) is very generous and interested in conversing about the process and my character’s storyline. What would you consider one or two highlights of your career thus far? I’d say singing with the Oregon Symphony has been of the greatest thrills of my career, in addition to playing Diana in Next to Normal at Artists Rep, which (sadly) was a confluence of events, including the death of 46

ARTSL ANDIA AT THE PERFORM ANCE

my father. Being able to work on that show, at that particular time, was very healing and gratifying. What role has been the most out of your comfort zone? Recently, I’d say that the role that was out of my comfort zone, so to speak, was Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd at Portland Opera. Not that it was really out of my comfort zone, but my expectations for myself were so high. I have seen, in the past, such great actors in the role—Angela Lansbury, Patti LuPone—that I challenged myself probably more than ever. It was an absolute thrill, and now that I think of it, belongs in the top two most thrilling opportunities in my career! Knowing that I blasted through the same pie shop door as Ms. Lansbury was a thrill! How do you work most effectively and efﬁciently? I am a firm believer that whatever I am doing in the moment is where I am most efficient, and I continue to practice that idea. When I am in the zone, I am in the zone.

Who has been an exceptionally memorable guest on the podcast so far? Each podcast is unique; for instance, yesterday I interviewed three comedians, two players from the Oregon Symphony, and an independent producer. All three provided me total enjoyment. I may be a Pollyanna, but I guess I was in the zone! That’s where I hope to be when I’m keeping company with any of these amazing artists with whom I have the pleasure to connect. What do you hope the rest of 2018 has in store? More compassion, more love, more art! .

See Susannah in Scarlet, a world premiere musical in partnership with Bitch Media and PHAME, at Portland Playhouse, 602 NE Prescott St., Portland, February 28– March 25. Call (503) 488-5822 for tickets. Subscribe to Adventures in Artslandia with Susannah Mars at podbean.com or iTunes.

Photos by Max McDermott

What are the most fun and challenging parts of your current production, Portland Playhouse's Scarlet ? I love having the opportunity to work with a large cast. That, coupled with the fact that it is a new work, is very exciting and energizing.

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