August Wilson’s How I Learned What I Learned – Portland Playhouse

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S ’ N O S L I W T AUGUS

D E N R A E L I W HO WHAT I CO-CONCEIVED BY TODD KREIDLER DIRECTED BY KEVIN JONES PRODUCED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE AUGUST WILSON RED DOOR PROJECT


PORTLAND PLAYHOUSE PRESENTS

AUGUST WILSON’S HOW I LEARNED WHAT I LEARNED Co-Conceived by Todd Kreidler Directed by Kevin Jones Produced in partnership with the August Wilson Red Door Project Originally produced on Broadway by Nancy Nagel Gibbs, Greg Schaffert, Eva Price, Tom Smedes, and Disney Theatrical Productions.

SEPTEMBER 21 – OCTOBER 23

Victor Mack*

Charles Grant

Understudy

Director

Mary & Don Blair Ellyn Bye The Collins Foundation Harold Goldstein & Carol Streeter Ronni Lacroute Meyer Memorial Trust

Raymond Family Foundation Judy Shih & Joel Axelrod State of Oregon Steve & Elsie Weaver

Original Scenic & Projection Designer Lighting Designer

Wanda Walden

Costume Designer

David Levine

OUR WORK IS MADE POSSIBLE BY:

Assistant Director

Daniel Meeker Dan Moses Schreier

Karen Fink

Phillip Terranova

CREATIVE TEAM

David Gallo

Dave & Karen Johnson

Oregon Arts Commission

August Wilson

Tamera Lynn

SHOW SPONSORS

James F. and Marion L. Miller Foundation

CAST

Kevin Jones

OUR SEASON IS MADE POSSIBLE BY

Original Sound Designer Stage Manager

Oluyinka Akinjiola Choreographer Rory Breshears Matt Wiens

Projections Programmer Sound Engineer The photographic, video and/or audio recording of this performance by any means whatsoever is prohibited.

PORTLAND PLAYHOUSE is dedicated
to producing quality,

intimate performances in which the interaction between artists and audience is paramount. Our mission is to create a space where all people can come together
to celebrate the complexity of our shared human experience. WE ENVISION A WORLD AWAKENED BY THE WONDER OF THEATRE.

*Appears Courtesy Actors’ Equity Association. Actors equity association, founded in 1913, represents more than 49,000 actors and stage managers in the U.S. Equity negotiates wages and working conditions, providing a wide range of benefits, including health and pension plans. Equity seeks to foster the art of live theatre as an essential component of our society. www.actorsequity.org 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.


DIRECTOR’S NOTE

by Kevin Jones

WHO IS THE MAN AUGUST WILSON? WILL THIS PLAY TELL US WHO HE IS? WILL WE LEARN SOMETHING NEW ABOUT THE MAN? MAYBE. Maybe we’ll learn something about what made him tick, maybe an anecdote or two or a few facts from his history. But what I’m most fascinated with is the making of a black man, a rare black man, and a poet from another time. This black poet, this kind of black poet does not exist today and the truth of this is our collective loss. A poet is a truth teller, a seer, a conjurer of wisdom and mystic truths. And it is from this aspiration August Wilson came to be. I’ve asked myself often - what experiences, what influences, what people, what ideas, what schisms (emotional or otherwise) molded him? What gave him pleasure, what did he observe, what was he protected from?

WHAT FORGED THIS BEING CALLED AUGUST WILSON? I’ve thought about his absence. His absence in our lives, his voice is silenced and his evolution ceased. No more new plays. August Wilson is no longer becoming. The 11th or 12th decade will not exist. What story would he tell with the Obama years as its backdrop? I don’t know about you but I feel the void. I feel the void in this moment. I feel it in our society. What if he didn’t exist—ever? Where would we be now? Who would we be now? Had I never seen Fences with James Earl Jones and Mary Alice on Broadway in 1987, who would I be? For those who have seen them, what would we have done without the plays of the American Century Cycle? When I sat in the theater 30 years ago, and listened to Troy (in Fences) rant and rave just like all the black men of my past, including my father, my uncles, the men in the barbershop and even the winos on the street, I realized that I belong in this world and this world belongs in me. I found home. My life has a lineage and a culture. What a gift! Today, August will provoke, indict, explain and sometimes August will sing. What he doesn’t do is let any of us off the hook. He teaches and invites

us into a world where the rules are different. As such we are transformed. We’re transformed because his stories embrace and help make sense of so much of our experiences today. They help us understand our relationship with the world and its constraints. We can look racism straight in the face regardless of our color because for whatever reason, he’s able to stand outside of this construct where he spent so much of his life and illuminate—not from a punitive perspective but from a celebratory perspective. Because for all of his political beliefs, August Wilson primarily was an accomplished and sophisticated theatre practitioner who understood the human condition. He offers one epiphany after the other, guiding and setting us straight with humor, care and insightful metaphor. As an actor/director, it’s a great honor and pleasure to be directing my friend and collaborator, veteran actor Victor Mack. This will be the sixth time Victor and I have worked together. I think we’re both grateful that our journeys have made their way to this place, at this time. I told Victor I do believe history is in the making. This is the first time August’s memoir, “How I Learned What I Learned,” is being manned by both a black actor and a black director. Perhaps it doesn’t seem so significant at first notice. But for me, what makes the difference is not just the material that’s covered but also its poignancy and, ironically, its obscurity in our culture today. In this explosive time in our world, this voice of clarity, August’s voice, is nowhere to be found. So we are charged with uncovering the milestones that many black men have lost sight of. We must tell these stories eloquently and forcefully, making sure that each lesson is captured and enunciated and that the “code,” the rules that define where we all came from and where we were going before the shit got ugly, are explicated carefully for all of us to ponder.

‘THE OLDER YOU GROW, YOU FIND THE LESS YOU KNOW’ Portland Playhouse recently conducted a Q&A with Victor Mack, the star of the theatre’s production of August Wilson’s autobiographical one-man show How I Learned What I Learned. PORTLAND PLAYHOUSE: What were your initial

thoughts after reading How I Learned What I Learned?

VICTOR MACK: When the piece was sent to me, as I’ve said before, it’s rare that I read something in one sitting. Usually I read a couple of pages, see if it piques my interest. If it does, I’ll come back to it and do it in increments. But I was locked in on this from the beginning. What was surprising was that many of the stories I can relate to a personal event in my life. I have people and experiences in my life I can plug directly into… Again, for me—I don’t want to speak on others’ experiences, how great this is in the scope of American literature and all of that. But on a personal level, it was almost like reading my own memoirs in some respect. The experiences I’ve had—it almost feels like an Everyman piece. I would hope, and I believe it does—African-American men, particularly of my generation, will be able to see something like this and have direct stories they can relate to. And hopefully it’s an educational experience for those that aren’t of that generation to have an understanding of where we’ve been… And ‘how we’ve learned what we learned.’ (laugh)

PP: Did you have some sort of reaction—physical or otherwise—that urged you, moved you to do this?

VM: No, actually quite the contrary. I was afraid to do it. Many of the stories, the circumstances, the journey were very close. Sometimes, some of these things are buried. You don’t want to have to bring them back up. And that’s what’s been a struggle for me in the rehearsal, more than anything—how to find a way to present this without too much of my own feelings getting in the way and interpreting it as my story, even though I’m going to access that as part of the process. I mean, it’s ACTING. It’s not, ‘Hey, listen to Victor Mack’s memoirs for 90 minutes.’


Q&A WITH VICTOR MACK CONT. PP: It’s a one-man show. Is it difficult not having someone to riff off?

VM: People keep trying to tell me it’s harder. They keep saying that: ‘Oh, you’re doing a one-man show—that’s crazy.’… It’s not hard in terms of building a performance. It’s a new monster for me to wrestle with… an extended one-man show! I’ve done extended monologues, 15 or 20 minutes, but this is not that. But the task in and of itself— I’m an actor. I’m trained. I know how to go about building this performance. The problem—well, not even the problem —but the challenge lies in, again, being able to find a level of detachment so I don’t become overwhelmed. Because I do—at least two or three times during rehearsal, I have to stop because I’m overwhelmed by a moment that brings back memories.

PP: Does the reverence of August Wilson’s work provide pause?

VM: That’s our task as actors—you only use your personal experience to access the emotional reality the character needs. Here’s the thing with me—I have one August Wilson play left to do. I’ve done everything else. Two Trains Running is the last one. As far as having trepidation…That was a part of me overcoming my trepidation to embarking upon this—I’d like to be able to add this to the list of the canon. I already had a reverence for the work. I’ve been to the mountain. I’ve spoken to the burning bush already. (laugh)

PP: You’re working again with Director Kevin Jones. What’s the genesis of that relationship?

VM: We first worked together here at Portland Playhouse on Radio Golf, which started this whole August Wilson thing. That took off like gangbusters because you have these white kids in this church in what used to be a predominantly black neighborhood, and gentrification was the issue and that was the subject matter of the play. They got a lot of attention for that, and that was the first August Wilson play I did here—that’s where we started. I met Kevin years ago in California. We went hiking once. I came back up here, to Portland for the first time, and

I’M AN ACTOR. I’M TRAINED. I KNOW HOW TO GO ABOUT BUILDING THIS PERFORMANCE. THE PROBLEM— WELL, NOT EVEN THE PROBLEM— BUT THE CHALLENGE LIES IN, AGAIN, BEING ABLE TO FIND A LEVEL OF DETACHMENT SO I DON’T BECOME OVERWHELMED. BECAUSE I DO—AT LEAST TWO OR THREE TIMES DURING REHEARSAL, I HAVE TO STOP BECAUSE I’M OVERWHELMED BY A MOMENT THAT BRINGS BACK MEMORIES.

PP: How would it feel if you could complete it?

VM: ‘If ’? What do you mean ‘if ’? I have to do this.

PP: No, complete all of August’s plays. VM: Oh, you mean finish the last one (laugh). It would be a great personal achievement, no doubt. I’m very proud that I’ve had the opportunity, that I’ve been offered the opportunity to do this. I’d be proud—I’m proud that I’ve done the 9. It’d be 10 after this, and if Two Trains Running comes along, that’d be excellent. But I won’t feel like I’ve been shorted. It’s like (NBA star) Carmelo Anthony said, ‘I’ve got three Olympic gold medals, and if I don’t get a NBA championship, it’s OK. I’m still happy with my career.’

auditioned for Topdog/Underdog and saw Kevin at the audition. Asked him what he was doing in Portland. He said, ‘I live here.’ Once I did that show, I ended up more or less staying here. We have worked on Radio Golf, he directed me in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, in which I won an award, thanks to his guidance. We did Seven Guitars together—he directed me in that. We acted together in Gem of the Ocean. So it’s a total of six projects over the years.

PP: What is the foundation of your relationship?

VM: We have the same artistic sensibilities. We may approach it from different angles, but at the end of the day, we find the same

value in theatre, in this work. We have the same artistic sensibilities, but we also have our conflicts. Don’t get me wrong—I’d like to consider us dear friends, but yeah, man, we sometimes butt heads, and it’s ugly. But we come back because we know we have each other’s back, we need each other and the work transcends our own personal conflict… He’s a beautiful man. I’ve learned a lot from him as well. Working with him, I’ve learned a lot about myself. Our relationship has been a great growing and learning experience for me, and for him to tap me for this, to suggest that I do this, is a great honor. (pause) I don’t think I’d ever tell him that, but… (laugh)

PP: Given the title and subject matter

of this play, what have you learned or picked up during this process that you didn’t realize before?

VM: Doing the piece, investigating the journey the piece takes the audience, and me, on, it has made me reflect on my own life, my own journey. I’ve taken the time to stop, actually think about what I have learned in my lifetime due to these experiences—just like August is laying out what happened and how he came to form his ideas on how to move through the world. Sometimes, you don’t really take time. At various points in your life, you have to stop and reassess and look where you’ve been to help you move forward. So it’s inspired me to do just that, in this point of my life. I’m embarking on this one-man show thing, it’s a foreign thing. Again, there’s no fear at all. There’s actually excitement. I’m up for the challenge… Sometimes you learn and you don’t stop to take an assessment of what you’ve learned. I think it’s important to do that. The catalyst for that can be anything… There have been various key events in my life that I said before I take the next step, I need to reflect. It’s definitely about how many rotations around the sun you’ve been on this planet. The things going through my mind at 20, and even 30, I look back and say, ‘My God, I was a child.’ You don’t feel that way in the midst of it: ‘I’m a grown man. I know everything. You can’t tell me anything I don’t already know.’ The older you grow, you find the less you know.


CAST & CREATIVE TEAM VICTOR MACK (August Wilson) has the

following Portland theatre credits: Blue Door at Profile Theater, Ithaka, Seven Guitars, Top Dog/Underdog, Superior Donuts, Chasing Empires Soul and Take Me Out at Artist Rep, Jitney, Detroit, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (Drammy Award for Actor in a Lead Role), Radio Golf (Drammy Award for Actor in a Supporting Role), King Hedley II and Gem of the Ocean for Portland Playhouse; The Lion in Winter at Northwest Classical Theatre Collaboration; Hamlet and Frankie and Johnny in the Claire De Lune at CoHo Rep.; Throwing Bones and One Day with Sojourn Theatre and El Grito Del Bronx at Miracle Theater. Other credits include Spunk and Love of Bullets (New York Public Theatre); Black Eagles (Manhattan Theatre Club) and the title role in Candide (Classical State Company Repertory); world premieres of References to Salvador Dali Makes Me Hot! (South Coast Repertory Theatre) and The Birds with Culture Clash (SCR and Berkeley Rep); The Piano Lesson (SCR and San Jose Rep.); The Duchess of Malfi (A.C.T.); The Overwhelming (Salt Lake Acting Company); Joe Turner’s Come and Gone (Philadelphia Drama Guild); Louis Chauvin in The Heliotrope Bouquet by Scott Joplin and Louis Chauvin (Baltimore Center Stage and La Jolla Playhouse); Thunder Knockin’ On The Door (Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Baltimore Center Stage and Dallas Theatre Center); Old Settler and the title role in Purlie (Philadelphia Freedom Theatre). In 2012, Victor received a Drammy Award for Achievement in Direction for the Portland Playhouse production of The Brother/Sister Plays.

KEVIN JONES (Director) Kevin is return-

ing to the Playhouse after directing The Piano Lesson during our 2014 season. He most recently directed this year New Black Fest’s Hands Up, which is touring throughout the city and state. Earlier this year he directed We Are Proud to Present at Artist Repertory Theater. Other directing credits include Motherfucker With The Hat, and Seven Guitars at Artist Repertory Theater, the award-winning Blood Knot and A Lesson Before Dying, both at Profile Theater, and the highly acclaimed production of August Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom at Portland Playhouse. Kevin is the principal conjurer and co-creator of The August Wilson Red Door Project— an

organization that uses art as a catalyst to transform the racial ecology of Portland. He has enjoyed performing in regional theaters both nationally and internationally for more than 30 years. Regional theaters include: American Conservatory Theater, in San Francisco, San Jose Repertory Theater, Berkeley Repertory Theater, Repertory Theater of St Louis, Florida Studio Theater, Asolo Theater, in Saratoga, Florida, Mark Taper Forum, Fountain Theater, Los Angeles Theater Center, East West Players in Los Angeles.

BRIAN WEAVER (Artistic Director) Brian

co-founded Portland Playhouse in 2008 with Nikki and Michael, and has directed productions of Peter and the Starcatcher, Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play, Radio Golf, Gem of the Ocean, Angels in America, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, Dying City, Detroit, The Light in the Piazza, After Ashley, and bobrauschenbergamerica. Regional credits include Third Rail Repertory, Intiman Theatre Company, Shakespeare & Company, Berkshire Theatre Festival, The Idaho Shakespeare Festival, and Seattle Public Theatre. Brian is also a founding member of New World Theatre and directed the U.S. premiere of the Spanish translation of Jose Rivera’s play, Marisol.

DAVID GALLO (Original Scene & Projection

Designer) has designed over 30 Broadway productions and is the recipient of the prestigious Tony Award. His Broadway designs include Memphis, First Date, The Drowsy Chaperone, Gem of the Ocean, Radio Golf, Memphis, The Mountaintop, reasons to be pretty, Xanadu, Company, Thoroughly Modern Millie, A View from the Bridge, Little Me, You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown, Jackie, and Hughie. David’s designs can currently be seen across five continents for esteemed producers such as Stage Entertainment, Disney, DreamWorks, Sesame Street, Nickelodeon, PBS, Atlantis and S2BN. David was selected to represent American set design at The Cooper-Hewitt Design Triennial and his work is part of the Smithsonian Institution Archive in Washington, D.C. You may learn more at www.davidgallo.com.

DANIEL MEEKER (Lighting Designer) has worked previously for the Portland Playhouse: Scenery for How We Got On, lighting for The Other Place (Drammy

nomination) and scenery and lighting for Peter & The Starcatcher, The Light in the Piazza, Detroit, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, and The Brother/Sister Plays, among others. His other credits include scenery for L’italiana in Algeria and Eugene Onegin for Portland Opera; lighting for James & The Giant Peach for OCT; scenery for Mothers And Sons at Artists Rep; scenery and lighting for Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, Lizzie (Drammy Award for lighting), The Last Five Years, and The Mountaintop and lighting for Twist Your Dickens at Portland Center Stage; scenery for Outside Mullingar and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee at The Pioneer Theater Company in Salt Lake City. Also, Daniel is the principal lighting designer for the Pickathon Festival. His upcoming projects include The How And The Why at COHO; Women In Jeopardy at Pioneer Theater Company, The Talented Ones at Artists Rep, Wild & Reckless and Lauren Weedman Doesn’t Live Here Anymore at PCS. Daniel is a graduate of Ithaca College and the Yale School of Drama, and a member of United Scenic Artists.

WANDA WALDEN (Costume Designer)

Wanda is a costumer designer, actor, visual artist and writer. Born in Chicago, raised in Portland and now lives in the Bay Area. Wanda has costumed for numerous theatres and has an extensive amount of credits. This is Wanda’s first production with Portland Playhouse. Wanda is an award-winning costumer whose most memorable productions include August Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (Dussie Mae), Piano Lessons (Grace), and Two Trains Running, The Colored Museum, Simply Heavenly, Lights in the Village, King Umps, Red Beans and Rice and The Pews. Wanda most recently costumed PassinArt’s Black Nativity and Smoldering Fires, Artist Repertory Theatre’s We are Proud to Present and Vanport Mosaic’s Cottonwood in the Flood.

DAN MOSES SCHREIER (Original Sound

Designer) has worked the following shows on Broadway: American Psycho, The Visit, Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, Act One, Sondheim on Sondheim, A Little Night Music, Gypsy (Patti Lupone), Radio Golf, John Doyle’s production of Sweeney Todd, Gem Of the


CREATIVE TEAM Ocean, Pacific Overtures, Assassins, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Into The Woods, Topdog/Underdog, Dirty Blonde, Bring in ‘da Noise/Funk; and the following off Broadway: Father Comes Home From The Wars, Passion, Road Show, Floyd Collins, and many others. He has composed scores for: King Lear (John Lithgow), the Broadway productions of Merchant of Venice (Al Pacino), Julius Caesar (Denzel Washington), The Tempest (Patrick Stewart) and Dan Hurlin’s Disfarmer @ St. Ann’s Warehouse. His awards include four Tony Award nominations, four DRAMA DESK Awards, OBIE Award for sustained excellence, and 2013 Dreyfus Fellow at The MacDowell Colony. He has recently been commissioned to compose a musical with Brian Selznick (The Invention of Hugo Cabret) based on Brian’s book, “The Houdini Box.”

line of teachers-turned-actors, dating back to 1950’s summer camp in the Catskills. His own, similar small-stage performances include Seven Menus, The Real Inspector Hound, and The Music Man. Most recently he was the stage manager for Peter and the Starcatcher at Portland Playhouse.

TAMERA LYNN (Assistant Director) is a fresh

face in Portland, setting her sights on the boundless world of creative art, making sure to leave her mark in this vast city. With a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theatre Performance, Tamera has added director, writer, & film editor to her acting career. Along with her assistant directing role on How I Learned What I Learned, Tamera has been assistant director for Detroit ‘67, Stage Managed No Exit, The Dumb Waiter, and Bank Robbery with Florida A & M University’s Essential Theatre. She has also served as costume manager at Irene C. Edmonds Youth Theatre Camp as well as handled box office for The Essential Theatre. After HILWIL, Tamera plans to again serve as assistant director on A Christmas Carol at Portland Playhouse,

DAVID LEVINE (Stage Manager) is a life-

long Portlander who has worn many career hats, most recently and happily as a middle school teacher at Oregon Episcopal School. He comes from a long

NOVEM

where she will continue out her dual apprenticeship for directing and acting.

CHARLES GRANT (Understudy) is originally

from sunny Southern California and has moved to Portland to spend the year as an Acting Apprentice at the Portland Playhouse and to look at all of the beautiful trees in his free time. He has a BFA in Acting (and lots of student loans) from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Past credits include Tarell Alvin McCraney’s In the Red and Brown Water, Suzan-Lori Parks’ Venus, and Idris Goodwin’s We Want the Funk. He is excited to be at the Playhouse, where he can continue his journey of learning and growth. Thanks to God, the HILWIL team, and my family and my friends far and wide for their unconditional love and support thus far.

BER 30 – DECEMBER 30

A CHRISTMAS CAROL By Charles Dickens

We’re bringing back our award-winning community lovefest for the holidays! If you were lucky enough to score a ticket to last season’s production, you know that this is a holiday tradition not to be missed. TICKETS ON SALE NOW AT PORTLANDPLAYHOUSE.ORG Adaptation and original lyrics by Rick Lombardo Original Music by Anna Lackaff and Rick Lombardo Music Arrangements by Anna Lackaff Directed by Brian Weaver and Cristi Miles

Drew Harper and Serelle Simone Strickland A Christmas Carol

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Photo by Brud Giles


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Portland Playhouse gratefully acknowledges our supporters. Their generosity allows us to activate surprise, delight and challenge in our lives. We envision a world awakened by the wonder of theatre.

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PORTLAND PLAYHOUSE STAFF

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

BRIAN WEAVER

Harold Goldstein, Chair Andrew Clarke, Vice-Chair Mark Williams, Treasurer Michelle Mark, Secretary Michael Cowan Angela Freeman David Hardy Joan Hartzell Kimberly Howard Curt Jantz Marge Kafoury Andy Ricetti-Eberly Pancho Savery Natasha Terranova Jennifer Watson George ‘Bing’ Sheldon, in Memorium

CO-FOUNDER/ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

MICHAEL WEAVER DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS

NIKKI WEAVER

CO-FOUNDER/EDUCATION DIRECTOR

ELENA HEIN

DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR

JEFFREY MARTIN

COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR

KARL HANOVER

AUDIENCE SERVICES MANAGER

ANNA MARIE BROWN, LA’ TEVIN ALEXANDER

FRONT OF HOUSE MANAGERS

THYRA HARTSHORN

PRODUCTION MANAGER

ALIX KOLAR

BOOKKEEPER

OWEN WALZ

DESIGN & TECHNICAL ASSOCIATE

APPRENTICE COMPANY Robert Durante Charles Grant Lauren Gruenberg Mckinley Hughes Rachel Lewis Tonea Lolin Tamera Lynn

WANT TO BE INVOLVED IN PORTLAND PLAYHOUSE?

There are all sorts of ways to join our community: • Volunteer as a beer-tender, usher, or greeter and earn a ticket to see the show! • Check out our Raffle or Wishlist (we’re especially in need of bus tickets/passes, bicycles for apprentice transportation, meal and housing donations, and gift certificates of all sorts)

• Help out in our office, run an event committee, or lend a hand with fundraising

Your contributions are greatly welcome and we’d love to hear from you! Contact Anna at volunteer@portlandplayhouse.org for more information or to get involved.


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