The NW Film Center celebrates its 40th anniversary year as an organization. This year’s PIFF line-up includes documentaries, family friendly films, PIFF After Dark and an early look at 11 of this year’s Oscar nominees.

The full PIFF Program, tickets, and more are available at http://festivals.nwfilm.org/piff35/.

Tickets are available by phone (503-276-4310) or in person at the Film Center’s Advance Ticket Outlet, located in the lobby of the Portland Art Museum’s Mark Building at 1119 SW Park Avenue, open daily from 12-6 p.m. February 1-25. Online tickets are available anytime at http://festivals.nwfilm.org/piff35/.

Some of the films Dmae will showcase are:

Unfinished Spaces – an historical documentary about three architects who in 1961 attempted to create three arts buildings in Cuba at Fidel Castro’s invitation. 40 years later the buildings remain unfinished and decaying. This film chronicles of what changed in Cuba that made it impossible for the buildings to be completed.

Pink Ribbons, Inc. – an Canadian investigative documentary about the commercialization and breast cancer industry, especially timely now because of the recent Susan G. Komen Foundation controversy. (see photo above left)

Where Are You Taking Me? Kimi Takesue lyrical and beautifully photographed travelogue in Uganda without narration and very little dialogue that presents everyday life of a country healing from a war-torn, violent history.

Almanya - a family comedy/drama about a Turkish worker who makes a life for himself in Germany.

The Fairy - a whimsical French film about a hotel worker falls in love with woman who claims to be a fairy who grants him three wishes.

You can hear Stage & Studio at:

• the KBOO website and on 90.7FM live at 11am on Tuesdays
• Saturdays 11am on KZME, 107.1FM
• and everyday at noon on Radio23.org
• Don’t want to miss a single episode? Subscribe to Stage & Studio On iTunes!

Study with Peabody-winning producer Dmae Roberts and engineer Clark Salisbury who have collaborated since 2002 on award-winning feature stories and documentaries.  These seminars are limited to six participants, intensive training at an affordable cost. We’re offering classes monthly that will take you from novice to professional.

Dmae Roberts has 25 years of professional broadcast radio experience and has trained hundreds of students, mentees, national workshop and conference attendees. She has taught and led seminars at Linfield College, the Association of Independents in Radio, the National Federation of Community Broadcasters, the Center for Documentary Studies and Third Coast International Festival. She wrote a chapter for the Radio Reality book that includes writing from the top radio producers in the country. Read testimonials about her work training.

Clark Salisbury has worked more than 20 years as a sound engineer and multimedia designer and producer. He was worked on top-notch radio documentary series including Crossing East and the Wisdom of the Elders and has created scores of websites and multimedia videos. He is the owner and engineer of Salisbury Studio.

To launch the New Media Seminars, we’ve starting off with two afternoons seminars located at Salisbury Studio in Portland.

AUDIO PRIMER
Saturday, Feb. 18, 2012 (COMPLETELY FULL!)

Saturday, Feb. 25, 2012 RESCHEDULED: Saturday Mar. 3, 2012 (AVAILABLE!)

1 – 5 pm
$80 (limited to 6 people) Refreshments provided

This seminar is a perfect introduction to professional recording to get you started in the world of audio production.You will get an overview of how to record, edit and mix audio for either broadcast, podcasts, multimedia and online websites.

Recommended for public and commercial radio producers, writers who want to record their work, online multimedia producers, podcasters, talk show host/producers, video documentarians and anyone who conducts an interviewer or oral history recording.

Includes practical information and reviews of free applications and software as well as professional industry standard equipment. You will also get the lowdown on affordable field recording mics and recording kits with tips for creating professional audio quality.

Registration: Paypal or Send check to reserve space to MediaRites.

For Questions email: mediarites@aol.com.

Must register by Feb. 15th to reserve a space.

BEYOND THE BASICS
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Noon – 5 pm
$100 (limited to 6 people)
Refreshments provided

This seminar will give you hands on experience to how to professionally record your work. Recommended for writers who want to record a reading, podcasters who want to improve their interviewing and recording skills,  filmmakers who want to get professional audio and radio producers who want to move their feature stories toward national quality.

Come prepared to record and edit a five-minute reading or bring an already recorded interview. All participants will leave with a finished produced 5-minute piece with our critique and advise for further production. Finished productions may air on Stage & Studio!

If you haven’t taken the Audio Primer, please contact us before registering for Beyond the Basics.

UPCOMING SEMINARS INCLUDE:

• SOCIAL MEDIA FOR PROMOTION
• AUDIO ESSAYS AND SCRIPTWRITING
• CREATING AN AUDIO FEATURE STORY
• CONSTRUCTING PROFESSIONAL SITES WITH WORDPRESS
• EFFECTIVE GRANTWRITING

For more information, or to be included in our seminar list, email mediarites@aol.com

Must register by Feb. 20th to reserve a space.

To reserve a space, use the buttons below to send payment to MediaRites via Paypal. Checks are accepted – email MediaRites for information.

New Media Seminars
Audio Primer Saturday, Feb 25 1-5pm $80
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Beyond the Basics Sunday, March 11th Noon-5pm $100

Email MediaRites for more information.

As part of this years Fertile Ground Festival of New Works, Lunacy Stageworks produces another important story providing a hard-to-come by connection; this time to the reality of what women endure through their stories from the front lines of Portland’s sex trade. Last year, Lunacy Stageworks also participated in Fertile Ground with Stories: from the Streets, a collection of readings written and performed by people who had experienced homelessness.

Featured music by Molly Baucham from her new CD Maid On The Shore.

Susan Mach

Susan Mach’s A Noble Failure is about what happens when a public school gets co-opted by a private for- profit company. The genesis of the play began with the creation of the character Rosalyn, a lifelong teacher who never imagined herself as anything else.   She is trying to keep a young Russian immigrant, Ivan, in school after he gets in trouble for tagging the library and destroying a trophy case.  Rosalyn is an English teacher modeled after influential instructors of Mach’s.

Much of the play is a response to the current broken public school system. It speaks to how career teachers are being maligned and demonized in the media for economic and social ills beyond their control, and how public schools are being shut down in record numbers, replaced by privately owned charter schools that often cherry-pick students, disregarding those with low incomes and/or learning disabilities.

Claire Willett

Claire Willett’s Dear Galileo looks at three women in three different times who wrestle with their identity, the conflict between science and religion, and what it means to be their fathers’ daughters. In Renaissance Italy, Celeste Galilei lives under house arrest with her elderly father Galileo, the disgraced astronomer who wants to defy the Pope yet again by publishing one last book.

In a small town in Texas, creationist author and TV pundit Robert Snow is at a loss when his 10-year-old daughter Haley’s newfound passion for science begins to pull her away from the Biblical teachings of her upbringing. And in Swift Trail Junction, Arizona, home of the Vatican Observatory’s U.S. outpost, New York sculptor Cassie Willows arrives to find that her estranged father, world-renowned astrophysicist Jasper Willows, has gone missing. As the three stories move toward their point of convergence, the destinies of each become inextricably bound with the others, linked through time by love, family, grief, faith and the search for identity.

Show Times:

A Noble Failure by Susan Mach
Directed by Erin Lucas
Venue: CoHo Theater
Festival Dates: Sunday, January 22 – 2:00pm, Sunday, January 29 – 7:30pm
Tickets are Pay-What-You-Will | 503.205.0715

Dear Galileo by Claire Willett

Directed by Stephanie Mulligan

Venue:  Artists Repertory Theatre, Morrison Stage, 1515 SW Morrison, Portland OR 97205

Festival Dates:  Jan 21 @ 2pm; Jan 23 @ 7:30pm

Tickets:  Pay What You Will; $10 suggested donation | 503.241.1278

Playwright Susan Mach has an MA in Playwriting from Boston University. Her first play, Monograms, published by Rain City Press in Seattle, received a Portland Drama Critics Circle Award. Her second play, Angle of View, was a finalist for the Oregon Book Award and received readings at Portland Repertory Theatre and Boston Playwrights’ Theatre.  For her third play, The Shadow Testament, she received a Woman Writers Fellowship from Literary Arts. Her play, The Difficult Season, a collaboration with renowned jazz pianist and songwriter Dave Frishberg, was workshopped at Artists Repertory Theatre

She was recently awarded a fellowship from Oregon Literary Arts for her latest play, The Lost Boy, which was also part of Portland Center Stage’s JAW/West development series and recently received a staged reading at Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble, and was a winner of the 2011 Angus Bowmer Award for Drama at the Oregon Book Awards.

Playwright Claire Willett was the summer 2011 Writer-In-Residence at the I-Park Artists’ Colony in East Haddam, CT., was named the 2011 Oregon Literary Fellow for Drama, and was a finalist for the 2011 Fox Valley Repertory Collider Project (a new initiative supporting the creation of new plays about science and technology). Three of her plays have been produced as staged readings for Fertile Ground’s Festival of New Works: Upon Waking in 2009, How the Light Gets In in 2010, and That Was the River, This Is the Sea (co-written with Gilberto Martin del Campo) in 2011.

You can hear Stage & Studio at:

• the KBOO website and on 90.7FM live at 11am on Tuesdays
• Saturdays 11am on KZME, 107.1FM
• and everyday at noon on Radio23.org
• Don’t want to miss a single episode? Subscribe to Stage & Studio On iTunes!

Dmae Roberts  talks with Portland comedian, musician and Fertile Ground/Second City alum auGi and award-winning PBS writer Slash Coleman about Big Plastic Heroes– Warning: Trying to be Your Idol is Dangerous.

Hear some great stories from their monologues and auGi promises to sing live! The production is being presented as part of the Fertile Ground Festival of New Works 2012.

Dmae with auGi

Set against the backdrop of two small towns in the 1980s, the show, which starts January 21st with six shows and runs through February 4, features two autobiographical solo-performances that highlight what bad things can happen when oddball teen boys try to be their action-hero idols.

Growing up in a tiny Michigan town surrounded by endless cornfields isn’t exactly the life of an action hero. auGi reveals how he and a group of oddball friends formed a fantasy commando squad with very real consequences. This funny, humbling, true-life story proves that being yourself is all the adventure you need.

Slash Coleman

Bicentennial fever finds Slash Coleman, creator of the PBS special, revealing the story of his eccentric family, his obsession with Evel Knievel, and a crush on his third-grade teacher that lands him in the hospital.

Each night also includes appearances by two Portland storytellers who will tell their own 10-minute “misplaced hero” story. Local stortytellers include: Stacey Hallal, Meg Worden, Ry Stroud, Andrew Bynum, Jimmy Radosta, Karol Collymore, Cory Huff, Meagan Kate, Penny Walter and Molly Norton.

Performance dates: Jan 21, 26, 27, 28; February 3, 4 at 7:30 pm
Venue: The Sanctuary at Sandy Plaza which is located at 1785 NE Sandy Blvd Portland, OR 97232
Tickets: $15 – $17.50; www.BigPlasticHeroes.com or call (804) 353-3799.
Limited reserved seating available. Advance tickets are recommended.

Read a fun blog post about his experiences being interviewed on Stage & Studio!

auGi – Performer/Playwright/Producer
Called “…a brilliant funnyman” by the Producer of The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn and Entertainment Tonight, auGi created, wrote, produced, and performed in hundreds of shows at both The Second City and the world famous Improv in Hollywood, was a regular feature on “The Best of the Worst” on NBC’s Last Comic Standing, and appeared on Comedy Central and E! auGi co-wrote and starred in his autobiographical solo show, SexyNurd: Rockstar Trapped in a Nurd’s Body, which played to sold-out audiences during both the 2010 Fertile Ground and Singlehandedly festivals, was a Willamette Week pick.

Slash – Performer/Playwright
WGBH Boston says, “Slash has the power to change the way people think.” Best known for his PBS special and Off-Broadway one man show, The Neon Man and Me, Slash’s most recent performances include shows at The International Storytelling Center, The National Storytelling Festival, and Pete Seeger’s Clearwater Festival. He’s also a blogger for Psychology Today and a regular contributor to Storytelling Magazine.

Coleman lived in southeast Portland from 1997 – 2001, and worked as a visual artist, an educator and a performing artist. His production company About Vision Entertainment, created with Stash Tea CEO Tom Lisicki, which produced over a dozen multidisciplinary products with ties to the city, was based in Portland until 2004. Slash currently lives in New York City where he continues to write and develop material for the stage, film and TV.

You can hear Stage & Studio at:

• the KBOO website and on 90.7FM live at 11am on Tuesdays
• Saturdays on KZME, 107.1FM
• and everyday at noon on Radio23.org
• Don’t want to miss a single episode? Subscribe to Stage & Studio On iTunes!

This week on Stage & Studio, join Dmae Roberts as she talks with recipient of the 2011 Oregon Book Award, Susan Mach, and 2011’s Oregon Literary Fellow, Claire Willett. Susan Mach’s A Noble Failure, the winner of NEWxNW Playwrighting Competition, will be presented as a staged reading at CoHo Theater. Artist’s Reperatory Theater will present a staged reading of Willett’s Dear Galileo, both as part of the Fertile Ground Festival of New Works.

A Noble Failure is about what happens when a public school gets co-opted by a private for- profit company. The genesis of the play began with the creation of the character Rosalyn, a lifelong teacher who never imagined herself as anything else. She is trying to keep a young Russian immigrant, Ivan, in school after he gets in trouble for tagging the library and destroying a trophy case.  Rosalyn is an English teacher modeled after influential instructors of Mach’s.

Much of the play is a response to the current broken public school system. It speaks to how career teachers are being maligned and demonized in the media for economic and social ills beyond their control, and how public schools are being shut down in record numbers, replaced by privately owned charter schools that often cherry-pick students, disregarding those with low incomes and/or learning disabilities.

Claire Willett’s Dear Galileo looks at three women in three different times who wrestle with their identity, the conflictbetween science and religion, and what it means to be their fathers’ daughters. In Renaissance Italy, Celeste Galilei lives under house arrest with her elderly father Galileo, the disgraced astronomer who wants to defy the Pope yet again by publishing one last book.

In a small town in Texas, creationist author and TV pundit Robert Snow is at a loss when his 10-year-old daughter Haley’s newfound passion for science begins to pull her away from the Biblical teachings of her upbringing. And in Swift Trail Junction, Arizona, home of the Vatican Observatory’s U.S. outpost, New York sculptor Cassie Willows arrives to find that her estranged father, world-renowned astrophysicist Jasper Willows, has gone missing. As the three stories move toward their point of convergence, the destinies of each become inextricably bound with the others, linked through time by love, family, grief, faith and the search for identity.

Show Times:

A Noble Failure by Susan Mach
Directed by Erin Lucas
Venue: CoHo Theater
Festival Dates: Sunday, January 22 – 2:00pm, Sunday, January 29 – 7:30pm
Tickets are Pay-What-You-Will | 503.205.0715

Dear Galileo by Claire Willett

Directed by Stephanie Mulligan

Venue:  Artists Repertory Theatre, Morrison Stage, 1515 SW Morrison, Portland OR 97205

Festival Dates:  Jan 21 @ 2pm; Jan 23 @ 7:30pm

Tickets:  Pay What You Will; $10 suggested donation | 503.241.1278

Thanksgiving meal with my brother went well till my husband and I noticed the duct tape wrapped around Jack’s fingers.

“What’s that?” I asked.

“I cut myself,” he replied.

I asked “how?” and there was a long pause, a pause that’s been indicative of the thing we don’t talk about if we can avoid it: his bottle collecting. He collects and hoards bottles, cans and even crushed cans and plastic bottles. After one of my many interrogations, Jack once confessed he blew air into them so he could put them through the bottle return machines.

“You put your lips on these bottles?” I once asked him with a measure of undisguised disgust. He simply shrugged his sullen teenager shrug, which is far from appealing coming on a middle-aged man.

“Do you know what kind of germs or illnesses you can get?” I said, barely containing my fear for him.

But on this Thanksgiving night he bore proof of the hazards of his collecting. I looked at the duct tape binding his index and middle fingers. It looked like he hadn’t changed the dressing in days

“Did you do this digging around a dumpster?” I asked him.

He confessed he was searching through our neighbor’s recycling bins.  He used to solely collect out of business and apartment dumpsters but like has moved onto rummaging through curbside bins on trash days like many street people now do. He confessed his cuts came from a tin can he got in one of the bins.

As much as I’m a proponent of recycling, I’ve come to resent the financial incentives to return containers for a nickel or a dime. This feeds on my brother’s compulsion to hoard dozens of bags, which he stores in his driveway and inside his compact car. Regardless that he’s taking away the livelihood of unhoused people, Jack has no qualms about going undercover and dressing like a street person when he goes collecting.

We finished Thanksgiving dinner early so I could look at fingers. I had to cut through the duct tape because it had become fused to his skin.

“How long have you had this tape on?”

“Since I cut it,” Pause. “Tuesday morning… early…”

“Why didn’t you call us?”

“I don’t know!”

I looked at the cut. Deep. It could have used stitches but it was too late now. The cut was gaping with flesh exposed. It would heal that way. We bandaged the wounds as best as we could. The next day I took him to our family clinic. I was relieved when the nurse practitioner said it wasn’t infected.

I tried to get Jack to describe to the nurse how he cut his fingers; how he hoards cans and bottles; how he drives around in a car stacked with bags of bottles all around him with barely enough room to drive; how he has have obsessive compulsive disorder.  But Jack has the ability to downplay his behavior when talking with a professional who could potentially help him. Some years ago I made appointments for him to see a low-cost social worker for therapy. After several months, the social worker plainly told my husband and me that it would be easier for us if we just accepted there was nothing we could do about his behavior.

I’ve been a caretaker for my family since childhood when my mother didn’t understand English and I had to translate and read for her. When people have asked why I’ve never had children or if I even want children, my response has been “Why? I have my family.” It was hard to see how I could raise children when my mother had been a child and dependent first on my father before he died, and then me and my brother. My sense of filial duty to my mother was so strong that I gave up three years of my life to care for when she was dying.

In Chinese there is a term called Ko-Gu—the epitome of filial duty. There is a Buddhist story about Princess Miaoshan, a woman who saves her father by cutting off her arms and gouging out her eyes for the ingredients of a healing potion to save her father. Her sacrifice led to her ultimate enlightenment to become the female Buddha, Kuan Yin. Ko-Gu is fundamental concept for any Chinese daughter, especially one with a Tiger Mom. In order to save my mother’s life, I performed a symbolic Ko-Gu and gave up a part of my life to try to save hers as she battled breast cancer. When she passed on, my familial burden shifted to caring for my brother and dealing with his illness for collecting and hoarding.

That’s not to say it’s all burden. My brother and I enjoy watching our sci-fi shows and movies together.  He is the last of my blood family and we share our past and memories of childhood that no one else could know and he’s still one of the sweetest people I know.

And so this Christmas, my brother and I had our meal cooked by my understanding husband. Our small family unit is far from idyllic but I’ve come to accept that if we can have a calm peaceful holiday with no gaping wounds to bind, then it will indeed be enough.

Best known for her literary science fiction and fantasy books, Le Guin crosses all genres.  She recently published a book of poetry and drawings with photographs by Roger Dorband. They are doing a series of readings which started with a book launch at Looking Glass Books in Sellwood. Roberts also visited with Le Guin recently at her home to talk about her works and career.

Ursula K. Le Guin -Photo: Richard Jensen

Dmae also attended a book party for “Out Here” at the Looking Glass Bookstore. Le Guin said it was the very first book launch she’s ever had.

Oregon Treasures is a special series with funding by the Regional Arts and Culture Council.

This year long series produced by Dmae Roberts brings to light veteran arts organizations and artists who have made an impact for several decades on the artistic landscape of Oregon.

Throughout 2010, Stage and Studio will air these creative feature stories and  highly produced half-hour specials of lengthy portraits.

You can hear Stage & Studio at the KBOO website or on 90.7FM live at 11am Tuesdays.

Or you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes so you don’t have to miss a show.

Join Producer Dmae Roberts as she embarks on a one-hour exploration called Artland: A Pushing Boundaries Special. This year-long investigation of innovative arts explores artists and arts groups that push personal, artistic, cultural and physical boundaries.

This special one-hour long journey includes music by 3 Leg Torso, David Ornette Cherry, Todd Tawd & Moira Smiley & Voco.

Feature stories include:

Producer Tali Singer brings up a feature story on  Street Books created by Writer Laura Moulton’s as she delivers books to street people on her Haley tricycle, better known as her mobile library. A large pullout drawer is filled with hundreds of books as she delivers them to people in downtown Portland.  This is Moulton’s social practice art project pushing the boundaries of the definition of art.

Producer Macon Reed brings us more sounds of social practice as she talks with artist Lexa Walsh. They take us on a tour of local food cart vendors as Walsh asks them to create a song with her.

We also have installation sounds from DripDrop Productions and a short tour by Rose Bond of one of her outdoor film installation Broadsided in Exeter, England.

Bond is an internationally known award-winning filmmaker and installation artist who teaches at the Pacific Northwest College of Art.

Writer, composer, filmmaker and visual artist A. Molotkov was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, and moved to the U.S. in 1990, switching to writing in English in 1993.

He shares his poem, ’Say Me With a Dry Leaf’ presented with music by Moira Smiley and Voco.

Macon Reed brings us a personal profile of filmmaker and Portland native Brian Lindstrom. Lindstrom makes films about people he says we put an ex through: ex-cons, people with long histories of drug addiction, mental illness, and homelessness. Lindstrom talk about his films highlighting unusual subjects.

His new film, Alien Boy tells the story Jim Chasse who struggled with mental illness and died while being subdued by police in downtown Portland.

Dmae presents a feature on a Hand2Mouth Theatre rehearsal and talks with director Jonathan Walters, performer Faith Helma and dramaturg Alex Huebsch about their show, Uncanny Valley, as they talk about how they make memories come alive and explore the question “What if you could revisit your memories?” This award-winning Portland group creates original work with music, movement and fantastic effects that resemble a rock concert. Dmae give us insight on how they create this work.

Catherine J.H. Miller is an artist that was born legally blind and has been pushing the boundaries of gallery art while bringing much-needed attention to accessbility both for artists and patrons with physical challenges. Tali Singer spent time  with Miller as she created her project, A Somewhat Secret Place: Disability and Art that brought artists of all abilities from the Northwest and Canada to create art and dialogue about disability.

Fourth generation Japanese American Taiko artist and folk dancer AND artistic director of Portland Taiko, Michelle Fujii, talks with Dmae Roberts about her her solo performance, Choking. Fujii tells us the challenges of honoring cultural traditions while pushing the artforms forward. She tells us how balances artistic preservation with innovation.

Pendulum Aerial Arts pushes through physical boundaries by suspending their dancers high above the audience. Join Macon Reed as he talks to company artistic director Suzanne Kenney about her personal struggles led to her conquering her own fears to create beautiful aerial art and to build a company that now tours and creates original work.

And finally, Dmae Roberts takes a walk on a peaceful sunny day and visits the Portland Occupy movement, before occupiers received the eviction notice. She talks with people at the art tent and about the power of art to soothe and enliven the spirit during difficult times.

Pushing Boundaries is a year-long series of feautres and specials that profiled artists and arts groups who push the personal, physcial and artistic boundaries in their work.

This project was made possible with funding from the Regional Arts and Culture Council.

Additional support for this documentary special came from United States Artists projects fund and MediaRites Productions.

You can hear Stage & Studio  live at the KBOO.FM or on 90.7FM live at 11am Tuesdays.

And tune into re-broadcasts of Stage & Studio at Portland’s Cascade Community Radio at  Radio23.org.

Or you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes so you don’t have to miss a show.

And always browse our archive of shows at the official Stage and Studio website.

In 1920 she published a childhood diary about her time in the woods and her love of nature. The Story of Opal: The Journal of an Understanding Soul” was the #2 bestseller that year, following Sinclair Lewis’ “Mainstreet.” The diary became wildly popular and then  later critics doubted the poetic diary was written by a child. This led to an international controversy that drove Opal Whiteley out of the country and eventually led to her decline in mental health. To this day, Opal Whiteley and her diary remains a controversy and a mystery.

Talking With The Wind: The Mystery of Opal Whitely” was originally produced in 1988 by Dmae Roberts and Dorothy Velasco with funding from the Oregon Humanities.

Music was composed and performed by John Doan.

The voice of young Opal was played by Laurie Robson. Engineering help by Ron Royer. Special thanks to the Oregon Historical Society for providing the only known recording of Opal Whiteley and to KLCC-FM …

You can hear Stage & Studio live at the KBOO.FM or on 90.7FM live at 11am Tuesdays.

And tune into re-broadcasts of Stage & Studio at Portland’s Cascade Community Radio at  Radio23.org.

Or you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes so you don’t have to miss a show.

And always browse our archive of shows at the official Stage and Studio website.

Help support a year-long project on Stage & Studio. I’m seeking funds for our new year-long series “Making Change.”

This series of feature stories and documentary specials is about the creative people who make social, environmental and cultural change happen through artistic projects.  Oregon artists, writers, performers, nonprofit and community groups who want to improve the world around them will be featured.

It’s challenging creating 52 half-hour shows a year as a volunteer. Grants for local radio productions are almost non-existent. Some funders simply say they won’t fund audio projects. By producing a year-long series, I have a special theme to help create programs that matter, and I have shows that can be aired on a variety of radio stations in Oregon and beyond.

And by supporting now, there are enticing incentives including downloads of Peabody-award-winning radio productions. AND the first $50 membership supporters could receive one of the following gifts:

• 2 tickets to Imago Theatre (2012 season)
• 2 tickets to Miracle Theatre (2012 season)
• $25 gift certificate to Kalista Salon & Day Spa
• Three Leg Torso’s Animals and Cannibals CD
• Brothers of the Baladi’s multicultural CD
• Signed copy of Vanessa Diffenbaugh’s ‘The Language of Flowers’
• Signed copy of Dale E. Basye’s ‘book “Fibble’ from the Heck Where The Bad Kids Go series
• Copy of Chuck Palahniuk’s ‘Damned’

For a $100 donation get a certificate for two tickets to any shows in 2012 season at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival during February to November 2012. (Valued at $100!)

Please help Making Change happen with your support. If you can, make an end-of-the-year tax donation now.

Just click the bottom right link by the Paypal button of this link:

http://mediarites.org/store.htm

Thank you! Dmae

Dmae Roberts visits with Robin Lane, the Founder and Artistic Director of Do Jump! Plus a piece by Erin Leddy. This holiday season, Do Jump! presents their new holiday show, Ahhh HA. Dmae will also feature an audio piece from  Hand2Mouth ensemble member Erin Leddy, highlighting her return to Portland after touring to Seattle and New Orleans with “My Mind Is Like An Open Meadow.” The show won five Portland Drammy awards including Outstanding Production of 2010-11.

Robin Lane

Robin Lane & Do Jump!
For over one-third of a century, Founder and Artistic Director Robin Lane has led the Do Jump! “actorbats” in creating a unique blend of theatre, dance, aerial work, acrobatics, dynamic visuals and live music that defies categorization. Celebrating both individual creativity and community spirit, Do Jump! has thrilled audiences throughout North America.

Robin Lane is the recipient of the RACC Individual Artist Fellowship in Performing Arts 2010. Lane’s work is accessible to audiences of all ages — playful, poetic and profoundly humorous, and has toured the United States and Canada for nearly three decades. She has taught generations of children and teachers acro-aerial and ensemble performance through the Do Jump! school and youth company.

Debuting in 2010 as Greatest Hits for the Holidays, Ahhh HA! has been renamed, refined and hand picked to feature in the New Victory’s 2012-2013 season programming. Ahhh HA! features audience favorites from over 35-years of Do Jump!’s performance history. This Holiday Show will also feature two new guest artists, Jeff George of BodyVox-2 and Kailee McMurran of SubRosa Dance Collective.

Ahhh HA! runs from November 26 –January 1 @ The Echo Theatre located at 1515 SE 37th Ave in Portland. Ticket prices are: $32.00 Adults/$26.00 Seniors (62 and over)/$20.00 Youth (12 and under). The box office is open Monday-Friday 10am-4pm. Buy tickets online at dojump.org, or for more informations, contact the Box Office at 503-231-1232.

Erin Leddy – “My Mind   is Like an Open Meadow”
For the last 8 years, Erin has been a Company Member of Hand2Mouth Theatre, creating, performing and touring new theatre. In 2001, she lived with her grandmother for a year and recorded her memoirs. These tapes form the bones for this solo performance: a meditation on consciousness, memory and things passed down through generations. “My Mind Is Like An Open Meadow” exists in a strange control station of the mind where stories, songs and dances appear and vanish, conveying the inner life of both Erin and her grandmother.

“My Mind Is like An Open Meadow” is directed by Hand2Mouth Artistic Director Jonathan Walters. Together Walters, Leddy and collaborators Chris Kuhl, Ash Black Bufflo, Holcombe Waller and Jane Paik craft a sonic and visual world where memory overcomes the live performance and the two realms begin to blur into an elegant mixture of lighting, pre‐recorded voice, music, dance and scenery.

“My Mind Is like An Open Meadow” runs from December 1 – 11: Thursday – Sunday at 8pm and December 10 and 11 at 2pm at Ethos at IFCC/5340 N Interstate Ave. Tickets are  $12-18. Find more information at: hand2mouththeatre.org

You can hear Stage & Studio  live at the KBOO.FM or on 90.7FM live at 11am Tuesdays.

And tune into re-broadcasts of Stage & Studio at Portland’s Cascade Community Radio at  Radio23.org.Or you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes so you don’t have to miss a show

And always browse our archive of shows at the official Stage and Studio website. DoJump3 DoJumpManAboveAudience headshot_Robin_Lane DoJumpArialAcroBlue erin Leddy RobinLanestudio Do Jump Aha

Dmae Roberts sits down with Associate Artistic Director Jon Kretzu of Artist Repertory Theater. Jon is in his 19^th season with ART, where he has directed over 40 productions for the company. He tours the set of his latest production, Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Christmas Carol and talks about the art of directing. And later, Dmae presents a piece about the art of  Occupy Portland.

For the last couple decades, Jon Kretzu has been one of the busiest and energetic theatre directors in Portland. This season at ART he’s also directing a new adaptation of of The Duchess of Malfi and the Tony-award-winning Next To Normal. Jon also travels around the country to work on shows and to see as much new theatre as possible. We’ll hear about his style of direction and his recipe for a successful production.

Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Christmas Carol by Seattle veteran playwright John Longenbaugh, premiered at Taproot Theatre Company in Seattle to standing room only houses for the 2010 holidays and received excellent reviews. This is its second production and first production outside of Seattle.

The play’s witty and seamless cross pollination of two well-known characters, Sherlock Holmes and  Ebenezer Scrooge, asks the question “how would SherlockHolmes fare after a Christmas Eve of supernatural visitors and profound reflection?”

Billed as “an unusual holiday show,” the production runs from November 15-December 24th. Tickets to Sherlock Holmes are $25-$50; Students $20 and can be purchased online, or by calling 503 241-1278. Artists Repertory Theatre is located in downtown Portland at 16^th and Alder St.

Dmae gives us a feature piece on the artwork at the Occupy Portland site.

Scott at the art tent

She took a walk on a peaceful sunny day before occupiers received the eviction notice. Dmae talks with people at the art tent and talks about the power of art to soothe and enliven the spirit during difficult times. Check out the photos below of Dmae’s experience.

You can hear Stage & Studio  live at the KBOO.FM or on 90.7FM live at 11am Tuesdays.

And tune into re-broadcasts of Stage & Studio at Portland’s Cascade Community Radio at  Radio23.org.

Or you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes so you don’t have to miss a show.

And always browse our archive of shows at the official Stage and Studio website.

Ivan Dmae_JonKretzu-180x180 Artists_Rep_Sherlock_3 Scotttent Tents_mural feet_animals jon_kretzu_250x167 OccupySign kitchen Sherlock_Mark_Tedin_illustration

This is an encore broadcast. The Julians  will be presenting a new concert titled ‘Truly, Madly, Deeply’ on Feb. 12th at 2pm at First Presbyterian Church, 1200 SW Alder Street in Portland. Tickets available cash/check at the door:  Adults $12 Student/Senior $10

Kristin Buhler, Liz Bacon, Maria Karlin and Vakare Petrolinaite are four hard-working classically trained singers who regularly sing with a variety of Portland groups. For the last year, they’ve been rehearsing and singing their own unique sound as The Julians.

Kristin Buhler says The Julians fill a specific niche that has been “lacking” and though “the scene in Portland is so vibrant for vocal performers,they “found a parking space and parked in it.”  The group is named after a  female mystic in the 14th century named Julian of Norwich in England who called for optimism and compassion in a time of turmoil.

The Julians new concert He Said, She Said explores male and female composers as “musical gender study” presenting different ideas about gender through the songs. The group will be singing music that runs the gamut from Bjork to Brahams.

Get a sneak peek at their concert with Dmae as The Julians sing four of their songs recorded live on location. Get the inside scoop on what it takes to have a unique vocal group.

Liz Bacon, Kristin Buhler, Maria Karlin & Vakare Petrolinaite (left to right)

Tickets can be reserved at 503-227-5783 or e-mail music@stst.org or purchased for a suggested donation at the door.

You can hear Stage & Studio at:

• the KBOO website and on 90.7FM live at 11am on Tuesdays
• Saturdays 11am on KZME, 107.1FM
• and everyday at noon on Radio23.org
• Don’t want to miss a single episode? Subscribe to Stage & Studio On iTunes!

The three-year-old Curious Comedy offers a full slate of shows and improvisation classes every month and is dedicated to teaching youth and adults to build community through comedy.

Nathan Loveless, Stacey Hallal & Bri Pruett

In November, Curious Comedy presents an improvised musical ensemble called Rhapsody!. Each night they will improvise an entire musical comedy – from the story, to the lyrics, to the music – inspired by audience suggestions.  Rhapsody! features Jenn Hunter, Bri Pruett, Nathan Loveless, Stacey Hallal, Bob Ladewig and Katie Michels, with musical direction by Knute Snortum.

Tickets to Rhapsody! are $15 ($12 in advance online); admission to all Saturday shows also includes free admission to 10:00 p.m. after-hours stand-up showcase. “Rhapsody!” begins at 8:00 p.m. each Friday and Saturday, through Saturday, November 19 (except Nov. 4).

Curious Comedy is also a popular venue for independent artists. On Nov. 5 and 6, it’s Hero’s Welcome, a puppet show for military families in honor of Veterans’s Day. The venue hosts open-mic nights and film screenings. For tickets to their shows and more info visit their site: CuriousComedy.org.

Leanne Grabel in fake fur coat

Dmae also features Leanne Grabel’s new Writers Read performance piece Jalisa.

Grabel is a Portland writer who’s been teaching full-time at the Rosemont Rehabiliation Center and School. She’ll be performing this poem in a full show of prose poems about her eight years teaching there called  badgirls (Dancing Moon Press, 2011).

Grabel recounts her experience teaching Language Arts & Poetry in the lockdown treatment center in Deep Southeast Portland. Her classroom is recreated with the help of Robin Rasmussen and Gina Grabel Sander. All of their words are the writings of past students of Grabel, who plays Teacher Lady.

Bad Girls

Directed by Susan Banyas, with original music, photography and video design by Quincy Davis, lighting by Bill Boese, and sound consulting by Will Savery, badgirls presents the reality of Grabel’s Language Arts classroom, where poetry is as prevalent as paperclips.

Performances for badgirls are Nov. 4th and 5th at 8pm, Nov. 6th at 2pm. All shows are at Pacific Crest Community School at 116 NE 29th in Portland. Tickets are $10-20 sliding scale. No one is turned away. For reservations call 503-231-8482.

You can hear Stage & Studio  live at the KBOO.FM or on 90.7FM live at 11am Tuesdays.

And tune into re-broadcasts of Stage & Studio at Portland’s Cascade Community Radio at  Radio23.org.

Or you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes so you don’t have to miss a show.

And always browse our archive of shows at the official Stage and Studio website.

Host Dmae Roberts presents the founders of the popular Portland group, 3 Leg Torso, Bela Belogh & Courtney Von Drehle. The original ‘meester’ street performers have turned 3 Leg Torso into a world class eclectic band. They present pieces from their hit CD “Animals & Cannibals” and talk about their longtime collaboration that began in the 90s. How does a band endure? Find out with this fun chat with 3 Leg Torso!

Courtney Von Drehle & Bela Balogh

Balogh (violin and trumpet) and Von Drehle (accordion) began as street musicians. They called their performances ‘Meestering’ and developed a unique style that mixed Argentine tango with Klezmer and Hungarian music.

Dmae profiled the band in 1999 for NPR’s All Things Considered.  Since that time, 3 Leg Torso has grown into a five-member ensemble. The group has composed music for two films by Academy Award-winning animator Joan Gratz. They’ve scored United Nations funded documentary about AIDS in Thailand. Von Drehle was awarded a fellowship at the Sundance Film Composers Lab. The band also been commissioned twice by the Portland Institute of Contemporary Art (PICA) to create new full-length works.

In his review of “Animals & Cannibals,”the Oregonian’s David Stabler wrote: “3 Leg stands out from other bands for a particular blend of soulful and driving beats enriched by harmony and humor…”

Listen to cuts and conversation with 3 Leg Torso and heck out their Fall schedule of concerts here!

You can hear Stage & Studio  live at the KBOO.FM or on 90.7FM live at 11am Tuesdays.

And tune into re-broadcasts of Stage & Studio at Portland’s Cascade Community Radio at  Radio23.org.

Or you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes so you don’t have to miss a show.

And always browse our archive of shows at the official Stage and Studio website. 3legtorsocoverjpg-71ab41d14fa0ab4d_large Courtney_Dmae_Bela cvd&BBmountaintop 3LT_Jumping_Kicking Courtney_and_Bela

My mom smoked and worked in a plywood mill with other smokers and sawdust in the air. She didn’t do self-exams and only discovered something wrong when her breast started discharging what she called “milk.”

After one mastectomy she went 10 years without a recurrence. That’s when she got a cough that developed into an infection. I had to bring her back to Eugene from Taiwan on a nightmarish weekend trip. She was immediately hospitalized, got over the infection but retained the cough.

Chu-Yin Roberts

Six months later, her surgeon found a speck on an X-ray. The surgeon performed a biopsy and discovered the speck was cancerous. My mom’s  breast cancer had metastasized in her lungs. She took one chemo pill that made her sick with pneumonia. She was again hospitalized. She went home under hospice care because she feared she would die in the hospital. The cancer continued to grow slowly for another two years till the cells overtook her lungs, and she couldn’t breathe anymore.

When I worked with women survivors in 2003, one in eight women were projected to get breast cancer in America.  That statistic hasn’t changed in nearly 10 years.  In all the breast cancer awareness month celebrations, here’s what no one talks about.

Cancer often comes back. The longer you “beat” it, the better. But the specter of a recurrence is always there.

Why? There just isn’t enough research into the causes. A quick Google search will show links to toxicity and breast cancer: pesticides sprayed on our food crops, benzene in the air from vehicle emissions and in cleaning solvents, chemicals in plastics like water bottles and parabens used as a preservative in women’s products.

The food we eat can reduce some breast cancer risk. Rates for breast cancer in Asian women in Asia are significantly less than Asian American women living in the U.S. According to the National Center for Biotechnology Information, higher soy intake (primarily tofu) in Asia might explain the increase of breast cancer rates in Asian American women who eat less tofu.

Foods containing phytochemicals may also help. “Phyto” means plant and can be found in fruit, vegetables, grains, beans and other plants. Other sources of phytochemicals include red wine and tea (especially green). The best choices of vegetables are in the cabbage family and includes bok choy, broccoli, mustard greens. (breastcancer.org)

If Asian American women can follow a more traditionally Asian diet could that possibly help reduce our higher breast cancer rate in America? What else would help? Get a yearly mammogram and do regular self-examinations. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention posts some warning signs:

• New lump in the breast or armpit.
• Thickening/swelling of breast.
• Irritation or dimpling of breast skin.
• Redness or flaky skin in the nipple area or breast.
• Pulling in of nipple or pain in the nipple area.
• Nipple discharge other than breast milk, including blood.
• Any change in the size or shape of breast.
• Pain in any area of the breast.

The other thing we can do is to support our family members and friends who have breast cancer. This is my advice to family and loved ones based on the interviews and workshops I did with breast cancer survivors.

• Don’t be afraid. You can’t catch cancer from someone. Call, visit, or do activities for short periods of time.
• Be careful what you say. Sometimes it’s best just listen and be available when someone needs help.
• Offer to babysit, do household chores, errands, shopping and healthcare visits. Daily life is difficult when you’re fighting an illness.
• Check in once a day. Ask often if there’s anything you can do.
• Find out what gives them comfort and makes them laugh and enjoy these with them.
• Be positive when you’re helping or visiting, but don’t give false hope. Don’t talk about “the miracle” or “the cure” that might come in the future. It doesn’t help them with the pain of the present.

During October, there are breast cancer awareness events and activities.  One is the Worship in Pink Community Celebration on Oct. 30^th at 2pm at Legacy Emmanuel Medical Center in Portland. There will a performance by the Survivor’s Choir as well as a reading of my short play, The Breast Cancer Monologues. The latter was gathered from interviews and workshops as part of my radio documentary of the same name. To find out more about this event visit this link or to hear my documentary visit MediaRites.org.

My personal belief is that it isn’t enough to put on a Pink ribbon or to buy “Pink” products that only give a small percentage to fight breast cancer. We must know more about the products we use, the food we eat and the very air we breathe. We must actively urge the corporations that make products and our lawmakers to think about our health. And we must educate ourselves to take action to protect our own health.

Further Links:

http://medicineworld.org/cancer/breast/stats/asians.html

http://www.womenshealth.gov/minority-health/asian-americans/breast-cancer.cfm

http://ww5.komen.org/BreastCancer/WhoDoesItAffect.html#AsianAmericans

http://www.cdc.gov/cancer/breast/basic_info/symptoms.htm

When my mom died, I tried to find activities that would help me with my grief so I went blueberry picking.

I enjoy berry season during Oregon summers. My experiences with picking began when I was child in the strawberry fields near Eugene. My mom took my brother and me strawberry picking to make money for our family. It wasn’t exactly fun getting up at dawn to catch the bus to the fields. Nor was it great that my mom forced us to pick non-stop so we could earn the most money. But you did get to eat as many fresh strawberries as you wanted. Then when we moved to the country and my mom had her own garden. We would harvest produce and pick wild blackberries on our small two-acre farm.

(Photo: Richard Jensen)

After I moved to Portland, I ventured every once in a while to U-Pick orchards on Sauvie Island to get produce. This was before Farmer’s markets were in nearly every neighborhood in Portland. I lost track of picking produce in the summers while I was taking care of my mom when her breast cancer returned after a 10-year absence. She struggled with her illness for three years before she passed away in May. That was the summer I decided to go pick blueberries.

I didn’t grow up with these berries. I found their taste and perfectly round shape fascinating. They also seemed easier to pick than strawberries or blackberries. No putting up with back-bending pain or razor sharp thorns. So I went a farm in Gresham on a sunny day. The owner showed me how to pick them, nervous that U-pickers came to ravage her rows of beautiful tall blueberry trees. She instructed me to hold each berry carefully in my fingers and slowly wipe away the sheen with my thumb to make sure they were truly blue rather than a deceptive purple. Blueberries might appear blue in between the sunlight and the shadows cast through leaves. It takes vigilant inspection to get truly ripe berries. The owner also cautioned me to use a delicate touch so I didn’t pull away a cluster of green berries while picking.

At first I was a little irritated by all the berry instructions. I came to the blueberry farm to make me feel better, not worry about some berries.  But as I started on my assigned blueberry tree and concentrated on selecting the right little blue marbles, my grief turned into something else. I realized the owner was right. There had to be a certain care to this task. It wasn’t a matter of grabbing a berry and moving onto the next one. There was more to this act of careful inspection and finding the right one that would easily roll off the vine and into your basket. Somehow the gentleness and delicacy of the task was healing, nurturing. I spent about an hour there at the farm thinking about berries and how much my mom would have enjoyed this activity. By the time I quit, had a couple pounds of beautiful berries. And I felt better.

The next summer, my husband planted our own blueberry plants. It took two years to bear abundant fruit every summer. I now look forward to the time spent in the yard picking blueberries. I inspect each berry and think about my mom and that time I was in grief and how the act of picking gave me comfort.  It’s now a way of remembering her loss and letting go of the grief.

This summer my friend, Carolyn Holzman, died suddenly from a heart attack. She was a gifted theatre artist and teacher. Carolyn worked with Do Jump Theatre and produced her own plays full of whimsy and magic. For the last several years, she was an adjunct professor at Portland State University.

There was no warning to her death. It shocked her husband, her family and friends of which there were many. At her memorial, her family shared intimate stories of her life.  Some of those remembrances brought out quirky laughter that was the essence to Carolyn’s creativity. When we in the audience heard these joyful stories, it was a reminder that despite the pain, we were all better human beings simply by knowing her. Just talking with Carolyn was a delight. Seeing her movement and theatre pieces took you to the best part of childhood and the happiest of days.

This summer during blueberry season, I’ve not only thought about my mom, but also of Carolyn and her sudden passing. Now as the blueberries become fewer in number in these waning days before autumn, I hold onto each berry with care, as I do grief itself. I hold dear and think, “this one is ready; it’s time to let it go.”

And every summer when the fruit returns, I will remember the loss with a certain delicate kind of joy once more.

Featured music by NW musician Molly Bauchham from her new CD Maid on the Shore. Hear her music at HarperMolly.com.

Portland writer Sandra de Helen’s play Blue Roses is being featured in a reading at the Dramatists Guild of America Friday Night Footlights program in October. Blue Roses tells the story of an imagined meeting of Tennessee William’s sister and Rosemary Kennedy at a mental instititution in Missouri. Blue Roses was previously presented in the PlayLab at the Great Plains Theatre Conference and in a Portland reading directed by Matt Zrebski.

Sandra de Helen

De Helen’s previous work includes The Godmother staged as part of Fertile Ground: New Works Festival. She also performed her play Copperheads and Common Women in 2009 at CoHo Theatre Company and Fertile Ground. Her 10-minute play The Thing Is was produced by Artists Repertory Theatre. De Helen is part of the multicultural playwriting group Penplay.

Dmae also features a short piece from her documentary The Breast Cancer Monologues. To hear the whole documentary, visit MediaRites Productions store at MediaRites.org.

(Hear the entire show below…)

(Or listen to the interview with Kathie Kendrix above.)

The we hear from Kathy Kendrix, organizer of Worship in Pink, a community celebration that takes place on Sunday, October 30,  2- 6 p.m. in the Legacy Emanuel Medical Center Atrium.

The event honors breast cancer survivors with exhibitors, booths, speakers, a reading of  The Breast Cancer Monologues by Dmae Roberts and a special performance by Sisters in Survival, a chorus of breast cancer survivors led by Julianne R. Johnson. For more information about Worship in Pink see the website,

You can hear Stage & Studio  live at the KBOO.FM or on 90.7FM live at 11am Tuesdays.

And tune into re-broadcasts of Stage & Studio at Portland’s Cascade Community Radio at  Radio23.org.

Or you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes so you don’t have to miss a show.

And always browse our archive of shows at the official Stage and Studio website.

Olga Sanchez

First, Olga Sanchez, artistic director of Milagro Theatre, talks about Viva La Revolucion: A Celebration of the Day of the Dead. This festive new play runs Oct. 20-Nov. 13 at Milagro Theatre, located 525 SE Stark Street in Portland.

Then, a feature story on Portland Playhouse with Brian Weaver, co-founder and artistic director.

We’ll hear about their five-play season beginning with Gem of the Ocean, by acclaimed playwright August Wilson, his second to last play. This play is running till Oct. 30th at the World Trade Center at 121 SW Salmon St. in Portland.

Brian Weaver

Music composed by Peter Bayne was featured in Gem of the Ocean and in the feature story. Listen to more of his music on his website.

And we’ll check in with Third Rail Repertory Theatre. The company is currently producing a controversial play called The Pain and The Itch by Bruce Norris.

It focuses on an upper middle class family’s response to a stranger in their house and their own culpability for the death of his wife.

Artistic Director Slayden Scott Yarbrough will talk about the issues raised and the audience response to this highly charged play. Yarbrough tells us that the talkbacks after the show show Portlanders whose opinions are polarized in how they view the play. A

You can hear Stage & Studio  live at the KBOO.FM or on 90.7FM live at 11am Tuesdays.

And tune into re-broadcasts of Stage & Studio at Portland’s Cascade Community Radio at  Radio23.org.

Or you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes so you don’t have to miss a show.

And always browse our archive of shows at the official Stage and Studio website.

Third Rail Repertory's 'The Pain & The Itch' Brian Weaver Milagro'a 'Viva La Revolucion' Olga Sanchez Gem of The Ocean

(Photo left by Holly Andres, Pictured: Grace Carter as Roma)

The Drammy-award-winning defunkt theatre is in its 12th season at their space behind the Common Grounds Coffee House in SE Portland. They’ve made a mark in Portland theatre for creating adventurous work on a tight budget. The ensemble works together mostly as a labor of love dedicating themselves to taking artistic risks. One such risk is casting two women in the two main roles in Glengarry Glen Ross, an often macho and aggressive play about competitive men in a real estate office.

Featured music by Todd Barton at ToddBarton.com.

Matthew Kern, Grace Carter and Lori Sue Hoffman.

Defunkt will also be producing Fire Island by Chuck Mee next spring. Mee is a playwright who posts his plays online and allows anyone to remake them in any form or genre.

Dmae talks with defunkt’s leaders, Matthew Kern, Grace Carter and Lori Sue Hoffman about the company’s history, their adventures and how three people can amiably run a company together.

Glengarry Glen Ross by David Mamet, directed by Tamara Carroll. The show runs October 14 through November 19, 2011 Thursdays – Sundays at 8pm (no show October 16) at the Back Door Theater located at 4319 SE Hawthorne Blvd. in Portland.

Tickets are Pay-what-you-can Thursdays & Sundays, $10-$20 Fridays and Saturdays. Reservations are encouraged as space is limited. Call 503-481-2960 for reservations or visit defunktheatre.com.

You can hear Stage & Studio  live at the KBOO.FM or on 90.7FM live at 11am Tuesdays.

And tune into re-broadcasts of Stage & Studio at Portland’s Cascade Community Radio at  Radio23.org.

Or you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes so you don’t have to miss a show.

And always browse our archive of shows at the official Stage and Studio website.

Dmae Roberts talks with dancers Gregg Bielemier and Catherine Egan  in Imago Theatre’s Zugzwang. This is the fifth installment of creator Jerry Maowad’s Opera Beyond Words series. And we’ll also learn how the Oregon Shakespeare Festival overcame a potential disaster this summer.

Imago Theatre’s Zugzwang is described as part theatre and part dance. This wordless opera centers on a man making a life-altering decision while playing poker. That man is performed by Gregg Bielemeier (pictured left), long-time dancer who’s performed all over Europe and the West Coast. He’s currently on the faculty at Conduit Dance.

Gregg Bielemier & Catherine Egan

Also featured in the show is Portland dancer Catherine Egan who is choreographing a piece for the Richard Foreman Mini-Festival on Oct. 8 and 9 at Performance Works NW.

Zugzwang runs Sept. 29 – Oct. 22 at Imago Theatre located at 17 SE 8th Ave. in Portland. For more info call (503) 231-581.

We’ll also hear from Amy Richard, the Media & Communication Manager at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. We’ll find out how OSF averted disaster when a beam broke at the mainstage Bowmer Theatre this summer. OSF quickly mobilized and performed productions in tents and other venues in Ashland and Medford. Though the company lost over $2 million in revenue, it managed to keep producing great theatre.

OSF’s season runs till Nov. 6 in Ashland. (Photo: Bill Geisslinger, Robynn Rodriguez, Brent Hinkley, Terri MacMahon, Judith-Marie Bergan, Catherine E. Coulson,  Kate Mulligan, Tony DeBruno & Jeffrey King.)

You can hear Stage & Studio  live at the KBOO.FM or on 90.7FM live at 11am Tuesdays.

And tune into re-broadcasts of Stage & Studio at Portland’s Cascade Community Radio at  Radio23.org.

Or you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes so you don’t have to miss a show.

And always browse our archive of shows at the official Stage and Studio website.

Featured music is Violinist and Composer Aaron Meyer from his CD Near The Edge. Find out more at AaronMeyer.com.

Vanessa Diffenbaugh created a flower dictionary based on the long tradition of Victorian language of flowers which assigns emotions and meanings to specific flowers. And in her debut nove,l The Language of Flowers, the meaning of a flower isn’t exactly what you think it might be. For instance, a yellow rose could denote jealousy as opposed to adoration. Diffenbnaugh takes this flower language to weave a coming-of-age tale of a young woman named Victoria who grew up in and out of foster homes until she was 18 and ended up on the streets of San Francisco homeless. Somehow through her broken childhood she develops a love and talent for tending flowers. By accident she lands a job in a flower shop and we learn how she came to have this love of flowers through flashbacks on a critical time in her life when she did have the love of a mother. The Language of Flowers has been critically praised and has had a successful European tour.  Tune in to Dmae’s interview with this intriguing new novelist.

“The overriding emotional message of The Language of Flowers has to do with family.” NY Times Review.

Vanessa Diffenbaugh

Vanessa Diffenbaugh was born in San Francisco and raised in Chico, California. After studying creative writing and education at Stanford, she went on to teach art and writing to youth in low-income communities. She and her husband, PK, have three children: Tre’von, eighteen; Chela, four; and Miles, three. Tre’von, a former foster child, is attending New York University on a Gates Millennium Scholarship. Diffenbaugh and her family currently live in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where her husband is studying urban school reform at Harvard.

Diffenbaugh is also the founder of the Camellia Network. The mission of the Camellia Network is to create a nationwide movement to support youth transitioning from foster care. In The Language of Flowers, Camellia means “My Destiny is in Your Hands.”  The network sets up a registry for youth in which people can donate actual items needed.  For more information visit www.camellianetwork.org

Order The Language of Flowers!

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You can hear Stage & Studio  live at the KBOO.FM or on 90.7FM live at 11am Tuesdays.

And tune into re-broadcasts of Stage & Studio at Portland’s Cascade Community Radio at  Radio23.org.

Or you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes so you don’t have to miss a show.

And always browse our archive of shows at the official Stage and Studio website.

Perhaps you’ve seen him at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival performing roles like King Lear or Titus Andronicus. Or you might have seen him on television hits 24, Picket Fences or Boston Legal or in film blockbusters such as Basic Instinct and Metro?

Denis Arndt & Dmae Roberts

Even if  you can’t recall exactly, veteran actor Denis Arndt will seem familiar to you. Yet you might be surprised to learn he was a helicopter pilot during the Vietnam War and received two Purple Hearts. Or that he was a bush pilot in Alaska. When he quit being a pilot, he went to an audition in Seattle and got the part. It’s been non-stop acting roles since then. Now Arndt has been directing and his latest project is ART’s  ”God of Carnage” a play he’s performed in the past.

Denis Arndt & Bill Geisslinger ART's "Seafarer"

Bob Hicks in his blog Artscatter said of Arndt: “What’s always struck me about Arndt’s performances is how meticulously thought out yet precipitously on the edge they are. He takes you to the tipping point.”

Arndt has performed in major theaters across the country and in Canada, including New York’s Public Theatre and Chicago’s Goodman Theatre as well as Kansas City Rep, Houston’s Alley Theatre, Washington DC’s Arena Stage and Studio Theatre.  Arndt performed in 15 seasons at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival performing title roles in King Lear, Titus Andronicus, Coriolanus; Iago in Othello, Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet, Proteus in Two Gents. He was seen as James in Moon for the Misbegotten opposite Jean Smart and Jamie in Long Day’s Journey Into Night with William Hurt who played Edmund.  Film and television roles include  LA Law, Picket Fences, The Practice, Boston Legal, Providence, Colombo, Murder She Wrote, Basic Instinct, Metro, Supernatural, 24, Swat and others.

ART's 'God of Carnage' Patrick Dizney, Allison Tigard, Michael Mendelson, Trisha Miller. Photo: Owen Carey

Artists Repertory Theatre presents the Tony-award-winning play God of Carnage by Yasmina Reza and directed by Denis Arndt, stage, television and film actor.  This shocking comedy/ drama play kicks off ART’s 29th season with actors Patrick Dizney, Michael Mendelson, Trisha Miller, Allison Tigard.

Performance Dates are September 6 – October 9 at ART’s Alder Stage (16th and Alder St.) in Portland.  For tickets call 503.241.1278 or visit www.artistsrep.org.

James Avery & Denis Arndt in 'Othello' 1981-'82, Photo: Hank Kranzler, Oregon Shakespeare Festival

You can hear Stage & Studio  live at the KBOO.FM or on 90.7FM live at 11am Tuesdays

And tune into re-broadcasts of Stage & Studio at Portland’s Cascade Community Radio at  Radio23.org. Or you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes so you don’t have to miss a show.

Or you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes so you don’t have to miss a show.

And always browse our archive of shows at the official Stage and Studio website

Don Horn has been producing plays for Triangle Productions for more than 20 years. The plays he chooses have often been shocking, risque, entertaining and englightening. The plays often appeal to gay and straight audiences alike. Dmae talked with Horn as he was getting ready to start a new season which include Maybe Baby, It’s You (read review), The Big Bang, The Irish Curse and the original play he’s writing Gracie, about a famed Portlander Gracie Hansen who ran a burlesque show at the Hoyt Hotel in the 1970s. Dmae talked with Horn and got a backstage tour of his new space, The Sanctuary.

In the second part of the show, Dmae dropped by the studio of Heather Soderberg in Cascade Locks, OR. Soderberg is known for her life-size sculptures. Her most well-known work is that of Sacagawea, the famed Native American heroine and guide to Lewis and Clark.

Soderberg has been creating scuptures since she was two years old when her sculptor father gave her some soft wax. She immediately created a sculpture and became a child prodigy . Father and daughter often still work together on occasion. In 2009, Soderberg became the only woman to own a bronze foundry in the U.S.

And finally Dmae presents a personal essay about loss and the end of summer.

You can hear Stage & Studio  live at the KBOO.FM or on 90.7FM live at 11am Tuesdays.

And tune into re-broadcasts of Stage & Studio at Portland’s Cascade Community Radio at  Radio23.org.

Or you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes so you don’t have to miss a show.

And always browse our archive of shows at the official Stage and Studio website. Heather_cougar Heatherstatue Heather_Japanesestatue Sacagawea SoderbergStudio MaybeBaby TrianglePews2 triangle_wht2 DonHorn_WendyWesterwelle

PICA presents the perennial TBA (Time-Based Art) Festival, (photo left) 10 nights of music and art at The Works at Washington HIgh School, SE Stark (between 12th and 14th Streets), Portland. For more info visit www. pica.org. Some highlights include:

• Ten Tiny Dances 25 [GLOBAL, DANCE] Saturday, September 10. Celebrate the 25th performance by Ten Tiny Dances with a lineup that draws together five “greatest hit” tiny dances, and five new works by TBA Festival artists, including Taylor Mac, Raja Kelly, Yoko Higashino, Yukio Suzuki, and tEEth.
• Whoop Dee Doo, a kid-friendly faux public access television show featuring performances and live audience participation. With skits, contests, musicians, and local talent, the program is inspired by television shows such as Pee Wee’s Playhouse, Mr. Wizard, The Gong Show, Double Dare, and Soul Train. LIVE PERFORMANCES: Saturday, September 17 at 1 & 4pm
• Occupation/Preoccupation, an exhibit that brings light to more than 700 U.S. military bases on foreign soil in sovereign countries where we have no declaration of war. This project unites musicians, researchers, and music-lovers to cover songs that originate from each of these places, raising awareness of our global military presence.

Artists Repertory Theatre presents the Tony-award-winning play God of Carnage by Yasmina Reza and directed by Denis Arndt, stage, television and film actor.  This shocking comedy/ drama play kicks off ART’s 29^th season with actors Patrick Dizney, Michael Mendelson, Trisha Miller, Allison Tigard. Performance Dates are September 6 – October 9 at ART’s Alder Stage (16^th and Alder St.) in Portland.  For tickets call 503.241.1278 or visit www.artistsrep.org. (Check out Denis Arndt live in the studio on Sept. 6th at 11am!)

Triangle Productions presents Maybe Baby, It’s You By Charlie Shanian and Shari Simpson. It’s a comedy about searching for a soul mate told in 11 vignettes and features Gary Cash and Adair Chappell. The show runs September 8 – October 2 at Triangle’s new space, The Sanctuary, 1785 NE Sandy Blvd, Portland. For tickets, call 503-239-5919 or visit: www.tripro.org.

Lunacy Stageworks

Lunacy Stageworks presents a comedy called Love Song by John Kolvenbach and directed by John Steinkamp. Described as a funny, passionate, poignant play about raw wonder and boundless love, it features a man named Beane and a fire-spitting young woman channeling an avenging angel. Performances are Sept. 16 – Oct. 8.  All Performances will be at The Sellwood Masonic Lodge, located at 7126 SE Milwaukie Avenue in Portland. For tickets and additional information, visit www.lunacystageworks.org.

Bag & Baggage Productions starts off its season with Beth Henley’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play Crimes of the Heart. Performances are at the Venetian Theatre in downtown Hillsboro. The tragic-comedy about the dysfunctional McGrath sisters opens Sept. 21 — October 9.  For show times and more info, visit www.bagnbaggage.org.

Imago Theatre presents Zugzwang. Jerry
Mouawad’s fifth”Opera Beyond Words” –Sept 29 to Oct 22, Thursday, Friday & Saturday at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are available at the door or by calling Imago: 503.231.9581. Or TicketsWest.com at 503.224.8499.   When a man is left with little time to make a life altering gamble in a game of poker, he pauses the game to journey with his gang to mysterious locales and discovers the unexpected. Fifth in Mouawad series of “Opera Beyond Words” ZUGZWANG is part theater, part dance and a large part sweeping operatic movements – all without words. Visit www.ImagoTheatre.com.

BodyVox’s season begins with Horizontal Leanings, Sept. 29—Oct. 15. According to BodyVox, Horizontal Leanings distills their singular union of imagery and dance into an intimate glimpse of real-life community concerns like relationships, recycling and diminishing greenspace. Set to original music by L.A. composer Vivek Maddala and  Portland band Nu Shooz creator John Smith.  For more info, visit BodyVox.com.

Polaris Dance

Polaris Dance Theatre returns with iCHANGE at the Newmark Theatre Oct 5-7 with a fresh look at one of its most popular works - iCHANGE. Originally conceived by Polaris Artistic Director Robert Guitron as a five-part exploration of the transformative effects of human relationships over the course of a lifetime.

Visit BoxOfficeTickets.com or the PCPA Box Office. For more info visit: PolarisDance.Org or call 503-929-0791.

Portland Taiko opens their 2011 season with Beat Salad: U-Pick, a compilation of audience favorites. PT asks fans to vote online and at live performances during the coming months. Two shows only of U-Pick on Oct. 1 at 8 p.m. and Oct 2 at 2 p.m. at the Newmark Theatre, Portland Center for the Performing Arts, 1111 SW Broadway St., Portland.  For info visit www.portlandtaiko.org or call 1-800-745-3000 for tickets.

Miracle Theatre presents the ambitious and lively La Luna Nueva Festival, a celebration of Latino arts and culture  featuring music, dance, fine art and theatre, September 16 – October 1 includes:

• “Inspirational Sounds from Latin America” with Gerardo Calderón and “A Sultry Night in Latin America” with Correo Aereo. 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 17.
• The Grammy-nominated Alfredo Muro Trio and “Latin Jazz Night” and Alfredo Muro solo for “Guitarra Apasionada” (Passionate Guitar), Friday and Saturday, Sept. 23 and 24.
• Fingers dance, strings sing… ZING! “Los Dedos Bailan, Las Cuerdas Cantan” with Toshi Onizuka and guests, Sept. 30.
  

  Rebecca Martinez - Viva la Cultura!

• Family-friendly
 stories and interactive songs and dances for the kids with “Nuestros Cuentos” (Our Stories) and  a separate show called “Mexico Lindo” (Beautiful Mexico) with ¡Viva La Cultura! (Donna Oefinger, Andy Sterling and Rebecca Martinez), Sundays, 2pm on Sept. 18 and 25.
• A drama
awarded “Overall Excellence in Solo Performance” at NYC Fringe Festival: “Be Careful! The Sharks Will Eat You!” – a personal story of an amazing journey, written and performed by Jay Alvarez, Sept. 19, 20 and 21.
• A play by Caridad Svich adapted from the novel by Isabel Allende : “The House of the Spirits” / “La Casa de los Espíritus” Staged reading in English: Sept. 26
Staged reading in Spanish: Sept. 28.
• “The Evolution of Latino Hip Hop” with Latin Groove PDX Productions, Thursday, Sept. 29.
• ¡Eso! Flamenco “Travesuras” (Pranks) Flamenco dance with Ricardo Diaz and guests, Oct. 1.
• Open Mic Poetry Night, Sept. 27
• A study in contrasts — here and there, past and future Paintings by Claudio Alberto Soriano and William Hernandez, Sept. 16-Oct. 1.

For a complete schedule visit La Luna Nueva web page or call the theatre to request a brochure by mail: 503-236-7253 or visit: www.milagro.org.

Social practice is a non-traditional art form that’s all about engaging the public. But it’s more than just street theatre. Social practice art can use just about any medium, as long as it’s interactive and gives people a chance to be a part of the art.

Roy, a Street Books Patron

One artist who embodies those principles is Laura Moulton. This summer, she created Street Books, which she describes as a “bicycle-powered mobile library for people living outside.” Producer Tali Singer spent a coule weeks recording sounds and interviews of Street Books in action. Learn more at the Street Books website, where Moulton posts regular updates on her patrons. You can also make a donation, or keep up with the latest Street Book news.

Harrell Fletcher, Macon Reed, Jen Delos Reyes

Social practice art has been around for a couple of decades, but it has recently experienced a huge surge on the West Coast, especially in San Francisco where a social practice program was established at California College of the Arts. Portland also has an  art and social practice MFA program of its own at Portland State University, established in 2007. We’ll hear from Jen Delos Reyes and Harrell Fletcher, both professors for the program.

Throughout the show, producer Macon Reed will bring us the sounds of social practice. We’ll hear from singing food vendors and social practice students. And we’ll learn about the Portland Stock Dinner, a unique way Portland artists are getting funded.

Featured music composed by Todd Barton, resident composer for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Find out more about his music at ToddBarton.com.

Tali Singer has worked as an intern with Dmae Roberts since 2008. She’s now a senior at Brandeis University where she’s majoring in linguistics. After graduating, she plans to pursue a career in public radio.

Tali Singer and Jason Breedlove

This edition of Stage & Studio is Pushing Boundaries special made possible with funding from the Regional Arts & Culture Council. Pushing Boundaries is a year-long series that explores artists and arts groups pushing physical, emotional and artistic boundaries in their work.

You can hear Stage & Studio  live at the KBOO.FM or on 90.7FM live at 11am Tuesdays.

Or you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes so you don’t have to miss a show.

And always browse our archive of shows at the official Stage and Studio website

Laura Moulton

Moulton calls the project Street Books. Most of Moulton’s patrons are homeless and might not ordinarily enter a public library. Street Books gives patrons a chance to briefly escape a tough living situation. But even more than that, Street Books sets the stage for interactions that crosses socio-economic boundaries.

Producer Tali Singer with Dmae Roberts takes us to Street Books with an audio collage.  You can hear the whole Stage & Studio show here.

Tali Singer and Jason Breedlove

Be sure to check out the Street Books website, where Laura Moulton posts regular updates about her patrons.

You can also make a donation, or stay up-to-date on the latest Street Books news. Moulton plans to continue Street Books through the fall and winter.

Tali Singer has worked as an intern with Dmae Roberts since 2008. She’s now a senior at Brandeis University where she’s majoring in linguistics. After graduating, she plans to pursue a career in public radio.

This edition of Stage & Studio is Pushing Boundaries special made possible with funding from the Regional Arts & Culture Council. Pushing Boundaries is a year-long series that explores artists and arts groups pushing physical, emotional and artistic boundaries in their work.

Ben

You can hear Stage & Studio  live at the KBOO.FM or on 90.7FM live at 11am Tuesdays.

Or you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes so you don’t have to miss a show.

And always browse our archive of shows at the official Stage and Studio website

To say she will be missed is an understatement. There is a hole ripped through a universe where Carolyn connected disparate people through her art and teaching.

I first met Carolyn at her production of “White Nights” at the former Dreams Well Studio, a versatile, one-room theatre space run by Susan Banyas that could seat 40 people on a good day. Carolyn had adapted the Dostoyevsky short story of the same title. It was a small production with a great deal of whimsical movement. I was to later learn that was her signature style, magical movement with a sly smile.

Carolyn Holzman Photos by Nisa Haron

At one point the set pieces, houses constructed of a puffy quilt-like material, began to dance about the stage. I turned to the woman, a stranger, sitting next to me and whispered, “This is wonderful…” She just smiled back with a bit of a twinkle in her eyes and said quietly, “thank you.”

After that we became friends. Later we worked on my collage play “Volcano Embrace” that dealt with geology as a metaphor for violence. It was the most collaborative and cooperative experience I’ve had in theatre. That was another Carolyn Holzman trait. The six women in the play appeared onstage as well as working backstage. We took turns with light and sound cues and helped each other out when we were not onstage. We all got along and all our ideas blended into the play. Effortless and imaginative with no restrictions or boxes. That was Carolyn. All things were possible. She had an ease that inspired openness and an exchange of ideas. She would tell you what worked and what didn’t but her ability to accept the seemingly impossible kept the creativity coming.

In her early years working with Robin Lane and Do Jump Theatre or more recently when she created movement for colleagues at PSU, Carolyn brought magic to  her collaborations. Whether it was a solo performance for Do Jump as a woman in a bathtub taking a shower or her choreography of island sprites creating a storm in Bill Tate’s “The Tempest” or orchestrating a giant wooden plank seesaw to represent a large ship in Devon Allen’s “Ursula,” movement was never a separate vignette from the play.

“Movement tells a story,” Carolyn said of her choreography. In the same interview, Devon Allen told me that when Carolyn choreographed, movement became a spine of a play that “infuses the whole production.”

There’s no understanding why this bright spirit was taken but she was. I send my thoughts and prayers to her husband Chris and her family and friends.

The memorial for Carolyn Holzman took place August 12 at Holman’s Funeral Service in  Portland.  Her family shared intimate stories about her life and it was moving and inspiring. You can send private condolences or write your memories in the guest book..

You can also write your thoughts and comments about Carolyn on this page… I’ll share them with her family.

I leave you with a clip of Carolyn’s interview as she gently talks about her movement work on the play “Ursula” with Devon Allen.

I also leave you with a short movie I took at Carolyn’s party in 2009. Ever the artist, she put together an interactive “experience” which my husband Richard tried out.  She called it “Falling Backward Into Time.” If only we could, dear Carolyn…

© Dmae Roberts 2011

Michelle Fujii

First up, Dmae Roberts presents a feature story on Michelle Fujii. She’s a fourth generation Japanese-American and the artistic director of Portland Taiko, as well as a Japanese folk dancer, composer, and choreographer. Fujii is using all of those talents to push the boundaries of Japanese tradition with her solo show Choking.

The show tells the story both of Fujii’s artistic journey and of her family history through a blending of the ancient and the modern–a mixture of taiko, dance, and video. Fujii also created a gallery installation that theatre-goers can check out before the show. The installation explores Fujii’s Japanese-American identity, and the experience of her parents and grandparents being incarcerated during World War II. Click here to learn more about the performance, including ticket info and showtimes.

Catherine J.H. Miller

Next, Producer Tali Singer present a NEW piece about artist Catherine J.H. Miller, creator of an exhibition called “A Somewhat Secret Place: Disabilty and Art.” Miller is a young artist who is legally blind, but she’s been creating art her whole life. We hear about how Miller went from a doodling toddler to a graduate of the Pacific Northwest College of Art. And we visit the multidisciplinary  exhibition on disability arts pride at PRESENTspace gallery.

Joy Corcoron (left)

A Somewhat Secret Place is about far more than the gallery, though. With this project, Miller is pushing the boundaries of how we think of limitations. And she’s opening a conversation that join the worlds of disability pride and fine art. The exhibition runs through the end of July. Learn more at their website.

Highlights from the show

Michelle Fujii

“I want to not only make sure that I can be that person that can come make a century-old, two-century old dance come alive as best as I possibly can, but also to be inspired by that particular story and history to reflect myself with freedom, as well. That I can go through that artistic process of true creation.”

“One of the ways that I look at myself artistically is that as I move forward, I’m also moving backwards. It’s sort of like this ever-expanding stretch that goes in both directions. And it’s funny because I always have felt that as I go a little bit more off path, risky and riskier, then I find myself grounding and grounding and grounding, to even look farther into why was this important to have existed.”

Catherine J.H. Miller

“I didn’t grow up in the disability culture.  I went to art school since I was 11 years old. I’ve always existed in place where visual art was the words, and I wasn’t completely a visual person. Though I do see, I also don’t see as well as everyone else. So I don’t quite fit into constructs and the language. I didn’t see problem, I just thought it was very inexact for a long time. I gotta say, what a blessing it has been to find in almost an accidental circumstance, disability culture.”

“When I became aware of disability art and disability pride art, I found that in disability community, there wasn’t great attention to talking about things formally. It pointed something out to me that in a way, it was stuck in a sphere of folk art. But people like me, who have created few pieces that would be called disability pride art, I didn’t thinking it was fair, because I think artists can make work for that community. But also I thought those things could be really beneficial to all of mankind, and so I wanted to bring it into fine art dialogue and in order to do that, you have to create some sort of structure.”

You can hear Stage & Studio  live at the KBOO.FM or on 90.7FM live at 11am Tuesdays.

And tune into re-broadcasts of Stage & Studio at Portland’s Cascade Community Radio at  Radio23.org.

Or you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes so you don’t have to miss a show.

And always browse our archive of shows at the official Stage and Studio website.

Pushing Boundaries is a year-long project that explores artists and arts groups pushing physical, emotional and artistic boundaries in their work and it’s made possible with funding by the Regional Arts and Culture Council.

Joy Corcoran's artpiece

Catherine J.H. Miller at Exhibition

I love reading Lisa See’s novels because I learn so much about history. Yes, I get caught up in the characters and their individual struggles and stories but I deeply appreciate the depth of her research. It’s like having a fabulous history teacher who draws you into the big picture of nation’s falling and epic journeys but through the lens of people who end up being your personal friends.

The first Lisa See book I read was On Gold Mountain, a family history that traced the history of her great-great Grandfather, Fong See, and his journey from China to become a 100-year old patriarch of a large family in Los Angeles’ Chinatown. Since that book, See has specialized in writing novels mostly set in China.

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan is a tragic and affecting story of women’s friendships amid oppression and foot binding in 19^th century China. Two friends in different villages communicated living through a secret language or code called nu shu that only women knew. They wrote letters to each other on fans and handkerchiefs to share their deepest thoughts. The book has been made into a film, and I’m eager to see it.

Shanghai Girls follows the story of two sisters May and Pearl who escape China who escape the Shanghai during the Japanese invasion in 1937. They live through a horrific time making their way across the countryside. The book covers in detail pre-World War II Shanghai and the difficulty of immigrants who made it to America only to be imprisoned for months or years at Angel Island Immigration Station off the shore of San Francisco. The book ultimately is about the sibling rivalry and affection between the two sisters, but it leaves the reader dangling at the end. So much so, See says she had to write a sequel.

Lisa See

“Everyone asked, ‘will there be a sequel?’” says See. “That was always either the first or second question whether it was in an interview or at a bookstore event or an email.”

In response, See wrote Dreams of Joy, her latest book, which picks up with Joy, the idealistic American daughter of Pearl traveling to communist China in 1957 to find her birth father. The book is about the unconditional love of mothers for their children and in fact Pearl, the mom, follows Pearl to bring her back to America.

See refers to a line in the book, “Mothers suffer. Children do what they want” as the core of the book. “That is a Chinese aphorism.” See says. ‘I think that could be said around the world. People really kind of relate to that, and I know the things I would do to protect my kids, the sacrifices that I would make, the loyalty that I would have to them.”

What’s riveting about Dreams of Joy is the studied and painfully meticulous portrait of the starving years of the Great Leap Forward. Mao Zedong’s campaign to step up production in factories and village farm collectives in order to turn China into a modern society led to mass starvation from 1958-1961. See spent two years researching this history.

“Recent documents released by the government of China seem to suggest that it was about 45 million people over three years,” See says.  “The People’s Republic of China started in 1949. Great Leap Forwards starts in 1958. It was a new country. And they had these campaigns where sometimes it would seem like a good idea at the beginning, but they didn’t really think through the consequences.“

The government mandated poor villagers to have as many babies to create a larger workforce. Then the farmers were told to eradicate all insects, rats and sparrows. Villagers would bang on pots and pans 24 hours a day so that birds, never allowed to land, dropped from the sky from exhaustion.  With no sparrows to eat the pests, crops failed.  Whatever food they could grow was sent to the cities. That led to mass starvation in the countryside. See’s vivid details of villagers either simply lying in the roads waiting to die or eventually resorting to cannibalism still haunt me. Throughout Dreams of Joy, the main characters fight for their humanity amid the horror. When Joy makes her worst mistake—marrying a village boy who only wants to use her—Pearl tries to be supportive of her daughter at the wedding.

“Until now, I thought my daughter had made the greatest mistake possible in coming to China. But that was nothing compared to this marriage. Mothers suffer, children do what they want…” writes Lisa See in Dreams of Joy. “Brigade leader Lai says a few words: Communism is paradise. The people’s communes will take us to it. Tao and Joy, first comrades always, will help the country climb to the highest heights.”

It’s rare for me to shout out “don’t do it!” when I’m reading a novel. But I wanted to stop Joy from getting married and send her back to America. But See says Joy is “on a stubborn path.”

“I think it’s fair to say that at the beginning, she doesn’t think through the consequences,” says See.

That stubborn path reflects the same theme of the Great Leap Forward. “So much of this book is actually about not thinking through the consequences,” says See, “whether it’s on a personally level, or whether it’s on a governmental level. ”

See has started researching a new book—this time looking at Asian American “Cotton Clubs” in NYC during the 1930s. Like always, she’ll about a year at libraries, museums, university collections and oral history societies as she delves into more history. Then she’ll take another year to write a book that will make learning history an undeniable pleasure.

*Read more essays in the Dmae Writes section. Or in The Asian Reporter.

S. Renee Mitchell

S. Renee Mitchell wears her hair in beautiful, twisted strands. But it wasn’t always that way. She used to spend lots of time and money straightening her hair to conform to white ideas of beauty. She’s long since ditched the chemicals and has devoted a career to empowering people of color and inspiring self-pride.

In her newest project, Mitchell is trying to spark a conversation about our attitudes about hair and beauty. Mitchell conducted workshops at barber shops and beauty salons and created poetry that she’ll read live on Stage & Studio.

It’s all part of the Natural and Proud People Inspiration Project. The NAPPI Project explores the relationships between African-Americans and their hair. Through facilitated dialogue, social networking, and art, Mitchell is getting at bigger questions of self-esteem, marginalization, and who determines what is beauty and attractiveness. As part of the 4th annual Peace & Unity Fest, Mitchell presents “Natural Hair, Natural Living” on Saturday, August 27th at 1:30 pm, at Curious Comedy, 5225 NE MLK Jr Blvd.

Carolyn Holzman Photo by Nisa Haron

Later in the show, Dmae Roberts has a remembrance of beloved artist and teacher Carolyn Holzman. You can read Dmae’s article about Holzman here.  In her work as a director and choreographer for Portland stages and as an adjunct Professor in the theatre arts department at Portland State University, Carolyn touched many lives and was a vibrant member of Portland’s artistic community.

You can hear Stage & Studio  live at the KBOO.FM or on 90.7FM live at 11am Tuesdays. And tune into re-broadcasts of Stage & Studio at Portland’s Cascade Community Radio at  Radio23.org. Or you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes so you don’t have to miss a show. SReneeMitchell Barbarshop natural_hair_natural_living_big 103_0017

What are you really hungry for? That’s the question playwright Eugenia Woods asks in Famished, her interactive theatrical documentary. Famished explores how we relate to food, from the simple pleasures of food to the rituals and traditions behind it. Based on dozens of interviews, and evolving through audience participation, Famished covers a wide range of experiences of eating and sharing food, including food cravings and cooking for seduction.

Famished is being presented in three Portland events:

1st) as an theatrical improvisation,Wednesday, August 10, 7 pm at D-Street Noshery,3221 SE Division St.

2nd) as a community potluck August 19th at 6pm at Portland Playhouse, 602 NE Prescott Street.

3rd) and in a staged reading on Sunday, August 21st at 7 pm at the Portland Playhouse. For more information and to get tickets, check out the Famished website. The world premiere is coming in 2012.

In the latter part of the show, artist Kip Fulbeck focuses on the question, “What are you?” The award-winning photographer is the creator of an exhibit called “Part-Asian, 100% Hapa” showing at the Oregon Nikkei Center. The exhibit features Fulbeck’s portraits of “Hapa”. Used to refer to people whose mixed-race heritage includes Asian or Pacific Rim ancestry, “Hapa” comes from Hawai’ian word for “half”. Once considered a derogatory term, many have now taken ownership of “Hapa” with pride.

“Part-Asian, 100% Hapa” isshowing at the Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center through the end of this year. Come to the center on August 4th for a special lecture by Emily Momohara, Laura Kina, and Dmae Roberts.

Kip Fulbeck, artist, spoken word performer, and filmmaker,  has been featured on CNN, MTV and PBS. His books include Mixed: Portraits of Multiracial Kids and Part Asian, 100% Hapa.

You can hear Stage & Studio  live at the KBOO.FM or on 90.7FM live at 11am Tuesdays.

And tune into re-broadcasts of Stage & Studio at Portland’s Cascade Community Radio at  Radio23.org.

Or you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes so you don’t have to miss a show.

A new company called Portland Shakespeare Project is completing a well-received, sparkling production of “As You Like It” directed by Michael Mendelson with a cast that includes Darius Pierce and original music by Mary Kadderly.

Portland Shakespeare Project

The Oregonian review by Rich Wattenburg wrote ” the large very talented 21-person cast makes sure that laughs abound, even as this production illuminates the complexity and density of Shakespeare’s comic vision.” The production ends August 7th at Artists Repertory Theatre. More info at PortlandShakes.org.

The Hillsboro company Bag & Baggage and their production of “The Tempest”, a reversioned Shakespeare based on a version written in 1667 by playwrights John Dryden and William Davenant.  The Oregonian’s Marty Hughley wrote the production “takes inspiration from the libertine spirit of Restoration comedy, but also, by the looks of things, from cartoons, stoner comedies and rock’n’roll.” This production ends Aug. 13th. Check out their site at bagnbaggage.org.

The newest company running shows in August is Post5 Theatre’s offering of a free “Romeo and Juliet” at their space at Milepost 5 on SE 82^nd Ave. in Portland.  (post5theatre.com).

Portland Actors Ensemble

The longest running company is Portland Actors Ensemble’s Shakespeare in the Parks program. Since 1970, PAE has performed free Shakespeare productions in parks throughout the city. The company has trained young actors and given the community a chance to see plays in a fun festive setting. Families make an outing of it and because the company performs in a variety of neighborhoods, there’s more of a chance for this to be people’s first exposure to the Bard’s plays.

This summer the company also completed a production of “The Tempest” and are in their last weeks of performing the romantic comedy “Much Ado About Nothing” which closes at Reed College on Labor Day weekend.

The company has chosen to set the play as a cross between of Jane Austen’s novels and the film “Zorro” with appropriate swooning and swashbuckling. If you haven’t had a Shakespeare summer outing you can check out their website at portlandactors.org.

PAE will also produce “Richard III” this fall so keep checking on their venture to produce indoors as well.

Dreams of Joy is a sequel to See’s earlier novel, Shanghai Girls. The book follows the title character, 19-year-old Joy, and her mother Pearl in Communist China during a horrific time: the euphemistically-named Great Leap Forward.

Click here for a transcript of the show!

As in all of her novels, See brings the stories to life with details gleaned from her intensive eresearch. But Dreams of Joy also deals with the universal theme of the relationship between mother and daughter. As one Chinese aphorism goes, “Mothers suffer. Childen do what they want.”

Lisa See as a girl

Lisa See grew up in Los Angeles, the great-granddaughter of a patriarch of Los Angeles Chinatown, Fong See. Although she lived with her mother, who is not Chinese, she also spent a lot of time with her father’s Chinese American family. These experiences of being in between two cultures laid the groundwork for her writing later on.

Lisa See on the Great Leap Forward

Lisa See interview excerpt: “The Great Leap Forward starts in 1958. It was a new country. I think they did want to bring China up into the 20^th century. They wanted to become what they actually have become: a global economic superpower. But this was their way of trying to get there. And they had these campaigns where sometimes it would seem like a good idea at the beginning, but they didn’t really think through the consequences. […]   If you put a frog in hot water and you slowly turn it up, it doesn’t have the sense to jump out because it’s not really noticing until it’s too late. I think that’s part of what is happening here.”

Music for this program was provided by Hu-chin Player Wong On-Yuen.

Listen to Stage & Studio to hear more about the Great Leap Forward, including how the policies led to overpopulation, mass starvation, and the death of millions of Chinese.

Read a short excerpt from Dreams of Joy from the point of view of Pearl, Joy’s mother:

Lisa See reading: “ As a girl, I dreamed of my wedding. The dress, the veil, the banquet, the gifts. And none of it turned out the way I imagined. As a mother, I’ve dreamed of my daughter’s wedding. A ceremony in the Methodist church in Chinatown attended by all of our friends, Joy’s dress, my dress, the flowers, the reception at Su Qiao restaurant. But this is nothing like that either. Joy is right that there isn’t supposed to be any kind of ceremony or celebration, but as a stranger and someone who has some money to spend, I can bend the rules. Brigade leader Lai is more than happy to take a bribe, some of my special overseas Chinese certificates worth less than 20 dollars, so I can give my daughter a wedding that pays homage to the past and is still true to the new China.”

Listen to Stage & Studio to hear Lisa See read a longer passage!

See was also featured in Dmae Roberts “In The Mix” documentary about Mixed Race artists.

You can hear Stage & Studio  live at the KBOO.FM or on 90.7FM live at 11am Tuesdays.

And tune into re-broadcasts of Stage & Studio at Portland’s Cascade Community Radio at  Radio23.org.

Or you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes so you don’t have to miss a show.

And always browse our archive of shows at the official Stage and Studio website.

Simon has been playing jazz for more than 30 years and has been a Portland artist since 1978. He released a critically acclaimed CD of his original compositions and has been an in-demand musician in Portland. But the cost of the liver transplant is $500,000. Even with health coverage, his share of medical expenses and lifetime follow-up care will be be considerable. The post-transplant medications could be $2000 – $5000 a month.

Two benefits are scheduled to help out Simon:

Early photo of Mark Simon and his brother Fred.

Monday, Sept. 19 from 7 to 10 p.m. A jazz concert at The Outer Rim, 10625 NE Halsey St. in Portland. While there is no cost to attend, a $15 donation is strongly encouraged. The night will include some of Portland’s top jazz musicians, along with many special guests. For more information: contact Nadine Jones info@outerrimbicycles.com or 503-278-3235.

Sunday, Sept. 25 from 1 to 3:30 p.m. A jazz piano party at Classic Pianos, 3003 SE Milwaukie Ave. in Portland. Tickets can be purchased at the door for $20, but pre-purchase recommended. Jazz pianists Tom Grant, Tony Pacini, Peter Boe and Mark Simon will take turns playing with legendary drummer Mel Brown. Ed Bennet and Tim Gilson will be on-hand to share bass duties. For tickets, visit www.ticketsoregon.com or call 503-432-9477. For more information: contact Peggy Zackery at 503-239-9969 or pzackery@classicportland.com.

To make donations in honor of Simon, visit www.transplants.org and click on “Patients We Help” to search for him. After clicking Donate Today, please be sure to type Simon’s name in the section indicating that your gift is in honor of an NFT patient.

Mailing address for contributions:

NFT Oregon Transplant Fund, 5350 Poplar Avenue, Suite 430, Memphis, TN 38119.

Be sure to write “in honor of Mark Simon” in the subject line.

The first book Heck: Where the Bad Kids Go book follows Milton and Marlo Fauster, a brother and sister who get sent to Heck after a fatal marshmallow bear explosion. The books follow them as they make their way through the otherwordly reform school that is Heck.

In Fibble: The Fourth Circle of Heck, Milton and Marlo find that they’ve switched places. It’s currently available at Random House. His next book Snivel: The Fifth Circle of Heck comes out in May.

Dale E. Basye

Basye got the idea for writing the Heck series when a friend of his was working on a mockumentary about the devil, and Basye decided he wanted to write about hell for children.

As a kid, Basye hated school. But he found a deep love for writing, and was encouraged by teachers who helped him foster his imagination.

His Heck includes:

Heck: Where the Bad Kids Go (Circles of Heck)

Rapacia: The Second Circle of Heck

Blimpo: The Third Circle of Heck

Fibble: The Fourth Circle of Heck

Highlights from the Show

On Milton & Marlo

Dale E. Basye

“Milton and Marlo are kind of my two selves. Milton is the overly cautious, almost crippled with, “oh, is this the right thing to do?”, kind of afraid to really engage life. And Marlo is the impulse-challenged goth who maybe talks faster than she thinks. If you fuse them both together—well, that would be really be messy. But if you psychologically fuse them together, then they’d probably be me.”

On Getting Published

“I had this idea. I thought, I’ll go to this conference [the Willamette Writers Conference] where you can actually pitch your idea to a real live New York editor, and then once she turns me down I can take that experience and work with that, because I have kind of poor self-esteem. But I went there, and much to my surprise she was really interested. And then I had to actually do the work of following through with my pitch, my trailer for Heck.”

On Lessons from Heck

“Like many kids, when they go to school, feel like they’ve been wronged in some way. And a lot of the kids turn against each other because they are sort of confused by what’s going on. So I’m hoping that not only as Milton and Marlo make their way through the circles of Heck, they not only learn about themselves, but they also learn that other kids are not the enemy, that the enemy is a bureaucracy that doesn’t really hear them or serve them.”

You can hear Stage & Studio  live at the KBOO.FM or on 90.7FM live at 11am Tuesdays.

And tune into re-broadcasts of Stage & Studio at Portland’s Cascade Community Radio at  Radio23.org.

Or you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes so you don’t have to miss a show.

And always browse our archive of shows at the official Stage and Studio website.

Kirkpatrick talks about the research and process of writing an historic novel and reads an excerpt from her book. She lives in Central Oregon and considers herself a writer inspired by the landscape. She tells us about how she approached the real life events in “The Daughter’s Walk” to focus on Clara Etsby who journeyed with her mother on the 3600-mile trek only to come to a 20-year estrangement from her family. The young woman goes on to become a successful business woman and carves out an earl feminist path for herself.

Dmae talked with Kirkpatrick at Warner Pacific College before she spoke at the Women’s Tea. To find out where you might hear her read visit her website.

Exerpt from “The Daughter’s Walk” by Jane Kirkpatrick:

“It began on an April morning in 1896, inside our Mica Creek farmhouse in the rolling Palouse Hills of eastern Washington State, when my mother informed me that we would be walking from Spokane to New York City. Walking, mind you, when there were perfectly good trains a person could take. Walking—nearly four thousand miles to earn ten thousand dollars that would save our farm from foreclosure. Also to prove that a woman had stamina.

Also to wear the new reform dress and show the freedom such garments offered busy,active, sturdy women.

Freedom. The only merit I saw in the shorter skirts and absence of corsets was that we could run faster from people chasing us for being foolish enough to embark on such a trek across the country, two women, alone.

We were also making this journey to keep me “from making a terrible mistake,” Mama told me. I was nineteen years old and able to make my own decisions, or so I thought. But not this one.

Mama stood stiff as a wagon tongue, her back to my father and me, drinking a cup of coffee that steamed the window. I could see my brother Olaf outside, moving the sheep to another field with the help of Sailor, our dog, dots of white like swirling cotton fluffs bounding over an ocean of green. Such a bucolic scene about to reveal hidden rocks beneath it.

“We are going to walk to New York City, Clara, you and I.”

You can hear Stage & Studio  live at the KBOO.FM or on 90.7FM live at 11am Tuesdays.

And tune into re-broadcasts of Stage & Studio at Portland’s Cascade Community Radio at  Radio23.org.

Or you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes so you don’t have to miss a show.

And always browse our archive of shows at the official Stage and Studio website

Rose Bond

Rose Bond is an award-winning artist whose work straddles the lines between animation, art and architecture. She has created several large-scale, site-specific installations, as well as a number of films.

Her work challenges people to think about how they perceive time, space, and memory. Bond is an associate professor at the Pacific Northwest College of Art in Contemporary Animated Art.

DripDrop 'Pre-Nostalgic'

DripDrop is a multi-media trio made up of Thornton C. Wilson, Todd Tawd, and Daniela Repas.

Their newest large-scale multi-media installation, Pre-Nostalgic, runs July 22-25 in the historic RJ Templeton building at 230 E Burnside.  It combines sound, sculpture, and animation to create an emotionally charged narrative.

Listen to Stage & Studio to learn more about Rose Bond, Boundary Crossings, DripDrop, and Pre-Nostalgic. Hear how animation and installation art are intersecting and changing both worlds!

You can hear Stage & Studio  live at the KBOO.FM or on 90.7FM live at 11am Tuesdays.

And tune into re-broadcasts of Stage & Studio at Portland’s Cascade Community Radio at  Radio23.org.

Or you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes so you don’t have to miss a show.

And always browse our archive of shows at the official Stage and Studio website.

Host Dmae Roberts presents a feature story by Tali Singer about  ’A Somewhat Secret Place’ an exhibition of art, literature and performance curated and created by artist Catherine J. H. Miller.

Producer Tali Singer worked with Dmae Roberts to bring this profile of Miller and her project that combines art and awareness to create disability pride art in Portland.

Catherine J.H. Miller

Miller who is legally blind has broken barriers to her work as an artist and now she hopes to inspire conversations about disability culture and the fine art world. This show is part of our Pushing Boundaries series.

‘A Somewhat Secret Place’ Exhibition is presented the entire month of July at PRESENTspace located 939 NW Glisan, PDX, 97209 (Enter on 10th Avenue.) Hours  M-Sat 11am – 5pm.

Find more info at: ‘A Somewhat Secret Place’ blog.

The show opens July 7th with First Thursday and the grand opening is July 9th starting with a writing workshop by Write Around Portland. The evening includes readings and performances.

Pushing Boundaries is a year-long project that explores artists and arts groups pushing physical, emotional and artistic boundaries in their work and it’s made possible with funding by the Regional Arts and Culture Council.

Also featured is poet A. Molotkov with another Writers Read contribution from his CD of sound poetry “Can You Stay Forever?”

A. Molotkov

A. Molotkov is a writer, composer, filmmaker and visual artist.  Born in St. Petersburg, he moved to the U.S. in 1990 and switched to writing in English in 1993.  He is the author of several novels, short story and poetry collections and the winner of the 2011 Boone’s Dock Press poetry chapbook contest for his upcoming “True Stories from the Future”.   His credits also include the 2010 New Millennium Writings and 2008 E. M. Koeppel Fiction Awards, and a Pushcart nomination.  Molotkov’s work has appeared in over 50 publications, both in print and online.  Visit him at www.AMolotkov.com.

Join us for the special edition of Stage & Studio .

You can hear Stage & Studio  live at the KBOO.FM or on 90.7FM live at 11am Tuesdays.

And tune into re-broadcasts of Stage & Studio at Portland’s Cascade Community Radio at  Radio23.org.

Or you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes so you don’t have to miss a show.

And always browse our archive of shows at the official Stage and Studio website.

Lawrence Johnson

When Lawrence Johnson’s dad died, he inherited his dad’s stuff–a garage-sized storage unit’s worth of stuff. As his film Stuff unfolds, Johnson explores his relationship with his father through as he sorts through the things his father left behind.

At the same time, Johnson’s friend Phil is also dealing with the death of his father. The film follows Phil’s journey to Iowa to bury his father’s ashes. As both men evaluate their relationships with their fathers, they also turn inward to evaluate themselves.

Lawrence Johnson

Stuff combines live action documentary with inventive animation to tell the story of the complex and often difficult relationships between fathers and sons.

See a clip from Stuff and read more about the film at Stuffthefilm.com.

Johnson’s film is showing at Living Room Theaters starting June 17th.

Leanne Grabel

Leanne Grabel is a poet, author, columnist, and spoken-word artist. Grabel combines her original music with her poetry performances and presents one of her works for Stage & Studio.

Her new memoir, Brontosaurus, is coming out this summer.

Grabel is also a teacher at the Rosemont Rehabilitation Center and School, and she’s currently working on a performance piece called “24 badgirls” based on her time at Rosemont.

Lawrence Johnson's father

You can hear Stage & Studio  live at the KBOO.FM or on 90.7FM live at 11am Tuesdays.

And tune into re-broadcasts of Stage & Studio at Portland’s Cascade Community Radio at  Radio23.org.

Or you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes so you don’t have to miss a show.

And always browse our archive of shows at the official Stage and Studio website.

See the trailer for Stuff the film.

Daddy passed away in his sleep one afternoon, alone and without causing us any trouble.  He had been sick for a week with one of his frequent colds that turned into bronchitis during which he continued the two pack a day smoking habit he could never kick.

“Alive and kickin’.”

That was his motto whenever you asked him about his health, which as an overweight smoker with high blood pressure was not good. I knew the moment he died.  It was 4pm on a sunny day in March of 1981, and I was visiting friends and laughing. I looked at the clock and then at the sunlight streaming through a curtained window. I felt my knees weaken, leaned against the wall and felt dark inside.  That night, my boyfriend and I went to have dinner with my mom.  Daddy was supposed to join us. My parents had divorced two years earlier. Though their relationship was strained at best, he still sometimes joined us for dinner.

Bobby S. Roberts

When he didn’t show up at my mom’s house, my boyfriend and I drove to his apartment to find the front door unlocked. I called out…Daddy? My voice echoed hollow in the cold, sparsely furnished living room. We knocked on the neighbor’s door but no one was home. Setting a neatly wrapped foil packet of food on his kitchen counter, I wrote a note on the back of a receipt:

Missed you at dinner. Brought you some pizza. Call me

….Love D.

Daddy and I had argued a week before over paying him $300 for a car I thought he had gifted me.  He had a bad cold that was aggravated by his emphysema from smoking. He insisted that I pay him the money and it made me so mad, I hadn’t talked to him before the family dinner. When he still hadn’t called me back after I left the note for him, I worried. Guilt took over and I couldn’t sleep.

Ma phoned me later in the middle of the night. Daddy’s neighbor had taken him to the emergency room when he couldn’t breathe.

“You daddy dead!” my mom cried out.

Her words hit me in the gut and I bowled over in pain. I wept that night till I was dry and empty. My dad was only 46 years old.

Ma was too grief-stricken to handle the funeral arrangements. At 21 years of age, I picked out my father’s burial suit and made sure his glasses fit correctly at the angle he wore them. Inside the casket of blue I chose for him, he looked like he was sleeping atop white silk. I talked a Baptist minister into speaking at his graveside service even though he didn’t know my father who had been a regretful Southern Baptist backslider for decades.  It surprised me how many of my father’s friends came to the service. Emotionless, I thanked everyone for coming.

After the funeral, I cleaned out Daddy’s apartment and got rid of his furniture and appliances.  In his wallet he kept childhood photos of my brother and me and an IOU for $200 from a friend who owned the second-hand store in town.  His bed stand had dozens of cigarette burns next to the ashtray, and the drawer was full of methamphetamine samples he got from his doctor to help him lose the decades long beach ball belly he could never rid. I sifted through odd clues about a man I didn’t really know. While cleaning out his bare apartment, it hit me that he had asked me for that $300 because he needed it.  And I hadn’t known.

Through the decades since his death, I often wonder what he would have thought of my career and of what I’ve done with my life. My mom couldn’t read and had little formal education. She never understood my radio pieces or my love of theatre. It was all “talky talky” for her. My father inspired my writing and my desire to be on stage when he gave me a used collection of 20^th century plays that included “The Glass Menagerie” by Tennessee Williams and “Anna Christie” by Eugene O’Neil.

Daddy understood why I wanted to be an actor and a writer. He attended my plays even though he called it “play acting” and he always complimented my writing when I let him read it. I never knew I wanted to be a writer till I was in sixth grade, and let him read a poem the teacher had assigned with the title “What is Gold?” I remember how easy it was to write some rhyming lines about what gold looked and felt like to me. I compared the color to a flower, coins and sunshine. My father beamed at me, scaring me a little:

“I’m sending that to the newspaper so they can print it!” he declared.

Every Father’s Day, I regret the last words spoken between us were in quiet anger. I choose to remember the time he sent me flowers backstage to my first college play. Somehow he knew the theatre phrase for good luck and wrote on a note:

“Break a leg… Love, Daddy…”

*This is an excerpt from Dmae Roberts’ memoir “Lady Buddha and the Temple of Ma”  More info at: dmaeroberts.com

*Read more essays in the Dmae Writes section.

Imago Theatre’s Zugzwang is described as part theatre and part dance. This wordless opera centers on a man making a life-altering decision while playing poker. That man is performed by Gregg Bielemeier (pictured left), long-time dancer who’s performed all over Europe and the West Coast. He’s currently on the faculty at Conduit Dance.

Also featured in the show is Portland dancer Catherine Egan (pictured left) who is choreographing a piece for the Richard Foreman Mini-Festival on Oct. 8 and 9 at Performance Works NW.

Zugzwang runs Sept. 29 – Oct. 22 at Imago Theatre located at 17 SE 8th Ave. in Portland. For more info call (503) 231-581.

August: Osage County ensemble/ Photo courtesy of OSF

We’ll also hear from Amy Richard, the Media & Communication Manager at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. We’ll find out how OSF averted disaster when a beam broke at the mainstage Bowmer Theatre this summer. OSF quickly mobilized and performed productions in tents and other venues in Ashland and Medford. Though the company lost over $2 million in revenue, it managed to keep producing great theatre.

OSF’s season runs till Nov. 6 in Ashland. (Photo: Bill Geisslinger, Robynn Rodriguez, Brent Hinkley, Terri MacMahon, Judith-Marie Bergan, Catherine E. Coulson,  Kate Mulligan, Tony DeBruno & Jeffrey King.)

You can hear Stage & Studio  live at the KBOO.FM or on 90.7FM live at 11am Tuesdays.

And tune into re-broadcasts of Stage & Studio at Portland’s Cascade Community Radio at  Radio23.org.

Or you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes so you don’t have to miss a show.

And always browse our archive of shows at the official Stage and Studio website.

This is an encore edition, originally aired March 15th, 2011.

(Photo Left: Peter Macon & Mark Murphey – OSF’s “To Kill A Mockingbird”)

Peter Macon in To Kill a Mockingbird at OSF

Peter Macon has been acting with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival since 2008. He’s portrayed Othello and his favorite role Macbeth. This season he’s in The African Company Presents Richard III, but currently he’s portraying Tom Robinson in To Kill a Mockingbird--the show runs through July 18th.

Macon and Roberts discuss the racial issues that the play raises. Of Tom’s relationship with Mayella, the white woman Tom is accused of raping, Macon says, “by virtue of them being friends, they’re breaking the law of the South in a such a profound way. But it needed to be broken.”

Macon also shares a bit of his family history. His great-grandfather married a white woman in Alabama and both were chased out of town on horseback. Macon describes how that history impacted his portrayal of Tom Robinson.

This interview features music from ‘Mockingbird’ composed by Rob Milburn and Michael Bodeen.  The ending of the show features music from ‘The Language Archive’ by OSF resident composer, Todd Barton, whose music is available at ToddBarton.com.

Brian Lindstrom

In the second part of the show: Filmmaker Brian Lindstrom who makes films about people he says we put an ex through: ex-cons, people with long histories of drug addiction, mental illness, and homelessness. He uses his films to start conversations because he believes that when we witness another’s story, we can become invested in their lives. Lindstrom is currently working on Alien Boy, a documentary about James Chasse, whose death in the custody of Portland law enforcement officers in 2006 caused an outcry about civil rights and interactions between police and the mentally ill.

Portait of Jim Chasse for "Alien Boy"

Producer Macon Reed speaks with Lindstrom about Alien Boy in the year-long Stage and Studio series “Pushing Boundaries” that profiles artists and organizations pushing physical, emotional, and artistic boundaries in their work.

This series is funded by the Regional Arts and Culture Council.

Macon Reed is a graduate of the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies, where she studied radio documentary production. She recently came back to Oregon after traveling throughout the country with her students as a documentary instructor at the Brown Ledge Gap Year Program.

You can hear Stage & Studio at the KBOO website or on 90.7FM live at 11am Tuesdays.

And tune into re-broadcasts of Stage & Studio at Portland’s Cascade Community Radio at  Radio23.org.

Or you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes so you don’t have to miss a show.

And always browse our archive of shows at the official Stage and Studio website

Lately, Grabel has been teaching full-time at the Rosemont Rehabiliation Center and School. Grabel’s memoir, Brontosaurus, will be published this summer by Quiet Lion Press. And look out for her performance piece, “24 badgirls”, based on her experiences at Rosemont.

In this Writers Read segment, Leanne Grabel performs ‘Kristi’, a piece inspired by one of her students.

Record and send us your own 1-2 minute Writers Read OR see our archive of Northwest Writers reading their own work.

You can hear Stage & Studio  live at the KBOO.FM or on 90.7FM live at 11am Tuesdays.

Or you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes so you don’t have to miss a show.

And always browse our archive of shows at the official Stage and Studio website.

BaseRoots Theatre, talks about their show, My Soul Grown Deep which explores 300 years of African-American poetry, from Phyllis Wheatley to Saul Williams to local poets. The title of their show comes from Hughes’ poem, The Negro Speaks of Rivers.

My Soul Grown Deep is filled to the brim with 26 different poems performed by the actors. Choosing poems was a challenge, according to director Bobby Bermea. The group had to “throw out gold.”

Bobby Bermea, James Dixon, Anya Pearson & Brenda Phillips

Speaking about the experience of performing African-American poetry, Brenda Phillips says, “it’s important that people know that this by us, from us, and we are doing it.”

Still, My Soul Grown Deep has something for all communities. “This is just the pallete that we choose to work with to inspire and excite the greater community as a whole,” explains Bermea. “We want everybody to come see it. We want everyone to be touched and moved,” he adds.

The actors perform two poems during this interview: one  written by Brenda Phillips, and one by famed poet Nikki Giovanni.

Performances are May 26 – June 4. For more info visit BaseRootsTheatre.org.

Then we hear a two-minute reading by Michelle Rae Anderson. She calls herself a “experiential author, media ecologist, and pie-maker.”

Michelle Rae Anderson

Since July 2009, Anderson has been unraveling her semi-autobiographical book, The Miracle in July, as a “first draft” web serial. In this week’s show, Anderson will read an excerpt from the series. The book is due to be published later this year, and Anderson’s future plans include a “making-of” series, movie script, podcast with dramatic readings from the book, and more.

This segment features music by Portland composer David Ornette Cherry. His music can be heard at DavidOrnetteCherry.com.

Record and send us your own 1-2 minute Writers Read OR see our archive of Northwest Writers reading their own work.

You can hear Stage & Studio  live at the KBOO.FM or on 90.7FM live at 11am Tuesdays.

Or you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes so you don’t have to miss a show.

And always browse our archive of shows at the official Stage and Studio website.

The refugees who came to America were Vietnamese, Cambodian, Laotian and the ethnic minorities from Laos—the Mien and Hmong.  Most had fought on the same side and helped the US military in the war in Vietnam.  The Mien and Hmong— the rural people in Laos—were particularly vulnerable for helping the CIA with covert operations.  Staying in Laos was not an option.

By 1979, there were almost 62,000 Vietnamese in refugee camps.  More than 140-thousand people displaced from Cambodia and Laos joined them. Oregon and Washington State had the fifth largest population of South East Asian refugees in the country.  The Portland School district was one of the first to figure out how work with South East Asian youth coming to their schools.  The 1.5 generation—those who came to this country at a young age—learned quickly, mastering language and writing skills before their first generation parents.  Now they own businesses and are community leaders in Portland.

This half-hour documentary is an excerpt  from the Peabody-award-winning Crossing East series hosted by Margaret Cho. The eight-hour series was broadcast on more than 230 stations across the country. To hear the complete one-hour documentary on refugees or to purchase downloads and CDs of the entire Crossing East series, visit the MediaRites Store.

See a short video about the refugee experience:

Acknowledgements:

The Van Lang Vietnamese School in Portland, Quy and Tien Nguyen, Ly Chheng Tang, Long San Tzeo, Farm Yoon Lee, Lee Po Cha, Khanthaly Thammavong, Sokhum Tauch, Kilong Ung, Kim Nguyen, Daran Kravanh.

Produced by Dmae Roberts with interviews by Anne Morrin and Associate Producer Sara Casswell Kolbet, Editor: Catherine Stifter, Engineer: Clark Salisbury.

Made possible by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Regional Arts and Culture Council, Oregon Arts Commission, Collins Foundation, Templeton Foudnation and the Autzen Foundation.

Visit CrossingEast.org for more information on the series.

You can hear Stage & Studio  live at the KBOO.FM or on 90.7FM live at 11am Tuesdays.

Or you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes so you don’t have to miss a show.

And always browse our archive of shows at the official Stage and Studio website.

Writers Read 7

Since July 2009, Anderson has been unraveling her semi-autobiographical book, The Miracle in July, as a “first draft” web serial. In this week’s show, Anderson will read an excerpt from the series. The book is due to be published later this year, and Anderson’s future plans include a “making-of” series, movie script, podcast with dramatic readings from the book, and more.

This segment features music by Portland composer David Ornette Cherry. His music can be heard at DavidOrnetteCherry.com.

Record and send us your own 1-2 minute Writers Read OR see our archive of Northwest Writers reading their own work.

You can hear Stage & Studio  live at the KBOO.FM or on 90.7FM live at 11am Tuesdays.

Or you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes so you don’t have to miss a show.

And always browse our archive of shows at the official Stage and Studio website.

*Originally published in The Asian Reporter.  Read more essays in the Dmae Writes section.

When I produced Mei Mei: A Daughter’s Song, my autobiographical radio documentary, the marketing people at the network described it as the story of an “American-born daughter and her foreign born mother.” I had told them that I was born in Taiwan as was my mother. I even mentioned it in the radio piece, yet the marketers still insisted on that description.

It was 1989, and I had only begun to think about identity. It didn’t occur to me to fight for the right terminology. In those days, I didn’t know what to call myself and in many ways still don’t. After decades of trying to find an easy name for my identity, it’s dawning on me that I will never belong to any one group. Nothing will quite fit.

The struggle for acceptance isn’t unique to people of color. Most of us share that need to be part of some community. For people of color raised in isolation from others who might seem similar, it becomes a challenge to find that acceptance.

Throughout junior high and high school, I didn’t want to call attention to my race. I wanted to fit in at my all-white school in the little Oregon town. I didn’t want to be different, and I didn’t advertise my mom’s race. I never denied my background; it was simply easier not to mention it. Since I was a good student, it was rare that anyone at school wanted to see my parents. It was all about fitting in as much as possible and trying to feel accepted.

At 14, a family friend called me Eurasian. That seemed exotic and appealed to my Masterpiece Theatre phase. Then I saw some old 50s and 60s movies with Shirley McClaine and Jennifer Jones who were supposed to be Eurasian. I didn’t look like either of them, so I tossed out that term.

All through the 80s, I was a collection of “halves”—half Chinese, half white, half Taiwanese or half Okie (like my dad). I jokingly said I was a half-breed when the Cher song became popular. That caused strange looks. I once called myself half-Oriental till an Asian college professor told me that it was the language of the imperialists. The mysterious Orient versus the normal Occidental, I was happy to chuck “Oriental”—made me think of rugs anyway not people.

Then someone called me hapa, a Hawaiian word for “half.” It seemed… “happy.” The name now makes me a uncomfortable at times. I learned that many Native Hawaiians don’t really like how Asians have appropriated it. So while a fun name, it still doesn’t feel exactly right.

In the 90s, names abounded with pride for Asian Americans. Each ethnicity had a name usually hyphenated with “American.” I used biracial and multiracial , and then I met Velina Hasu Houston a playwright and professor at University of California-Santa Monica who introduced the word Amerasian to me. I thought that was a name for solely for orphans from Vietnam.

Houston told me the term “Amerasian” was actually coined by the writer, Pearl S. Buck. During her years in China, Buck created this term because she encountered children who were of Japanese or Korean American ancestry orphaned after World War II and the Korean War.

In the 21st century, the term mixed race has become popular. I resisted this at first because of past associations with the concept of purity and multiracial people being called mutts or confused and mixed up. But in the last few years, I’ve used mixed-race interchanged with multiracial but I usually add Asian or to be more specific, Taiwanese.

The latest popular term is multiethnic which seems to be gaining ground and often replaces mixed-race or multiracial as a racial category on school forms. Multiethnic can refer to people of multiple races and ethnicities. At first this seemed like a possibility, but then the term might also include ethnic rather than racial heritage. I wonder if this inclusion dilutes individual cultures to the point of non-identification. How much does ethnic include? Jewish, Italian, Greek and Swedish?  Multiethnic as a name seems too undefined and non-specific to me.

I believe names for racial and cultural identity will continue to undergo changes and reconsideration. This fluidity is often confusing to mono-racial people. That’s a term Velina Hasu Houston uses when describing people who identify only one race.

I will continue to try on different names for myself. Sometimes I’ll be multiracial or mixed-race or biracial or when I feel playful, hapa. And sometimes I’ll just call myself plain Asian and prepare for the questioning looks. No matter what I call myself, it’s always a point of discussion and explanation. And I’ll continue to look for a name and find comfort that someday there will be one that will fit just right.

*Much of this is essay drawn from Dmae’s radio documentary Secret Asian Woman at dmaeroberts.com/radio

Ing ‘Doc’ Hay-Frontier Herbalist documentary tells the unusual and significant story of Doc Hay and his business partner and friend Lung On who ran the Kam Wah Chung store and medical practice in a small Eastern Oregon town shortly after the Gold Rush and into the 1950’s. Unlike other parts of the country where lynchings and massacres of Chinese immigrants were the norm, these two men were respected members of the community and are still remembered by John Day residents. For more information on the Kam Wah Chung, visit the Oregon State Parks Trust.

Acknowledgements: Host George Takei, Professor Jeffrey Barlow, Professor Judy Yung, Ronald Takaki, Caretaker Carolyn Micnheimer, descendent Ed Wah, resident Thelma Kite.

Actors: Sam A Mowry, Andres Alcala, Chung So &  Jim Chan. Music by Cantonese Folk Music Society of San Francisco and  by Wong On Yuen.

Produced by Dmae Roberts Associate Producer Sara Casswell Kolbet, Editor: Catherine Stifter, Engineer: Clark Salisbury.

Ing ‘Doc’ Hay-Frontier Herbalisty was funded by the Oregon Council for the Humanities, the Regional Arts and Culture Council and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Visit CrossingEast.org for more information on the series.

See a short video about Ing ‘Doc’ Hay and the Kam Wah Chung.

As a special program for Asian Pacific American Heritage month, Dmae Roberts presents her 1990 Peabody award-winning documentary“Mei Mei, A Daughter’s Song“ This memoir docu-theatre piece is the personal story of cross-cultural and cross-generational conflict produced by Dmae Roberts.

“Mei Mei”chronicles Dmae and her mother, Chu-Yin, as they travel to Taiwan together.

Interviews and dramatizations weave in and out to tell the story of a conflicted daughter and a moth

er who suffered abuse, starvation and the horrors of World War Two. “Mei Mei has been broadcast on NPR, the BBC, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

In 1991, Dmae adapted the radio piece into a stage play at the Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center theatre in Portland.

Writers Read 6

Laurence Overmire began his career as an actor, studying theatre throughout college and graduate school. He has acted in New York, Hollywood, and elsewhere across the country, taking on everything from Shakespeare to soap operas. Overmire turned to poetry to create what he calls “a diary in art”. In his poetry, Overmire says he aims to take on many voices and styles, and to write accessibly, yet deeply. You can purchase “Gone Hollywood” online from Indelible Mark Publishing.

Click here for more Writers Read. Find out how you can submit your own Writers Read segment. Submissions are open during 2011!

You can hear Stage & Studio  live at the KBOO.FM or on 90.7FM live at 11am Tuesdays.

Or you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes so you don’t have to miss a show.

And always browse our archive of shows at the official Stage and Studio website.

Hand2Mouth

Hand2Mouth at Rehearsal

“Uncanny Valley” is playing at Artist Repertory Theatre through Sunday, May 22. Click here to buy tickets. Hand2Mouth has been creating original and interactive theatre since founded in 2000 by Jonathan Walters. Each performance, like “Uncanny Valley”, go through a laborious process of chiseling a script from many hours of improvisation. Learn more about the company and how you can participate in their programming by going to their website.

Pushing Boundaries is a year-long project that explores artists and arts groups pushing physical, emotional and artistic boundaries in their work and it’s made possible with funding by the Regional Arts and Culture Council.

You can hear Stage & Studio  live at the KBOO.FM or on 90.7FM live at 11am Tuesdays.

Or you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes so you don’t have to miss a show.

And always browse our archive of shows at the official Stage and Studio website.

Please support arts coverage and  make your membership donation to KBOO today!

Hand2Mouth in Rehearsal

First up, a new feature in the year long Pushing Boundaries series. Dmae profiles Hand2Mouth and their new show “Uncanny Valley”. We sit in on one of their rehearsals, and hear from director Jonathan Walters, performer Faith Helma and dramaturg Alex Huebsch. They tell us about how they created a play from scratch during a year of rehearsals and creation, from hours and hours of improv at the beginning, to the finished show they have now. And they talk about how they make memories come alive.

Dralion

Next, we chat backstage with Esther Daack, a former  Portlander who’s now touring with Cirque du Soleil’s “Dralion”, which will be coming to Portland next month. The show mixes dragon and lion, East and West. The shows includes Chinese acrobatics, along with their usual multidisciplinary style.

Laurence Overmire

Finally, we have the latest installment of Writers Read. Laurence Overmire reads “An Actor Prepared”, a poem from his new book, “Gone Hollywood”. He’s a former professional actor and now poet. Overmire’s book was released Saturday, May 14 at 6 pm the Singer Hill Cafe.  This segment also features music by Todd Barton, resident composer for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Barton composed the music for OSF’s Language Archive.

Pushing Boundaries is a year-long project that explores artists and arts groups pushing physical, emotional and artistic boundaries in their work and it’s made possible with funding by the Regional Arts and Culture Council.

You can hear Stage & Studio  live at the KBOO.FM or on 90.7FM live at 11am Tuesdays.

Or you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes so you don’t have to miss a show.

And always browse our archive of shows at the official Stage and Studio website.

Harrell Fletcher, Macon Reed & Jen Delos Reyes

We hear about the upcoming Open Engagement conference at PSU which will feature dozens of artists tackling subjects like democracy, group work and crossing disciplines. The conference takes place May 13-15 and is free.

Macon Reed brings us sounds of social practice throughout the show.  Artist  Lexa Walsh takes us to local food cart vendors and asks them to create a song with her. Walsh will present these songs at the Open Engagement Conference.

Lexa Walsh and her food cart songs project

Macon also talks with Walsh and Jillian Punksa of the Portland Art Museum about the annual Shine a Light program. One night a year, Social Practice students present interactive programming aimed at engaging visitors who wouldn’t typically go to the art museum.

Also students in the Social Practice program recording and asking their parents to define social practice.

Finally, Macon visits a Portland Stock Dinner. These dinners provide artists with a unique way to get funding. Diners pay $10 to attend and each votes for his or her favorite project among a competing group.

Listen to this engaging talk about how the very definition of art is changing with Social Practice to become more interractive, community-oriented and multidisciplinary. And find out more about a name for an artform that creates a home for a lot of genres and ways to create art.

'Shine A Light' at Portland Art Museum

Pushing Boundaries is a year-long project that explores artists and arts groups pushing physical, emotional and artistic boundaries in their work and it’s made possible with funding by the Regional Arts and Culture Council.

Macon Reed has been a production mentee with Dmae Roberts for four months. She is a graduate of the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies, where she studied radio documentary production. She recently came back to Oregon after traveling throughout the country with her students as a documentary instructor at the Brown Ledge Gap Year Program.

You can hear Stage & Studio  live at the KBOO.FM or on 90.7FM live at 11am Tuesdays.

Or you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes so you don’t have to miss a show.

And always browse our archive of shows at the official Stage and Studio website raccCOLORvertical-150x150 LexaWalshfoodcart Registration and Library SAL_2010_050-1 HarrellFletcher_MaconReed_JenDelosReyes SAL_2010_072 WakeUp copy LexaWalshfoodcart2

Suzanne Kenney

In the second Pushing Boundaries feature piece, Producer Macon Reed presents this sound collage of Pendulum Aerial Arts with artistic director Suzanne Kenney.

Founded in 2000, Pendulum’s innovative performances blend dance, drama, and storytelling with a circus flair. This group pushes the boundaries of dance and circus art with original work that defies gravity.

Pendulum Aerial Arts

Pendulum is both a performance company and a school. The company is made up of a core members, guest artists, and apprentices whose work crosses a variety of styles, from vaudeville to contemporary.

‘They have several shows in April including hands-on at their Second Annual Community Day and Student Showcase on Sunday April 17.

Pendulum presents a full show, “In the Studio”,  on Saturday April 22 and 23. It features new works by company members. Both events are at the French American International School. Learn more at the Pendulum website.

Pushing Boundaries is a year-long project that explores artists and arts groups pushing physical, emotional and artistic boundaries in their work and it’s made possible with funding by the Regional Arts and Culture Council.

Macon Reed is a graduate of the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies, where she studied radio documentary production. She recently came back to Oregon after traveling throughout the country with her students as a documentary instructor at the Brown Ledge Gap Year Program.

Macon Reed

Murray is an enrolled Osage Indian, whose work focuses on people finding home within multiple cultures. She’s come to know the River and its history through her 1stgeneration Norwegian-American husband. A poem and photo-essay reflecting life on the Lower River was published in American Ghost, edited by Lillien Waller for Stockport Flats, 2011.

Ruby Murray

This piece is called Test Fishing For Salmon 2010. Music was provided by Portland Taiko from their Making Waves CD.

Find out how you can submit your own Writers Read segment. Submissions are open during 2011!

You can hear Stage & Studio at the KBOO website or on 90.7FM live at 11am Tuesdays.

Or you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes so you don’t have to miss a show.

And always browse our archive of shows at the official Stage and Studio website

Also featured is music by Portland Pianist and Cynthia Stillman Gerdes from her new CD “Solo and Chamber Music” which debuts in a concert  on April 22ND AT 7:30 PM at the Reedwood Friends Church located at 2901 Steele St. in Portland.

Find out how you can submit your own Writers Read segment. Submissions are open during 2011!

You can hear Stage & Studio at the KBOO websiteor on 90.7FM live at 11am Tuesdays.

Or you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes so you don’t have to miss a show.

And always browse our archive of shows at the official Stage and Studio website

LISTEN TO THE SHOW:

Secret Asian Woman

Highlights from the show

• Being mixed race can mean being a bridge walker. Rainjita Yang Geesler was often in the middle, acting as the peacekeeper between two cultures.
  
• Listen in as Patty Duncan and Dmae talk about the 1957 film Sayonara, in which a soldier falls in love with an Asian woman.  Both wince as they remember a scene where the woman gets eyelid surgery to look more American.
• Julie Thi Underhill, whose mother is from Vietnam, remembers being called “Suzy Wong” by a family member. It’s a derogatory reference to a character from a 1950s film about a prostitute. A friend of the family had no idea why she was being called “Suzy Wong”. Underhill says: “that was my moment of redemption–there was seeing somebody actually even not get the racism because they’re not racist.”

Video Extra: Check out Dmae’s short film with footage from her childhood.

You can hear Stage & Studio every Tuesday at 11 am on KBOO 90.7 FM in Portland, or listen to KBOO’s live stream by clicking the button on the right.

Or you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes so you don’t have to miss a show.

And always browse our archive of shows at the official Stage and Studio website

Secret Asian Woman was produced by Dmae Roberts, with editorial consultation by Catherine Stifter and damali ayo. Original music by Clark Salisbury. Additional music by Teresa Enrico and Portland Taiko. Interviews with Velina Hasu Houston, Rainjita Yang Geesler, Julie Thi Underhill and Patti Duncan. Funded by the Regional Arts and Culture Council Individual Artist program. You can learn more by going to Dmae Roberts’ website.

Dmae Roberts presents a membership drive edition with “A Wrinkle In Time” at Oregon Children’s Theatre and A Thousand Little Cities at BodyVox Dance. The classic book by Madeleine L’Engle comes alive with a fantasy and sci-fi adventure. Director Marcella Crowson and actor Madeleine Rogers join host Dmae Roberts to talk about bringing this beloved book to the stage. And we also check in with co-Artistic Director Ashley Roland at rehearsal for A Thousand Little Cities.

Please make your membership donation today!

"A Wrinkle In Time" at Oregon Children's Theatre

The story of “A Wrinkle In Time” begins on a stormy night as three brave children venture through time and space on an urgent rescue mission. In the spirit of the Narnia  and Harry Potter books, this children’s classic also features sci-fi concepts.

Madeleine Rogers & MarcellaCrowson/ Oregon Children's Theatre

The production at Oregon Children’s Theatre runs May 14-June 5 at the Newmark Theatre, 1111 SW Broadway in Portland.

And Dmae checks in with Ashley Roland with a “Fly On The Wall” chat during a A Thousand Little Cities. Bodyvox calls it their “most distinctly American work.” The company just returned from a four-city European tour and presenting this work with visual images by Tad Savinar and music ranging from Bono/The Edge to John Adams and Aphex Twin.

BodyVox

A Thousand Little Cities May 5-21 The BodyVox Dance Center, 1201 NW 17th Ave. in Portland.

You can hear Stage & Studio  live at the KBOO.FM or on 90.7FM live at 11am Tuesdays.

Or you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes so you don’t have to miss a show.

And always browse our archive of shows at the official Stage and Studio website.

*Originally published in The Asian Reporter

My earliest and best childhood memories are of Japan. My father was a sergeant in the Air Force, and he met my mom in Taiwan. As a family, we lived in a neighborhood close to Fuchu Air Station, a military base near Tokyo.

I loved Japan. I spoke Japanese fluently and went to school with other multiracial children on the military base.  A black and white photo of my kindergarten class shows 17 kids.  The front row seated, the other standing behind. Girls clad in their best dresses and patent leather shoes.  Boys decked out in their bow ties and cardigan sweaters. Only six of those students are visibly white. The rest are Asian or mixed race. On the back of the photo, my dad wrote “Graduation picture. Kindergarten School, Fuchu Air Station, Japan.”

Dmae kindergarten class in Japan

My family rented a small house outside the base in a civilian neighborhood. We had a fluffy white Akita dog I named Snow and a mean white rooster that seemed three feet tall because he always tried to peck at me. I danced in my kimono and red butterfly obi sash at the Sakura, the Cherry Blossom festival.

My brother, Jack, was happy too.  He was a shy, sensitive child, but I often brought him along to hang out with the neighborhood kids. We played tag and ran around the block with Japanese kids and other military “brats” like my brother and me. The kids roamed all over town because it was safe. My mom studied flower arranging and was proud of that certificate when she graduated. I remember peaceful times between my parents, before my dad quit the military and moved us to the States.

Though I’ve had layovers in Tokyo on my way to Taiwan, I really haven’t been back to Japan since that time. I always meant to explore the location of the base and the neighborhood.  Both my parents are now gone so I can’t ask them questions about our years in Japan.  But I found a website where people post memories of Fuchu Air Station. Most comments are from adults who lived there either as military personnel or as children during 1957 to 1974, when Fuchu was shut down.  Many were trying to connect with others who considered their time in Japan the happiest in their young years.

Several sites display images of this base, now abandoned, covered in overgrown ivy and surrounded by a barbed wire fence. Judging by these photos taken by visitors who broke into the base, Fuchu has become a location for creepy urban exploration.  It’s sad to ponder a place that had so much life once now demolished and in ruins. And it made me wonder how many other people on the West Coast also have memories and immediate ties to Japan.

On March 11, 2011, we witnessed the earthquake, tsunami and ensuing nuclear contamination that devastated Japan.  We saw the horrific images on TV and websites as tech-savvy citizens posted cell phone videos to the world. As these videos kept appearing each day, we realized what happened in Japan could also happen to us here.

Who couldn’t empathize and envision with dread what it would be like to have our possessions, homes and entire towns awash in a swirling pile of debris and wreckage? It’s almost unimaginable to think what it would be like to escape someplace with the clothes on your back and try to live without food, clean water and shelter

I stayed up late, like so many others, watching videos of the unrelenting water pummeling the landscape, and I felt for the people who were so completely powerless in the wake of overwhelming devastation. I still wonder if my childhood friends, now adults, might have been killed or made homeless by the disaster.

In the last several weeks, community groups responded instantly to raise funds for Japan Disaster Relief. As of this writing, the Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center’s executive director Mari Watanabe says about $500,000 has been raised for the Oregon Japan Relief Fund. Nationwide it’s been nearly $5 million.

Within days, Portland Taiko pulled together a benefit at Portland State University. Prominent businessman Sho Dozano worked with event producer Stephen Marc Beaudoin of PHAME Academy to organize “From Oregon With Love”–a concert at the Aladdin Theatre featuring many Portland music artists including Pink Martini and pop-singer Saori Yuki who flew in from Japan. That benefit made about $216,000. The Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center turned its first Sakura Festival into a benefit that raised awareness on the Japan Historical Plaza in Waterfront Park downtown Portland. And the benefits continue each day and hopefully will for more weeks to come.

My hope is that people won’t forget and continue showing support. The Japanese people are dealing with a horrifying reality that will take many years to recover.  For more info on how you can help.

Visit: http://www.oregonjapanrelieffund.com/.

Suzanne Kenney

Producer Macon Reed with Dmae Roberts presents a sound collage profile on Pendulum Aerial Arts. Pendulum is both a performance company and a school. The company is made up of a core members, guest artists, and apprentices whose work crosses a variety of styles, from vaudeville to contemporary. .

"Pure Space"

They have several shows in April including hands-on at their Second Annual Community Day and Student Showcase on Sunday April 17. Pendulum presents a full show, “In the Studio”,  on Saturday April 22 and 23. It features new works by company members. Both events are at the French American International School. Learn more at the Pendulum website.

Photo: Julia GazdagDavid Burnett, Dave Bodin, Melissa Whitney &Nathan Gale in CYMBELINE /NWCTC

Later in the show, Dmae talks with Grant Turner, the executive director of the Northwest Classical Theatre Company about the upcoming performance of Shakespeare’s Cymbeline. We’ll also find out what happening next season at NWCTC.

Cymbeline tells the story of Imogen, the daughter of King Cymbeline. It’s a fairy tale complete with an evil stepmother, a kidnapped princess, disguises, and a poisoned vial.

Cymbeline runs April 22 – May 15 at the Shoe Box Theater, 2110 SE 10th Ave. For more information, check out the NWCTC website or call 971-244-3740.

Sandra de Helen, Photo: Gabriel Darling

Finally, writer  Sandra de Helen reads a poem titled “Beautiful” for the fifth installment of Writer’s Read. She lives and writes in Portland, Oregon. See her current work in Mom Egg, Stillwater Review,  Lavender Review: Night Issue, and “pay attention: A River of Stones.”

Also featured is music by Portland Pianist and Cynthia Stillman Gerdes from her new CD “Solo and Chamber Music” which debuts in a concert  on April 22ND AT 7:30 PM at the Reedwood Friends Church located at 2901 Steele St. in Portland.

Pushing Boundaries is funded by the Regional Arts and Culture Council.

Macon Reed

Macon Reed is a graduate of the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies, where she studied radio documentary production. She recently came back to Oregon after traveling throughout the country with her students as a documentary instructor at the Brown Ledge Gap Year Program.

You can also  hear Stage & Studio  live at the KBOO.FM or on 90.7FM live at 11am Tuesdays.

Or you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes so you don’t have to miss a show.

And always browse our archive of shows at the official Stage and Studio website

Nancy Ives, Holcombe Waller & PalomaGriffin

Photo credit: Alica Rose

fEARnoMUSIC presents the Portland premiere of  The Juliet Letters in collaboration with four talented Portland singers: Leah Yorkston, Holcombe Waller, Stephen Marc Beaudoin, and Angela Niederloh. The Juliet Letters is a song cycle Elvis Costello developed with the Brodsky String Quartet, a British quartet that has worked with Bjork, Paul McCartney and other pop musicians in addition to performing standard classical quartets.

The cycle is based on imaginary correspondence between a Veronese academic and people who wrote letters to Shakespeare’s most famous heroine, Juliet Capulet.

(clockwise) Angela Niederloh, Stephen Marc Beaudoin, Leah Yorkston & Holcombe Waller

In “The Juliet Letters,” Costelloand the members of the quartet crafted a series of dramatic songs and ballads, in which characters of varying ages and degrees of sanity tell stories of love, death, and betrayal, based on the letters.  Shakespeare’s dramatic heroine serves as a metaphor for the disillusionment that they all experience in some way or another.

The performance takes place Tuesday, April 12, 8pm, at the Aladdin Theater, 3017 SE Milwaukee Avenue, Portland. You can purchase tickets from Ticketmaster or the Aladdin Theater.

Sakura Festival

Later in the show, Dmae brings us sounds from the first annual Sakura (Cherry Blossom) Festival. This year the event is benefiting disaster relief in Japan. Click here to learn more and hear the piece by itself.

You can also  hear Stage & Studio  live at the KBOO.FM or on 90.7FM live at 11am Tuesdays.

Richmond Elementary students at the Saukra Fest

Or you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes so you don’t have to miss a show.

And always browse our archive of shows at the official Stage and Studio website

(Pictured left, Julianne Johnson, photo credit: Aaron Lee )

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom by famed African American playwright August Wilson is based on the real life Gertrude Pridgett, better known as Ma Rainey (April 26, 1886 – December 22, 1939).

Kevin Jones and Julianne Johnson

Wilson’s play takes place in 1927 Chicago, at the beginning of the Black Renaissance.  At a recording studio in the heart of the city a group of musicians and a record producer anxiously await the entrance of legendary blues singer Ma Rainey, known both for her music and her attitude. By the time Ma Rainey does arrive, the tension between the musicians has escalated to a fiery battle of wills. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom is the third chapter in August Wilson’s ten-play “Century Cycle” that chronicles the lives of African-Americans through the twentieth century.

Gertrude Pridgett known as Ma Rainey.

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom runs April 6 – May 1 at the Portland Playhouse, 602 NE Prescott St. For more information or to buy tickets, go to the Portland Playhouse website. You can also buy tickets by calling 503-488-5822.

Mari Watanabe

Also in the show, Dmae checks in again with Mari Watanabe of the Oregon Nikkei Center. Since the devastating earthquake, tsunami, nuclear disaster in Japan, the center has been collaborating with Mercy Corps and other local organizations to provide aid. She’ll also detail more Japan benefits including the Sakura Festival at the Japanese American Historical Plaza (Couch & Naito Parkway) event on April 3rd at noon to 3pm.

You can hear Stage & Studio at the KBOO website or on 90.7FM live at 11am Tuesdays.

Or you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes so you don’t have to miss a show.

And always browse our archive of shows at the official Stage and Studio website

Richmond Elementary students at the Saukra Festival

Dmae talks with Mari Watanabe, the executive director of the Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center. Watanabe says the Oregon Japan Relief Fund has raised nearly $500,000 and nationally the fund has brought in $5 million.

We also hear sounds from Monmouth Taiko, Youth Taiko from Richmond Elementary School in Portland.  And Portland Taiko’s Michelle Fuji tells us about the group’s personal ties to Japan.

Monmouth Taiko

You can hear more from Portland Taiko at their next family concert called “Ponta and the Big Drum”. They will be folding origami cranes and will have a donation box for Mercy Corps in the lobby. The shows are on April 30 and May 7 at 11 am, as well as May 1 and May 8 at 11 am and 1 pm. All shows are at the Portland Center for the Performing Arts, 1111 SW Broadway in Portland. You can purchase tickets from Ticketmaster or by calling 1-800-745-3000.

Portland Taiko will be be part of additional fundraisers as part of Raising Hope for Japan. The Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center will also be part of the Japan America Society of Oregon fundraising dinner.

You can also  hear Stage & Studio  live at the KBOO.FM or on 90.7FM live at 11am Tuesdays.

Or you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes so you don’t have to miss a show.

And always browse our archive of shows at the official Stage and Studio website

Commentary by Dmae Roberts

*originally published in The Asian Reporter. (photo by Laura Moulton)

I fell in love with public radio in the 1980s while getting my degree in journalism at the University of Oregon (UO). At first I thought I’d go into print but then I started volunteering at KLCC, a community station in Eugene, and I was hooked. I had no idea I could love recording sounds and voices and weaving words, interviews and ambience into tightly structured mini-movies.

When I graduated from UO, I freelanced 30 to 40 pieces a year for National Public Radio (NPR) and then started applying for grant funds. I wouldn’t have been able to produce Peabody-award-winning documentary Mei Mei, A Daughter’s Song. without public radio and public funding.  It was one of the first multicultural personal documentaries of its time and the most emotional and technically challenging piece I’ve produced.

Public Radio has been on the forefront of arts and news programming for decades providing longer pieces with depth and personal connection to its audience. That audience has grown to now roughly 11 percent of America. A good amount of credit is due to the popularity of NPR’s news programming that now focuses on shorter news pieces rather than the longer format documentaries and stories that I’ve produced the last couple decades.

Many people don’t understand that NPR is simply a network along with Public Radio International (PRI) and American Public Media. There are also independent producers (such as myself) who produce long-form programs by distributing directly to stations.

Dmae recording Alutiiq documentary-Photo: Richard Jensen

NPR (albeit the largest network) doesn’t represent all public radio, non-commercial and community stations in the country. But it has worked to make the NPR “brand” familiar to the mainstream, so much so that often many listeners mistakenly refer to NPR as the name of their local stations. The organization depends on these local stations to pay large fees for NPR programming. A station is only an “NPR station” when they pay these fees and air NPR shows as in the case of Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB). There are may non-NPR radio stations across the country. A few in our immediate area include jazz station KMHD in Gresham or Portland’s “All-Classical” FM KQAC (formerly KBPS) or the or eclectic community station like KBOO also in Portland.

NPR has been in the headlines lately. Unfortunately, it may have made itself a target by becoming more of a mainstream news organization. The recent video sting to catch NPR management. At issue are alleged liberal bias blunders and the onslaught of conservative politicians aiming to cut funding to public broadcasting are more of an effort to attack NPR as a “liberal” news source. The effort to cut funding will harm NPR less than individual stations instead—especially those located in rural areas and in the small towns and cities of America. Many of these stations receive Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) funding. These stations serve their local communities by providing local news and public affairs that commercial media might not cover because they don’t generate ratings or advertisers.

In my 25 years as an independent public radio producer, I’ve produced documentaries and feature stories about almost every possible multicultural community and told the stories of countless persons of color. I’ve also worked with youth, seniors, people with disabilities, teens with mental health issues, the homeless, survivors of crime, the terminally ill and those overcoming cancer or grieving lost loved ones.

I certainly never would have been able to produce radio’s first (and to date) only Asian-American history series, Crossing East were it not for public funding from CPB and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and regional funders such as the Oregon Arts Commission and the Regional Arts & Culture Council. I can’t imagine Crossing East funded by a car company or a fast-food chain that might have wanted to influence the content of the documentaries. Certainly a commercial radio station wouldn’t have aired eight hours of Asian American history.

Without a dedicated community station that allows volunteers to develop and produce programming like Portland’s KBOO (which doesn’t receive CPB funding), I would never have had the opportunity the last 14 years to feature the artistic community of Portland and beyond via my weekly Stage & Studio show. Through national shows (on NPR and PRI), I’ve produced as an independent producer, arts features and human-interest stories about people, organizations and communities who have made a difference in Oregon.

For me the mission of public radio is to educate, illuminate and give voice to the underrepresented in our communities—without commercials or influence by sponsors. This mission is practiced by many independent producers as well as by local public radio stations around the country. I’ve trained scores of young people and professionals to carry on this mission of public service.

There is pressure in Congress to eliminate CPB funding. The NEA and the National Endowment for the Humanities are also targeted. But it seems that the right has focused on cutting and/or eliminating CPB as a way to harm NPR. According to the National Federation of Community Broadcasters (NFCB), termination of CPB funding “…will be felt most amongst our stations serving rural communities and communities of color…”

While NPR programs often focus on its core audience of white, educated, liberal listeners, the network doesn’t represent the demographics of all public radio stations. I’ve heard from ESL students, cab drivers, farmers and store clerks who have told me they love public radio. They may call it NPR but after a few questions, I find they mean their local station, which may or may not have NPR programming.

Let’s not punish the entire public radio system by assuming that cutting CPB funding may in some way stop NPR news programs. It won’t. What it will do is hurt local radio stations serving the public interest by giving voice to its local citizens and communities in a way that commercial broadcasting never cannot.

Meanwhile an architect in Havanna builds wings to fly away from his pregnant wife. These three worlds collide in this original play blending science fiction with magical realism.

Brian Lindstrom

Filmmaker Brian Lindstrom who makes films about people he says we put an ex through: ex-cons, people with long histories of drug addiction, mental illness, and homelessness. He uses his films to start conversations because he believes that when we witness another’s story, we can become invested in their lives. Lindstrom is currently working on Alien Boy, a documentary about Jim Chasse, whose death in the custody of Portland law enforcement officers in 2006 caused an outcry about civil rights and interactions between police and the mentally ill. You can learn more about Chasse’s story and see a photo from the arrest here.

Producer Macon Reed speaks with Lindstrom about Alien Boy. Reed worked as a production intern for a new, year-long Stage and Studio series called Pushing Boundaries that profiles artists and organizations pushing physical, emotional, and artistic boundaries in their work. This is the debut piece of the series.

The ending of the this piece features music from ‘The Language Archive’ by OSF resident composer, Todd Barton, whose music is available at Todd Barton.com.

Pushing Boundaries is funded by the Regional Arts and Culture Council.

Macon Reed

Macon Reed is a graduate of the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies, where she studied radio documentary production. She recently came back to Oregon after traveling throughout the country with her students as a documentary instructor at the Brown Ledge Gap Year Program.

Click here for the full episode.

You can hear Stage & Studio at the KBOO website or on 90.7FM live at 11am Tuesdays.

Or you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes so you don’t have to miss a show.

And always browse our archive of shows at the official Stage and Studio website

And always browse our archive of shows at the official Stage and Studio website.

Last Friday, a 9.0 magnitude earthquake shook Japan, causing a tsunami and killing thousands of people. As a result of the damage, Japan is also facing several nuclear meltdowns. The country is in dire need of world support.

I’d like to share my thoughts and condolences for those who have lost loved ones and their homes and property.

I encourage everyone listening right now to give what you can to disaster relief. I’m offering any of my downloadable audio programs on MediaRites.org. Offerings include Crossing East, my eight-hour documentary series on Asian Pacific American history. Also check out The Journey of Lady Buddha, an hour-long personal and historical exploration of cultural conflicts in spirituality and the search for the Asian goddess of compassion and mercy, Kuan Yin,

Any proceeds for the next few weeks from my audio downloads of documentaries I’ve produced will go to Mercy Corps International or Medical Teams International.

Take care, Dmae

Ryan Copple

Highlights from Copple’s interview on Stage & Studio:

- It is now easier than ever before for artists to distribute their work. Anyone can upload videos to sites like YouTube or Vimeo.

- Web series are shot with small screens in mind. But that doesn’t mean skimping on quality. Ryan Copple and the rest of the team behind Riese say: “We never wanted to be good enough for the web. We just wanted to be good.”

- Copple talks about some new projects and irons in the fire after the success of Riese and details the international launch of the series.

RIESE: KINGDOM FALLING Pictured: (l-r) Christine Chatelain as Riese, Fenrir, Sharon Taylor as Amara, Patrick Gilmore Trennan -- Photo by: Syfy

- New media is interactive and multi-platformed. Before Riese was launched, the creators released an alternate-reality game that set up the story.

- One of the best things about the future of the web series: creative freedom. “Don’t be afraid to get your story out there,” Copple says, “That’s the beauty of the web, is you can just tell whatever you want to tell.”

You can hear Stage & Studio at the KBOO website or on 90.7FM live at 11am Tuesdays.

Or you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes so you don’t have to miss a show.

And always browse our archive of shows at the official Stage and Studio website

Harold Phillips & Micki Selvitella

Dmae Roberts explores the growing landscape of the web series via an actor, director and producer working on three different projects. Actor Harold Philips and Director Micki Selvitella, both theatre artists, will tell us what it’s like to work on web series in Portland. Then Ryan Copple, co-creator of SyFy.com’s Riese: Kingdom Falling will share his experiences working on one of the most successful web series that received 1.2 million streams in two months.

Harold Phillips "Animus_Cross" w/DP Andy Batt, Leslie Garbett, Jerry Buxbaum & Writer/Dir AL Steen

Harold Phillips is a long-time Portland stage and film actor . He  has appeared in several web-based entertainment projects, including Lady Wasteland, Animus Cross, Vicky Vixen, the interactive movie The Outbreak motion comic Y-Me. He’s involved with several online projects at various stages of development, including Born Hero currently in production) The Episodic Adventures of Dex Dixon – currently in development) and Vicky Vixen . and the

'F22" starring Mandy Stefanczak

Micki Selvitella has directed many productions in Portland theatres.When a college friend pitched her an idea for a web series pilot, she was intrigued. Selvitella directed and was head writer of the first episode ofF22.  F22 is an action/suspense sci-fi series that focuses on a young photographer who’s been told her parents died in a car crash. Years later, she’s given some old footage showing her parents were killed by a shadowy government agency.

Check out the Kickstarter campaign to fund F-22 series.

Ryan Copple of 'Riese'

Ryan Copple is a Vancouver, BC writer, editor and co-creator (with Kaleena Kiff) of the award-winning steam-punk digital series Riese narrated by Sanctuary and Stargate SG1 star Amanda Tapping. The series began as an indie online series and then was picked up for season 2 by the SyFy Channel to run online last fall. The series featured actors from many well-known television series.Riese was so successful that SyFy ordered another indie online web series called Mercury Men.

Highlights from the show

- It is now easier than ever before for artists to distribute their work. Anyone can upload videos to sites like YouTube or Vimeo.

- Web series are shot with small screens in mind. But that doesn’t mean skimping on quality. Ryan Copple and the rest of the team behind Riese say: “We never wanted to be good enough for the web. We just wanted to be good.”

- Artists need to get creative about funding, whether it’s through product placement or using a site like kickstarter.com, which allows artists to crowd-fund their projects.

- New media is interactive and multi-platformed. Before Riese was launched, the creators released an alternate-reality game that set up the story.

- One of the best things about the future of the web series: creative freedom. “Don’t be afraid to get your story out there,” Copple says, “That’s the beauty of the web, is you can just tell whatever you want to tell.”

You can hear Stage & Studio at the KBOO website or on 90.7FM live at 11am Tuesdays.

Or you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes so you don’t have to miss a show.

And always browse our archive of shows at the official Stage and Studio website

Dmae brings us Jordan Harrison’s “Kid Simple: A Radio Play In The Flesh” directed by Tom Moorman, Sarah McGregor and JRWickman at Coho Productions which runs through March 26th. We also hear the third installment of the Writers Read series which focuses on Northwest writers. This Writers Read features Poet A. Molotkov from Portland. This show aired February 22nd at 11am on KBOO 90.7FM and online at StageandStudio.org!

JRWickman, Sarah McGregor & TomMoorman (Photo Left: McGregor w/Joe Bolenbaugh

“Kid Simple” is described as a quirky surreal fantasy involving a high school inventor of a machine that picks up hidden sounds.

This makes the second play penned by Jordan Harrison to be running in Portland at the same time. “Futura” at Portland Center Stage opened early in February and ends March 27th.  Harrison is currently in production at the prestigious Human Festival in Louisville.

In this interview, Actors McGregor and Wickham describe their character’s motivations and desires.

Tom Moorman talks about the benefits of collaboration on a technically rich show that mixes and speculative fiction/magical realism. We hear about his designers including James Crino’s costume design, live sound foley and intricate sound design by Scotty Iseri.

We also learn about the challenges of self-production and about the cooperation between theatre companies in Portland.

“Kid Simple” runs till March 26, Thurs-Sat@8; Sun@2pm. Tickets: $25 or $20 for students, educators & 60+ and it’s Pay-What-You-Can on Thursdays!

A. Molotkov

And we’ll also debut Writers Read 3 featuring A. Molotkov, a Russian poet reading his poem “Say Me With A Dry Leaf.” Find out how you can submit your own Writers Read segment. Submissions are open during 2011!

A. Molotkov is a writer, composer, etc., and a co-founder of the Inflectionist poetry movement (Inflectionism.com).  He is the author of several novels, short story and poetry collections and the winner of the 2010 New Millennium Writings and the 2008 E. M. Koeppel Awards for fiction, nominated for a Pushcart.  Molotkov’s fiction and poetry has appeared in over 20 publications, both in print and online.  In 2010, he spearheaded a poetry and music performance “Love Outlives Us”.  He often reads at a variety of Portland venues.

You can hear Stage & Studio at the KBOO website or on 90.7FM live at 11am Tuesdays.

Or you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes so you don’t have to miss a show.

And always browse our archive of shows at the official Stage and Studio website

By Dmae Roberts

If you grew up in Oregon, you know what it was like to be the lone Asian (unless you were with family members) in a crowded room, restaurant, grocery store or public event.  It’s more unusual now to be the sole Asian in public  in Portland, and I’m surprised when it does happen. But it would seem in the world of TV, Film and even local theatre, the people on the screen or on stage rarely reflect the landscape of America.

Most TV shows will either feature no Asians or the lone Asian. A few rare shows include two Asian actors (Danny Pudi and Ken Jeong) in the cast like the very funny Community on NBC or in the action-packed Hawaii Five-0 CBS.

Danny Pudi "Community" ( (Left Photo: Donald Glover, Danny Pudi & Ken Jeong) Photos/Mitchell Haaseth, courtesy of NBC)

The original 1960s Hawaii Five-0 also had two Asians out of four cast members. Asians as the lead characters would also have better updated Five-0 and reflected the most multi-racial U.S. state.

Though I enjoy the lush Hawaiian landscapes and the handsome Daniel Dae Kim, I was put off by a recent Hawaii Five-0 episode with a scene in which McGarrett schooled Chin Ho (played by Kim), a Hawaii resident, on how to track someone through a Hawaiian jungle. Dude, you may be a former Navy SEAL but brah’ cop has been living on the Islands all his life!  He’s never tracked someone through the jungle?

Criticism aside, the roles on Hawaii Five-0 are far superior to the two-dimensional characters on NBC’s Outsourced though it features several Asians in lead roles.

Ensemble shows like the much-hailed Lost and recently cancelled Heroes and Stargate Universe all had more than two APA cast members in great roles. I’m amazed Hollywood is still sluggish catching up to the reality of this country’s diverse populations. If you could hear the conversation in network back rooms, it could almost sound like:

“We better put some color in one of these roles or we’ll get in trouble…”

“What about a couple of Asians?”

“Nah, that’s too many. How about one Latino and an African American?”

“Could we have one Asian, one Latino and one African American?”

“We better go with Latino and African American. There aren’t as many Asians who watch TV…”

Historically, there’s a misconception Asian Americans are passive when it comes to protesting discrimination. One group has been monitoring TV’s diversity for a decade now. The Asian Pacific American Media Coalition(APAMC) recently released its annual report card, and 2010 wasn’t that hopeful for Asian actors, writer and directors working in TV.

Though Asians aren’t as invisible as 10 years ago when APAMC started tracking APA talent on major TV networks, there’s only been only a minimal increase in the number of APA cast members to total 37—that’s a whopping four more actors than the previous year.  In short, NBC, ABC, CBS and FOX got B’s and C’s.

NBC’s grade showed the most improvement casting APA’s in reality shows, which increased from 7 to 23 last year. NBC also showed increases in “development deals,” “procurement” and “APA executives.” And NBC shows like Heroes and Outsourced were lauded regarding the number of APA cast members.

But according to the report, “the number of APA writers and producers has continued to fall” in all major networks since 2007. That could help explain the slow growth in scripted shows of APA TV casts. The report points out some lost opportunities. ABC’s Off The Map is a romantic medical show I like because it’s filmed in Hawaii though it’s supposed to be South America. The report states an Asian character was originally written for the show but “a non-minority actress was cast instead.”

FOX was also singled out for only adding two new Asian regulars in its entire season of shows: the wonderful Indira Varma in Human Target and Lisa Lapira in the mid-season replacement Mixed Signals. The report also commended CBS for going beyond casting agents to secure Asian American actors and acknowledged the brilliant Archie Panjabi in The Good Wife for her Emmy win as Best Supporting Actress in a Drama series last year.

I enjoy watching the Emmys or the Golden Globes until I realize there are usually only one or two APA talent nominated. I thought TV was doing better than film till I looked up the number of APA nominations and wins in the history of the Academy Awards. It’s surprisingly longer than I thought.

The upcoming Feb. 27^th Academy Awards also features several Asian American nominations: A.R. Rahman, the composer who won for Slumdog Millionaire for 127 Hours, Matthew Libatique for cinematography in Black Swan, Tariq Anwar for editing in The King’s Speech, Filmmaker Ruby Yang for her documentary short, The Warriors of Qiugang, Shaun Tan for animated short, The Lost Thing. And Hailee Steinfeld, the young actress in True Grit is mixed race Filipina. That’s still a handful but it seems more than the recent TV awards. Sad but true.

The APAMC didn’t include the only TV show that has APA actor in the title role because it’s on the CW network. Maggie Q as Nikita is a strong multidimensional hero who fights for good every week. Perhaps because she is the lead, there are no other Asians in the supporting cast. But if you’re going to be the lone Asian on TV, it’s best to be the star, no?

*Originally published in The Asian Reporter in Portland, OR where you can read more of her montly columns.

In our third Writers Read segment,  A. Molotkov, reads his poem “Say Me With A Dry Leaf.”

Featured Music: Moira Smiley & Voco from their CD Small Worlds. Track: ‘Rano.’  The group performs in Portland at Marylhurst College February 24th 7:30pm.

Molotkov is also featured in Writers Read 9. He performs two poems from his CD “Can You Stay Forever?”, titled “Invited” and “Never”.

Featured voices and music include Dan Catrell, Lila Sklar, Cindy Lubar, and SB Reba. You can order the CD at Molotkov’s website.

Find out how you can submit your own Writers Read segment. Submissions are open during 2011!

You can hear Stage & Studio at the KBOO website or on 90.7FM live at 11am Tuesdays.

Or you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes so you don’t have to miss a show.

And always browse our archive of shows at the official Stage and Studio website

Burkholder has an MFA from Bennington College and has been published in The Portland Review, Silk Road and Pacific Review.

Featured Music: Moira Smiley & Voco from their CD Small Worlds. Track: ‘Out of a Child.’

Writers Read –  Stage & Studio is a regular segment featuring Northwest writers. Writers Read segments can be poetry or prose but no longer than 2 minutes. Writers are asked to identify themselves and their city/town and the title of their work before reading their piece.

Learn how you can submit your Writers Read segment.

You can hear Stage & Studio at the KBOO websiteor on 90.7FM live at 11am Tuesdays.

Or you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes so you don’t have to miss a show.

Don’t forget to check out the official Stage and Studio website

Katharine Emlen is a creative writer and nature photographer. Her poems have been published in the Ithaca Times, Denali Magazine and on the Smart Gardening Television website.  She is the author ofBelieve, an inspirational gift book for children, and the creator of the “I AM” Chant Magnets.  Most recently Katharine took two honorable mentions in the 79th annual Writers Digest Writing competition.  She currently lives in Eugene , Oregon where she spends her free time playing marimbas and hosting Sounds Global on 91.9 KRVM.

Music heard is from Portland’s 3 Leg Torso from their latest CD Animals and Cannibals.

Writers Read – Stage & Studio will begin a regular Writers Read segment starting in February featuring Northwest writers exclusively. Poetry and prose segments must be no longer than 1-2 minutes. Writers are asked to identify themselves and their city/town and the title of their work before reading their piece.

iPhone users may use a numerous audio apps including Audioboo (which also allows you record online), iTalk and even memo apps as long as recordings have no distortion, p-popping or handling sound. Video recordings are also accepted if close miked in quiet room and can be uploaded on YouTube or Vimeo.

Writers will receive on-air and online credit with links to author sites. Any genre or style of writing is acceptable but must adhere to FCC guidelines, (PG-13). No segments longer than 2 minutes will be considered.

Listen to our debut segment. (Music was added for the show.)

Music - Stage & Studio will feature original, indie Northwest recording artists each week either as theme music or transitional and closing music. All music must be INSTRUMENTAL, (NO LYRICS). Each piece of music will receive on-air and online credit with links to musicians or groups sites. Music can be in any form.

HOW TO SUBMIT:

Audio CDs or DVDs can be mailed to: Dmae Roberts/Stage & Studio, KBOO, 20 SE 8th Ave., Portland, OR 97214.

Good quality mp3s can be emailed as through yousendit.com or singly to stagenstudio @ aol.com. Only single files please. No multiple files to be emailed. Full music CDs can be mailed or delivered to KBOO.

This is an ongoing deadline. Entries accepted immediately. Entrants will be notified upon acceptance but otherwise will not be contacted. Those accepted will air on Stage & Studio on KBOO- Portland and on regionally distributed specials of Stage & Studio as well as the Stage & Studio website.

All music CDs not accepted for Stage & Studio will be given to KBOO’s music department for future broadcasts.

Due to time constraints, we won’t be able to help with technical issues of recording nor respond to feedback on individual submissions. Thanks!

This play tells the tale of the legendary Klickatat version of the fight between two chieftain brothers that caused the great land bridge in the Columbia Gorge to fall. In this program, Edmo tells the story of the Bridge of the Gods and shares some of his poetry, including his poem, “Indian Education Blues”.

Nancy Aldrich & Ed Edmo

Ed Edmo talks about the importance of learning about different cultures and keeping stories alive. “I get the question all the time, ‘Are these stories real?’” he says, “I do believe them. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be storytelling.”

“Bridge of the Gods” is written by Ed Edmo featuring poetry by Elizabeth Woody and designed by Lillian Pitt. The show runs Friday Feb. 4th through 13th.

You can hear Stage & Studio at the KBOO website or on 90.7FM live at 11am Tuesdays.

Or you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes so you don’t have to miss a show.

HEAR AND DOWNLOAD THE COMPLETE SHOW!

BONUS AUDIO: HEAR ED EDMO TELL THE STORY OF THE BRIDGE OF THE GODS

We’ll hear from Ernie Bloch, the grandson of Ernest Bloch, as well as Curator Eric Johnson, Museum Director Judith Margles and Ron Blessinger of Third Angle Ensemble. Third Angle will be performing Bloch’s music at three concerts at the museum January 26, 27, and 30.

Dmae Roberts was executive producer and story editor for this feature story.

You can hear Stage & Studio at the KBOO website or on 90.7FM live at 11am Tuesdays.

Or you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes so you don’t have to miss a show.

Black and white photos were taken by Bloch and provided courtesy of the Oregon Jewish Museum.

Alutiiq Mask titled "Ashik" ("Protector" is on the left of page)

Coming Home: Return of the Alutiiq Masks takes us to Kodiak, Alaska where Alutiiq peoples work to save their language, cultural traditions and heritage by unlocking the secrets of the masks collected by French explorer Alphonse Pinnart in 1872.

When Pinnart died in 1911, he bequeathed the masks to the Chateau Musee, a small museum off the coast of Northern France. The collection survived two World Wars and were “rediscovered” by Alutiiq artists who began making pilgrimages to France in 2000 to see the artifacts of their culture. This led to an unprecedented sharing of history between the Alutiiq Museum in Kodiak and the Chateau Musee.

Dmae Roberts as part of a USA Fellowship residency produced this documentary in collaboration with Earthsongs/Koahnic Broadcasting in Anchorage.  Host is  Shyanne Beatty and Associate Producer/Engineer is  Clark Salisbury.

Alutiiq artist Helen Simeonoff w/masks discovered in France.

136 years ago…
Alutiiq masks were taken
From Kodiak, Alaska
And given to France
And for a short time they are…

“Where I go, you go, helper spirit.
You don’t know where I will come from,
The land or sea.
As I travel the universe, helper spirit,
Protect me…”

-From a song collected by Alphonse Pinart
in Eagle Harbor, March 1872

You can hear Stage & Studio at the KBOO website or on 90.7FM live at 11am Tuesdays.

Or you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes so you don’t have to miss a show.

To purchase a download of the entire one-hour series, write to stagenstudio @ aol.com

FUNDERS FOR COMING HOME

Rasmuson Foundation
United States Artists
United States Artists – Alaska AIR
Alaska Humanities Forum

Cook Inlet Tribal Council, Inc.

National Endowment for the Arts

This year, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival celebrated its 75th anniversary. With a budget of about $27 million dollars a year, it’s the only theatre in the country that performs two different plays a day on three different stages 10 months of the year.  While nonprofit theatres struggle financially, OSF finished the 2009 season in the black largely due to the loyalty of its audience and quality of its work. We start the show with Dmae’s feature story on OSF, which aired on National Public Radio earlier this year.

Next, we hear a feature on Artists Repertory Thearte and its artistic director, Allen Nause. Hear Bob Hicks, former Oregonian features writer

Allen Nause

and arts editor and Vana O’Brien, founding member of ART recall the early history of this 28 year old theatre company and the impact Allen Nause has had on it.

Riley Grannon & Toni Pimble, Founders of Eugene Ballet

Finally, we hear from Toni Pimble and Riley Grannon, the founder of Eugene Ballet Company. They started the ballet school in Eugene in 1978, they had no idea that it would grow into a $2 million dance company with original productions touring throughout the world. Eugene Ballet Company is one of the few ballet organizations with a woman leading as artistic director. She is also one of the few women in classical dance who choreographs.

Dan Donahue, Greta Oglesby & Jeffrey King in OSF's 'Hamlet'

This last show of 2010 concludes the year-long Oregon Treasures series focusing on veteran artists and arts groups that have made an impact on the state. This series was funded by the Regional Arts and Culture Council.   Hear more Oregon Treasures at StageandStudio.org and leave your comments about this special series.

You can hear Stage & Studio at the KBOO website or on 90.7FM live at 11am Tuesdays.

Or you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes so you don’t have to miss a show.

'Cinderella' at Eugene Ballet

Todd Van Voris & William Hurt in ART's 'Long Day's Journey Into Night'

We learn about some of the hidden history of Portland’s jazz scene and the African American musicians who made the music. According to Thara Memory, much of that history is being lost daily as older musicians pass away and their history is ignored. “Sherman: A Jazz Opera” is perhaps the only actual jazz opera in America and it works to remember the legacy of Portland’s greatest music makers.

Thara Memory & S. Renee Mitchell

Thara Memory has been working for a couple decades on the music for this show that centers on Sherman Thomas a gifted saxophonist who mesmerized audiences in smoky jazz clubs at a time when the African Americans during WWII came to Portland to build war ships and also brought their East Coast music dubbing North Williams Avenue, the “Black Broadway.”

S. Renee Mitchell is an award-winning former newspaper journalist nominated for the Pulitzer twie. She brings her taleents as performer, singer, poet and playwright to create the libretto for this true African American opera.

Performing Thara Memory’s score in Sherman: A Jazz Opera are some of Portland’s best musicans including Janice Scroggins, Reggie Houston and La Rhonda Steele. ‘

The show runs February 18-27 at Ethos @ IFCC located at 5340 N. Interstate Ave. in Portland. Donations are sought for a larger production due in 2012. Contact Ms. Mitchell for further details.

Reggie Houston & LaRhonda Steele. Photo by Jon Farley

You can hear Stage & Studio at the KBOO website or on 90.7FM live at 11am Tuesdays.

Or you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes so you don’t have to miss a show.

And always browse our archive of shows at the official Stage and Studio website

Bill Foster

About a dozen films will be reviewed and highlighted in this segment of Stage & Studio. Some of the  films discussed include:

Incendies (Canada) , an Oscar-nominated film about a pair of twins who travel back to Lebanon to uncover their mother’s tragic history (photo featured above).

Of Gods and Men

Of Gods and Men (France), portrayal of brotherhood among monks during the Algerian Civil War in the 1990s.

Certified Copy (France) featuring Juliet Binoche in an exploration of relationships and art in the Tuscany countryside.

Some Days Are Better Than Others (US) Filmed in Portland with Carrie Brownstein (Portlandia), this drama follows the stories of three low-income and under-employed people finding their way.

Certified Copy

Sawako Decides (Japan), a coming-of-age tale of a temp worker returns to her hometown when her dad becomes ill.

Circo (Mexico cinematic road movie of a small traveling circus.

Barbershop Punk (US), documentary about an engineer in Hillsboro, OR whose discovery about Comcast’s internet blocking led to the fight for net

Sawako Decides

neutrality.

Tune in for this sneak peak at a world of films at the Portland International Film Festival.

Plus on this show….

We’ll hear our second Writers Read segment …this time from Tracy Burkholder of Portland who gives us two-minutes from her novel-in-progress You Can Go. Please Stay.

Tracy Burkholder

Burkholder has an MFA from Bennington College and has been published in The Portland Review, Silk Road and Pacific Review.

Featured Music: Moira Smiley & Voco from their CD Small Worlds. Track: ‘Out of a Child.’

Learn how you can submit your Writers Read segment.

You can hear Stage & Studio at the KBOO website or on 90.7FM live at 11am Tuesdays.

Or you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes so you don’t have to miss a show.

Don’t forget to check out the official Stage and Studio website

"Threads" by Tonya Jone Miller

As part of the Fertile Ground Festival, Tonya Jone Miller debuts her solo show about her mother’s experiences who went to teach English in Saigon during the height of the Viet Nam war. Using her mothers interviews, she “threads” together how human beings are connected to each other in small and large ways, and how in an instant, someone can change our lives forever.

Katharine Emlen

“Writers Read” is a new regular segment that features Northwest writers reading a selection of their work. Katharine Emlen is a writer in Eugene, OR. She reads a poem called “Endless Eternity.” Read our Submission guidelines to learn more about how to get involved.

And as a columnist for The Asian Reporter, Dmae writes about her cultural experiences and thoughts. She tells what she learned about Chinese New Year growing up and how it’s celebrated all over the world and in America as Lunar New Year.

You can hear Stage & Studio at the KBOO website or on 90.7FM live at 11am Tuesdays.

Or you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes so you don’t have to miss a show.

Don’t forget to check out the official Stage and Studio website.

Street Roots and Lunacy Stageworks

In the first part Stage and Studio, Dmae talks with Julie McCurdy & Israel Bayer of Streetroots newspaper and Ann Singer of Lunacy Stageworks about their collaboration on personal stories and writing created by homeless people The readings are presented Jan. 28th & 29th at the Sellwood Masonic Lodge in Portland.

Self-portrait of Ernest Bloch, Geneva, 1912 Photo courtesy Oregon Jewish Museum

And in the latter part of the show, Producer Tali Singer presents a feature about famed composer Ernest Bloch whose photographs are being showcased at the Oregon Jewish Museum through May 8th as well as a concert of Bloch’s work by Third Angle Ensemble on Jan. 26, 27 and 30 at the museum.

We’ll hear from Ernie Bloch, the grandson of Ernest Bloch as well as Curator Eric Johnson, Museum Director Judith Margles and Ron Blessinger of Third Angle.

Dmae Roberts was executive producer and story editor for this feature story.

You can hear Stage & Studio at the KBOO website or on 90.7FM live at 11am Tuesdays.

Or you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes so you don’t have to miss a show.

Sue Mach

Veteran Playwright Susan Mach is the author of a new play called The Shadow Testament. Loosely based on a true story, the play takes place in Corvallis and Seattle during the turn of the century. The story focuses on Jane, a young woman who must come to terms with a crime she committed in the name of love and God. As she sits in her asylum room, Jane revisits the past as she experiences a night of visions, dreams, and conversations with haunting ghosts.

Erin Leddy

Theatre Artist Erin Leddy is a company member of Hand2Mouth Theatre. Back in 2001, Leddy spent a year living with her grandmother and recording her stories. A decade later, Leddy is using those tapes as the basis for her solo performance entitled My Mind Is Like an Open Meadow. The show incorporates music and dance, as well as Leddy’s recordings as it explores consciousness, memory, and things passed down through the generations.

Camille Cettina

Playwright and performer Camille Cettina gives a taste of her upcoming show Mr. Darcy Dream Boat. The full production will premiere in October of this year, the first for Cettina’s new physical theatre company, Push Leg.  For now, though, festival goers will have to be satisfied with just fifteen minutes with their favorite literary characters. You can hear Stage & Studio at the KBOO website or on 90.7FM live at 11am Tuesdays. Or you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes so you don’t have to miss a show.

Sue Mach, Camille Cettina & Erin Leddy

And further good news, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America featured the Le Guin documentary special recently on its website.

These are the first times that Stage and Studio shows have been recognized outside of Portland by independent organizations. 

Adrienne Cruz, Marsha Matthews, RobinDunitz & Arvie Smith

Hear about the long tradition of African American muralists on Stage and Studio today. The Walls of Heritage exhibit runs November 16, 2010 through February 13, 2011.

Dmae talks with two Portland muralists Arvie Smith and Adrienne Cruz as well as Robin Dunitz, mural historian and co-author of the “Walls of Heritage” book with James Prigoff.  Duntiz  co-curated this national touring exhibit. Marsha Matthews, OHS Director of Public Programs also talks about new changes at OHS.

You can hear Stage & Studio at the KBOO website or on 90.7FM live at 11am Tuesdays.

Or you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes so you don’t have to miss a show.

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Kim Stafford

The picturesque center nestled in beautiful old growth forest of Sitka Spruce has nourished the talents of writers, visual artists and scientists for four decades. Through workshops and residencies, the Sitka Center remains a cherished place of learning for people throughout the Northwest and Northern California.

Roberts visited with staff, founders, teachers and participants to learn more about this one-of-a-kind Oregon Treasure. This piece is part of the Oregon Treasures series funded by a Regional Arts and Culture Council’s individual artist project grant.

This special Oregon Treasures documentary is podcast on iTunes. Hear other Oregon Treasures features and documentaries on at StageandStudio.org.

Photo Credit: Richard Jensen

Additional Photos: Sitka Center

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Molly Gloss was a finalist the PEN/Faulkner award for American fiction for The Jump-Off Creek about a woman who homesteads in Oregon in 1895 and won the James Tiptree Jr. Award for her novel Wild Life about an early 20^th century feminist in Washington. Her newest work is The Hearts of Horses—the story of a young woman who breaks horses in Eastern Oregon.

Oregon Treasures is made possible by an individual artist grant from the Regional Arts and Culture Council. Hear more Oregon Treasures features!

Click here for a complete script of the Molly Gloss show.

Here’s a chance to see the five-year-old annual celebration by the World Stage Theatre. Working with some of the most talented youth at Jefferson High School as well as Jefferson alumni, World Stage presents “Who I Am: Celebrating Me” a stage play that features a montage of African-American history.

National artists are also featured including Saxophonist Eldon T. Jones, former Northwest African Ballet Dancer Donya Frazier, Playwright/Actor/Singer shalanda Sims and Author Renee Watson. The event takes place for two nights only, February 24 and 25 at the Jefferson High School Auditorium, 5210 N. Kerby Ave. in Portland.

World Stage Theatre is a volunteer-run company whose mission is to provide relevant original plays and community events. For more info visit World Stage Theatre.

The 5^th Annual Celebration of Black History

“Who I Am; Celebrating Me”

February 24 & 25 @ 7:30PM

Jefferson High School Auditorium

5210 N. Kerby Ave.

Tickets available through pdxtix.net

Wendy Westerwelle as Sophie Tucker

Sophie Tucker was a Russian and Ukranian-born singer and actress known for her comic and risque songs in the earlly 20th century. She became known world-wide when she was in the Ziegfeld Follies and even got arrested once in Portland! Later in life, Tucker became a humanitarian and much loved all her life. Westerwelle created a show about Tucker that’s part comic monologue, part cabaret and burlesque.

Hear some of Sophie Tucker’s original songs and Westerwelle telling us a Soph joke or two live in the studio.

We’ll also hear about Triangle’s “Sealed For Freshness” his original play that’s been running to great reviews in Portland.

Wendy Westerwelle & Don Horn

You can hear Stage & Studio at the KBOO website or on 90.7FM live at 11am Tuesdays.

Or you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes so you don’t have to miss a show.

Ben Landsverk, Anne-Marie Plass & Stephen Marc Beaudoin

In this episode of  Stage & Studio We hear about this academy that provides classes and performing opportunities for adults with developmental disabilities.

PHAME offers varied classes in music, theatre, visual arts and creative writing in Portland.

Beaudoin is joined by music director Ben Landsverk and student Anne-Marie Plass for an in-studio performance.

We learn more about the talent at the PHAME  Academy and hear about this organization’s creative fundraising efforts which includes a an online gift guide campaign and a musical Winter Gala event with PHAME’s 50 member choir.

Ben Landsverk & Stephen Marc Beaudoin

You can hear Stage & Studio at the KBOO website or on 90.7FM live at 11am Tuesdays.

Or you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes so you don’t have to miss a show.

Watch this video of a live performance in the KBOO studio.

Learn about their new season, which includes Viva Don Juan, the Day of the Dead celebration, Duende de Lorca, Anna In The Tropics, Boomcracklefly and Lazarillo.

We also find out about how Milagro (Miracle) Theatre has grown through the years to become the premiere Northwest Latino arts and cultural center and how the organization nurtures Latino talent.

Olga Sanchez in Milagro's Mariela In The Desert

You can hear Stage & Studio at the KBOO website or on 90.7FM live at 11am Tuesdays.

Or you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes so you don’t have to miss a show.

Olga Sanchez and Dmae Roberts

A prolific writer of books set in the American West, Doig talks about his latest novel, Work Song set in the bustling international melting pot of Butte, Montana of 1919. Doig talks about his research on the effects of mining on the land, the workers and the citizens who form a diverse community often at odds with the mining company that rules so many of their lives.

Ivan Doig

Work Song brings back a much-loved character from Doig’s previous book, The Whistling Season. Morris Morgan, or “Morrie” as he’s called, comes to Butte one day and quickly lands a job at the town library run by an imposing rancher with a shady past. Soon Morrie becomes central to the lives of everyone in town as events escalate to a boiling point pitting workers against management. With Work SongIvan also includes some romance as well as historic commentary.

Stage & Studio airs Tuesdays at 11am on KBOO 90.7 FM or here later in the day. Or you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes so you don’t have to miss a show.

Paul King & WalterJaffe of White Bird Dance

Host Dmae Roberts finds out as she talks with Paul King and Walter Jaffe, the founders of White Bird Dance,  about their 13th season.

Featured companies are Lucinda Childs Dance (featured left photo), Gallim Dance, Martha Graham Dance Company, Doug Elkins & Friends’ Fraulein Maria and Portland’s Oslund & Co.

Martha Graham Dance Company-Photo: JohnDeane

Also in this show is special preview of Eugene Ballet’s Cinderella opening at the historic Elsinore Theatre in Salem. Dmae talks with founders Toni Pimble & Riley Grannon.  Stay tuned next week for a special Oregon Treasures feature story on Eugene Ballet.

Eugene Ballet's Cinderella

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You can hear Stage & Studio at the KBOO website or on 90.7FM live at 11am Tuesdays.

Or you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes so you don’t have to miss a show.

Eugene Ballet Company's "Cinderella"

Dmae Roberts presents an Oregon Treasures feature story about Toni Pimble & Riley Grannon, founders of Eugene Ballet Company.

When they started the ballet school in Eugene in 1978, they had no idea that it would grow into a $2 million dance company with original productions touring throughout the world. Eugene Ballet Company is on of the few ballet organizations with a woman leading as artistic director. She is also one of the few women in classical dance who choreographs.

Listen to this  Oregon Treasures feature story on Eugene Ballet.

Riley Grannon & Toni Pimble, Founders of Eugene Ballet Company

Oregon Treasures is a special series with funding by the Regional Arts and Culture Council.

This year long series produced by Dmae Roberts brings to light veteran arts organizations and artists who have made an impact for several decades on the artistic landscape of Oregon.

Throughout 2010, Stage and Studio will air these creative feature stories and  highly produced half-hour specials of lengthy portraits.

You can hear Stage & Studio at the KBOO website or on 90.7FM live at 11am Tuesdays.

Or you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes so you don’t have to miss a show.

Banyas has been on a personal, historical and sociological journey acting as a detective on her childhood experiences during the Civil Rights era. Dmae is joined in the studio by Susan Banyas, David Ornette Cherry, Jennifer Lanier and LaVerne Green.

David Ornette Cherry, LaVerne Green, Jennifer Lanier & Susan Banyas

And in the latter part of the show Dmae unveils a feature story on the Eugene Ballet, Oregon’s longest-running ballet company formed in 1978.

This is a membership edition posted online. We still have tickets to the Hillsboro Story available for a $75 pledge or more.

Call now at  (503)232-8818   or   (877) 500-5266 (toll free). Or donate online.

Make sure you use Code T02 when you call to make sure your donation count towards Stage & Studio!

LaVerne Green, Paige Jones and Susan Banyas Photo by Julie Keefe

The Hillsboro Story, presented by Artists Repertory Theatre, focuses on real stories from 1954‐56 Hillsboro, Ohio. Banyas brings to life the not‐so‐distant history of school desegregation in the early years of the Civil Rights Movment.

The Hillsboro Story weaves spoken word, movement and jazz followed by school and community touring across the country.

Taking a personal approach, Banyas tells the story of how a segregated Black elementary school went up in flames in Hillsboro, Ohio in 1954. That fire led five African American mothers in a school fight that became the test case for the historic Brown v. Board of Education decision a few months earlier.

Listen here for The Hillsboro Story interview without the membership drive breaks.

The Hillsboro Story

Or scroll down to the bottom of the page to hear the show in its entirety.

Also on Stage and Studio is a special feature story on the Eugene Ballet Company.

Eugene Ballet Season

Dmae talks with founders Toni Pimble & Riley Grannon who started a ballet school in Eugene in 1978.

They had no idea at the time the school would grow into a $2 million dance company with original productions touring throughout the world. Eugene Ballet Company is on of the few ballet organizations with a woman leading as artistic director. She is also one of the few women in classical dance who choreographs.

Listen to this  Oregon Treasures feature story on Eugene Ballet.

Riley Grannon & Toni Pimble founders of Eugene Ballet

Oregon Treasures is a special series with funding by the Regional Arts and Culture Council.

This year long series produced by Dmae Roberts brings to light veteran arts organizations and artists who have made an impact for several decades on the artistic landscape of Oregon.

Throughout 2010, Stage and Studio will air these creative feature stories and  highly produced half-hour specials of lengthy portraits.

You can hear Stage & Studio at the KBOO website or on 90.7FM live at 11am Tuesdays.

Or you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes so you don’t have to miss a show.

The Breast Cancer Monologues was part of a year of arts outreach workshops with breast cancer survivors and  intricately weaves  interviews and readings about how breast cancer has affected the lives of women in America.

One in eight women in this country will develop breast cancer within a life expectancy of 85 years. Only 5-10 percent of breast cancers are linked to genetic history, yet there is little research as to the cause and the treatment can be as deadly as the disease. Breast cancer is still misunderstood and often a taboo subject.

In 2010, an estimated 207,090 new cases of invasive breast cancer are expected to be diagnosed in women in the

The Breast Cancer Monologues address the myths and misunderstandings while giving voice to the women who know first-hand the effects of breast cancer.

Original Music was composed and performed by Maria de los Angeles Esteves

Master Engineer was Clark Salisbury. Graphics by Ping Khaw-Sutherland.

Interviews and writings by Jan Baross, Rita McDonagh, Hilda Bengston, Dawn Cottrell, Majorie Holland, Barbara Strasburger, Leslie Lischka, Teena Rodriguez, Tai Brown, Clara Welsch, Maria Pascu, Caroline Acuna-Guilartes, Monica Benson-Barros, Suzanne, Elizabeth, Joy, Michelle, Caroline, Monica, Jeannette, Nancy and Mira.

To order a CD or download of the entire program, visit MediaRites Productions.

For October: National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, we’re giving away free downloads of the documentary.Write a comment and have a chance to win a free download of the entire one-hour documentary program!

Arts outreach workshops were made possible with funding by the Regional Arts and Culture Council and the Oregon Arts Commission.

For more info about breast cancer, visit breastcancer.org and Breast Cancer Action.

You can hear Stage & Studio at the KBOO website or on 90.7FM live at 11am Tuesdays.

Or you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes so you don’t have to miss a show.

Megan Kate Ward, Madeline Rogers & Bibi Walton.

Northwest Classical Theatre Company and Three Good Friends presents a two-person play about Rachel Corrie, a 23-year-old Evergreen College student from Olympia, Washington who in 2003 was crushed to death in the Gaza Strip by an Israel Defence Forces (IDF) bulldozer when she was kneeling in front of a local Palestinian’s home to keep them from demolishing the home.

Compiled and edited by actor Alan Rickman and  The Guardian’s Feature Editor, Katharine Viner in London, this controversial play is based on Rachel Corrie’s writings. “My Name Is Rachel Corrie” features two actresses.Dmae talked with Director Megan Kate Ward, Actress Madeline Rogers and Producer Bibi Walton.

And in the second part of the show, Dmae talks with Michael Beach from Brothers of the Baladi about “Mosaic: A Day of Music & Dance” on September 25th.

This Portland band presents a ful day of music and dance workshops and an evening concert focusing on a festive appreciation of Middle Eastern music.

Michael Beach

Beach also debuts one of the new songs by Brothers of the Baladi recorded and mixed just for Stage & Studio.

You can also check out Stage & Studio at the KBOO website

Or you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes so you don’t have to miss a show.