Dmae talks with Connie Carley, co-founder and managing director of PassinArt: A Theatre Company about the company’s growth and 38-year history. She’s joined by director William Earl Ray who is currently directing August Wilson’s “7 Guitars” which opens March 19th -April 12, 2020 at the Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center.

(Aired 11am  3/10/2020 on KBOO 90.7 FM or always on stagenstudio.com and always on  iTunes.)

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NOTE: THIS INTERVIEW TOOK PLACE BEFORE THE COVID-19  RECOMMENDATIONS. THE SHOW’S OPEN DATE MENTIONED IN THE PODCAST HAVE CHANGED TO MARCH 19TH)

PassinArt presents…

“7 Guitars” by August Wilson
Directed by William Earl Ray

MARCH 19 – APRIL 12, 2020
Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center (IFCC)
5340 North Interstate Ave., Portland OR

PassinArt
August Wilson’s ‘Seven Guitars’ L to R: Josie Seid (Louise), Bobby Bermea (Canewell), Steve Lee (Hedley), Lydia Fleming (Ruby), Victor Mack (Floyd), Cycerli Ash (Vera), and Jerry Foster (Red Carter)

Seven Guitars is a 1995 play from August Wilson, a modern American playwright. The plot revolves around seven African American characters after the funeral of a friend in 1948. The play is part of Wilson’s Pittsburgh Cycle, an anthology of plays about African American life in Pittsburgh set in each decade of the 20th century.

The Play’s recurring theme is the African American male’s fight for his own humanity, self-understanding and self-acceptance in the face of personal and societal ills. The rooster is a recurring symbol of black manhood throughout the play and provides a violent and shocking foreshadowing effect when Hedley delivers a fiery monologue and ritualistically slaughters one in front of the other characters.

Shows run on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings at 7:30pm; and Sunday afternoons at 3pm.

All shows at Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center (IFCC) located at 5340 North Interstate Ave., Portland. For tickets and more info: http://passinart.org/index.php/shows/52-save-the-date-seven-guitars

Catch the companion exhibit upstairs in the IFCC Gallery

Passin ArtMARCH 19 – APRIL 12, 2020

As a companion to 7 Guitars, PassinArt is pleased to host Racing to Change: Oregon’s Civil Rights Years exhibit, the Oregon Black Pioneers first Pop-Up Kiosk based on its highly successful 2018 exhibit at the Oregon History Museum. The 10-foot-long, double sided kiosk features text and pictures that tell the story of the Black power movement in Oregon as it played out in communities, colleges and activist organizations. It challenges the viewer to examine the unfinished business of civil rights in Oregon.