Stage&Studio

Sara Jean Accuardi

Playwright Sara Jean Accuardi is about to set sail on her World Premiere production of The Storyteller. Accuardi has had her plays produced in Portland at Shaking the Tree Theatre, Theatre Vertigo, and more recently Artist Repertory Theatre.  She’s had productions in other parts of the country such as the Playmakers Repertory Company, The Seven Devils Playwrights Conference, and Victory Gardens to name a few.

Exploring Personal Diasporas

Dmae talks with Jane Vogel Mantiri (Indo writer/actor and founder of Advance Gender Equity) and Samson Syharath (theater artist and co-founder of Theatre Diaspora) about their journeys with cultural diaspora. Both are performing personal solo plays dramatizing their explorations into family secrets and the effects of war and myth on their own identities. They premiere their separate shows at the 2025 Fertile Ground Festival, a city-wide festival starting April 4-19th featuring all local theater works.

Portland Playhouse’s “Notes From The Field”

In 2015 famed playwright of verbatim” or “documentary” theater, Anna Deavere Smith created a solo show called “Notes From the Field.” Drawn from more than 200 interviews with students, parents, teachers administrators, Smith played multiple characters who talk about the school to prison pipeline. “Notes From the Field” is even more pertinent today
Sarah Jane Hardy

Sarah Jane Hardy & NWCTS

Sarah Jane Hardy has been the artistic director of Northwest Children’s Theater (NWCT) for a couple of decades. Since she left her native Liverpool, England, Sarah Jane has weathered many storms at the theatre and produced and directed many successful shows. She’s been a visionary theater leader and when many theaters had to scale back during the pandemic, NWCT actually obtained a long lease to open a new space in downtown Portland. Converting a former movie multiplex into a couple of much-needed new spaces for themselves, NWCT has several options for creating their stage productions but also are now providing affordable spaces for other community and artistic groups.

Paul Susi & An Iliad


Actor and writer Paul Susi is using his decades long experience as a social services professional and social justice activist to bring an adaptation of Homer’s The Iliad to prisons, church groups and community centers. He just returned from a … Read the rest

William Earl Ray + God’s Favorite

For more than 46 years, William Earl Ray has been an actor and director of countless productions. He’s directed productions numerous August Wilson plays such as “Seven Guitars,” “Two Trains Running,” and “The Piano Lesson.” He’s also directed other playwrights’ … Read the rest