Events 2018

DECEMBER 18, 2018
A  one-act and two short works:

THE LOVES OF SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR – by Paul K. Smith
On the eve of the publication of her landmark work The Second Sex, the older Simone de Beauvoir challenges the younger Simone — her younger self — for saddling her with Jean-Paul Sartre … forever. The work is a sequel to The Secrets of Mata Hari which was read earlier this year at PDX Playwrights and produced in New York.

EDWIN UND MICH – by Robb Piggot
A scientific theorist. His fiancee. His cat. And a box.

FORKS ON THE RIGHT – by Robb Piggot
A quiet family dinner to meet your new mother-in-law. What could be more traditional than that?

The session is scheduled at the conference room of Portland Center Stage, Gerding Theater at the Armory, 128 NW 11th Ave.


UPCOMING EVENTS

JANUARY 8, 2019
AN INTERLUDE IN BIRDSONG – by Eve Johnstone
Following the lives of three birds and the boy that wanders into their forest, “An Interlude in Birdsong” explores seed-gathering techniques, the overwhelming notion of higher purpose, coping with loss, and the ever-present struggle of figuring it all out.

This session is scheduled at the conference room of Portland Center Stage, Gerding Theater at the Armory, 128 NW 11th Ave.

NOTE: Because the first Tuesday of the month falls on New Year’s Day, when we will not have a meeting, and the third Tuesday falls at the peak of Fertile Ground Festival preparation for many participants, we’ve slated this January 8 meeting for a rare EVEN-NUMBERED Tuesday of the month. Our regular ODD-NUMBERED Tuesday schedule is slated to resume February 5.

JANUARY 25 – FEBRUARY 2, 2019
PDX Playwrights in the Fertile Ground Festival of New Works
The plethora of PDXPlaywrights offerings in the Fertile Ground Festival of New Works may be reviewed here: PDXP in Fertile Ground 2019. Please join us, support your fellow theater-makers, and find inspiration from these acts of creation!

NOTE: After the initial meeting January 8, no Third nor Fifth Tuesday meetings are scheduled in January, as PDX Playwrights and fans participate in and celebrate the Fertile Ground Festival of New Works. Our next regular session is slated for Tuesday, February 5. Meanwhile, we welcome comments from PDXP participants and festival attendees about the festival, directed to info@pdxplaywrights.org


PAST EVENTS

DECEMBER 4, 2018
A one-act and a short work hit our table:

POSING AS SODOMITE – by Brett Campbell and Maria Choban
Oscar Wilde is running two hit plays on London’s West End. He’s famous, he’s rich and he’s just been called out as a “Sodomite” by his lover’s father, the impulsive, arch-conservative Marquess of Queensberry. Wilde’s going to sue. But his fellow Irishman, Bernard Shaw, knows that Victorian England will only bury Wilde in a court trial. Can Shaw convince Wilde to drop the suit? Over 30 furious minutes at London’s Cafe Royale, the two snarkiest men in England go toe-to-toe in an angry bout involving the rich Wilde vs. the poor Shaw, gay rights, Victorian morality, socialism, the Irish rebellion, the future of British drama — and the fate of two of Britain’s most famous figures. Who loses?

UNCIVIL DISOBEDIENCE – by Brad Bolchunos
A family outing takes a twisted turn into activism.

NOVEMBER 20, 2018
LEAVING MANZANITA – by Maeve Z
Three teenagers in a small coastal town investigate the suspicious death of their friend and find that things may not be as they seem while a ghostly narrator offers her philosophical ramblings at pointed moments. Laced with poeticism, Leaving Manzanita seeks to infuse a funny, heartfelt coming-of-age story with distinct, dark undertones.

NOVEMBER 6, 2018
THE BAD HOUR – by Karen Polinsky

The Bad Hour ponders the January 2016 occupation of the Malheur Wildlife Refuge, nears Burns, Oregon, by armed ranchers who believe the federal government is a conspiracy to take away their freedom. In this fictionalized version, five diverse characters, feeling alone and misunderstood, discover whether freedom comes from independent free-thinking or nurturing common ideals.

OCTOBER 30, 2018
Fifth Tuesday Workshop
FERTILE GROUND: BEHIND THE CURTAIN – by PDX Playwrights
Nervous about Fertile Ground? Sure, it’s the night before Halloween, but don’t be scared! Admin team members and past participants in the festival will offer suggestions and a discussion with the intent of making your Fertile Ground experience and your work with PDX Playwrights meaningful and successful.

October 16, 2018
A duet of one-act plays:

LOVE DOG — by Charlie LaTourette
A  surrealist look at love and addiction.

JEPHTHAH’S DAUGHTER – by Katie Bennett
Encounter a world before time became linear, when there is no “before” and no “after.” Somewhere in the in-between, Isaac is spared sacrifice at the hands of his father. He meets Tali, Jephthah’s daughter, a girl his age who is doomed to be sacrificed by her own father. Or will she be spared too?

October 2, 2018
CLONING THE COLONEL – by Louise Wynn
The Colonel, newly deposed and in exile in the Middle East, has hired two doctors to clone him. His wife (a former pop-star diva with Lady Macbeth tendencies) as well as his captain, three rapping nurse-bodyguards, and his long-lost daughter — plus the products of his efforts — join in this comedic musical romp about what it means to be immortal.

September 18, 2018
THE WOMAN WHO BRAIDED THE RINGS OF SATURN – by Paul K. Smith
A young man who’s sold out to Corporate America feels he can redeem himself by solving  a cosmic mystery — one that science cannot explain. And he discovers the first sign of the presence of Cosmic Intelligence — of a Creator — in our solar system.

September 4, 2018
Two one-act plays:

I’M A SLUT, SABABA – by Caitlin Beckwith-Ferguson
Five characters, based on interviews with twenty women living in Israel, believe in the power of women. They are all feminists, yet they express a range of different views and experiences. The play, featured in performance in a sold-out 200-seat venue last year in Tel Aviv, explores themes of empowerment, validation, control, desire and self-awareness.

SIREN SONGS – by Lindsay Partain
Based on the true tragedy at Smalls Lighthouse in 1801, off the coast of Wales. Two men known for their dislike of each other, Thomas Howell and Thomas Griffith, are stationed for the winter storm season. But when a cough leads to a fever which leads to a coffin, Howell decides he must keep the body of his fellow keeper to not be accused of murder, and lives with Griffith’s corpse for months waiting to be rescued.

August 21, 2018
KAIT – by Rebecca Petchenik
True artificial intelligence is discovered in a sex robot after it kills its abusive owner. The original programmer and her attorney come to the rescue to save the robot from destruction by the state and the clutches of a greedy robotics corporation.

August 7, 2018
POSEIDON’S DREAM – by Adam Harrell
On a cruise ship bound for the Caribbean, confused and lonesome passenger Bill Miller discovers he is connected to the Greek god Poseidon through the dream realm, putting the fate of everyone on board in peril in this supernatural comedy adventure.

July 31, 2018
FIFTH TUESDAY WORKSHOP: “NEGOTIATION AND INSPIRATION” – guided by Brad Bolchunos

The paths of our characters can be viewed as negotiations — and not only with other characters. Using this concept as one of several launching points, this interactive workshop will offer a series of exercises in real time to explore, develop, share, and punch up scenes.

July 17, 2018
SO FOUL AND FAIR – by Amy Millay
In this contemporary, all-female spoof of Macbeth, staff and attorneys at a small law firm jockey for power while fighting the influence of an essential oil pyramid scheme.

July 3, 2018
A one-act and a ten-minute play are slated:

UNRESOLVED CONTENT – by Jae Carlsson 
A young woman instantly decides (come hell or high water) to become the assistant to a blind musician when she bumps into him at the waiting room for her shrink.

INVASION – by Kathleen Tomko
A strange man invades the home of Ila and Lana. Is he a pervert? Will they convince him to leave?

June 19, 2018
MOSCOW/MOCKBA – by Olivia MacFadden-Elliott, Emma Rye and Lucy Charles

A modern adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s “Three Sisters” set in Moscow, Idaho, in 2001: For the safety of his family, Papa Prozorov has defected from Russia to Moscow, Idaho, at the end of the Cold War. At the turn of the 21st Century, his children remain — uncertain of their company and uncertain of their first steps into maturity.

June 5, 2018
A set of one-acts is slated:

A HOLDING TANK – by Tracey Locke
A group of strangers battle to escape their surroundings, while a lone bartender tries to sabotage their efforts.

SECRETS … – by Shamash
A one-act play with a unique interpretation of Mata Hari: A woman punished for going from a socially-sanctioned, conventional role to a risky, unsanctioned, shunned and punishable social role.

May 29, 2018
Fifth Tuesday Workshop: CHARACTER BUILDING – by Gary Corbin
Veteran PDXP member, novelist, and playwright Gary Corbin will lead this roll-up-your-sleeves, hands-on workshop exploring a vital part of writing and rewriting scripts for the stage: building your characters and exploiting their unique qualities in your script.

May 15, 2018
ONCE EVERY HUNDRED YEARS – by Donald Hoffman
Three restless women taking a vacation together in Ireland and Scotland struggle to overcome misunderstandings with villagers in this comedic homage to “Brigadoon.”

May 1, 2018
BREADED COUNTERPARTS – by Russell Fine
A man entering his last days at an eating disorders clinic struggles to get along with other patients, the staff and his family.

NOTE: UNRESOLVED CONTENT – by Jae Carlsson was rescheduled
A young woman instantly decides (come hell or high water) to become the assistant to a blind musician when she bumps into him at the waiting room for her shrink.

April 17, 2018
THE SEQUELZ – by Dale Payne
Against a background of Leonard Cohen’s death and civil unrest  in Portland, playwright Momo tries to put the finishing touches on his script. He must fend off helpful suggestions and other roadblocks, while navigating through political correctness, sexual identity, and the evolution of languages.

April 3, 2018
MEETINGS . . . – by Jae Carlsson
Two professional men from Seattle and two professional women from Albuquerque, because of a hotel booking snafu, end up sharing a two-bedroom suite at a business convention in an unnamed Midwest city — for three days and . . . two nights.

March 20, 2018
JOSE’S HEROES – by Alan Alexander
With a nod to a classic television comedy series set a World War II prison camp, Jose’s Heroes is set in the year 2030 … when the Trump Memorial Wall is being used to keep the Mexicans IN!

March 6, 2018
PABLO’S KISSES or THE EXECUTION: A LOVE STORY [Excerpt] – by Paul K. Smith

A man of ideals comes to another man’s home to execute him; his wife welcomes him, convinced it is her old lover from many years ago come to see her, romance her, and woo her away. Three men stake a claim to her, until she breaks free. Meanwhile, explorers – conquistadors – are walking the moon, staking claim to it, and colonizing the indigenous peoples.

February 20, 2018
Because of snowy weather and difficult travel conditions, this meeting was postponed to March 6.

February 6, 2018
SHADOW BOX – by Karen Polinsky

When 17-year old Deandra loses her home, she finds herself inside a locked box of memories with a clever, spiteful woman named AVA, who holds the key to her future.

January 18-28, 2018
PDX Playwrights in the Fertile Ground Festival of New Works
The plethora of PDXPlaywrights offerings in the Fertile Ground Festival of New Works may be reviewed here: PDXP in Fertile Ground 2018. Please join us, support your fellow theater-makers, and find inspiration from these acts of creation!

NOTE: After the initial meeting January 2, no Third nor Fifth Tuesday meetings were scheduled in January, as PDX Playwrights and fans participated in and celebrated the Fertile Ground Festival of New Works. Our next regular session was slated for Tuesday, February 6. Meanwhile, we welcomed comments from PDXP participants and festival attendees about the festival, directed to info@pdxplaywrights.org

January 2, 2018
IN THE BAG – by Brad Bolchunos
BLUECOATS and WHERE THE HELL AM I? – by Gary Corbin
A brown paper bag is packed with danger and comedy, Civil War allegiances twist and turn, and variations on the definition of hell (including auditions) wind their way into these darkly comical 10-minute plays.

Unless otherwise noted, the sessions were held at the conference room of Portland Center Stage, Gerding Theater at the Armory, 128 NW 11th Ave.