PDX Playwrights once again proudly upholds our reputation as “the festival within the festival” sprouting an astonishing array of exciting new plays in staged readings for Fertile Ground. Scroll down for a lush garden of imagination. With more than two dozen plays of varying lengths and a wide assortment of topics and forms, PDX Playwrights offers something for nearly everyone. Many productions feature more than one showing. Locavores with an appetite for creativity should consider a Festival Pass – and designating PDX Playwrights at the end of the pass purchase transaction lends support to our talented participants without any extra cost to you!
Plays are listed below in order of performance. Read these enticing play descriptions for a sense of the impressive variety of voices in our work. Events will appear appear Friday, Jan. 20 through Sunday, Jan. 29. All PDX Playwrights events this year are at Hipbone Studio, 1847 E Burnside. Tickets are available at the door and in advance via Box Office Tickets online (scroll through the page to check the show date you want) or by phone: 800-494-8497 (TIXS). We look forward to seeing you!
7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 20
Daisy Dukes Shorts Night — by PDX Playwrights
Directed by Julie Akers
Tickets: $10 | Online or 800-494-8497 (TIXS)
A jury chose these 11 short shorts written on the theme “All the Difference in the World:” Blah and Order by Alex Haslett, Buddha Belly by Anna Nicholas, The Cover of Darkness by Miriam Feder, Eros in Chains by Danna Schaeffer, Heaven on Fire by Katie Bennett, Live Strong by James Kim, Orbit by Brad Bolchunos, The Question by Gregory Forbes, Spilt Beans by Sally Stember, Swing Set by David Matson and Transmit Now by Peter Armetta.
9:15 p.m. Friday, Jan. 20
The Crazy Dukes Instant Play Festival Launch — by PDX Playwrights
Tickets: Free | Venue: Hipbone Studio
Come to this free event to help us inaugurate and celebrate our new baby — the Crazy Dukes Instant Play Festival. It’s guaranteed to be the newest, freshest work performed at Fertile Ground 2017. How do we know this? Because the work is created during the festival by six of our talented playwrights and more than 20 actors! We’ll take a few play prompts from our audience at intermission for Daisy Dukes Shorts Night, roughly 8 p.m. Just after that show ends, we’ll randomly assign actors to playwrights in front of your very eyes. They won’t know who or how many or anything until you do. Then come back on Friday, Jan. 27 or Saturday, Jan. 28 to watch the fireworks!
7 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 21
Pas de Dieux: A Dance of (no) Gods — by John Ernest Servilio
Tickets: $10 | Online or 800-494-8497 (TIXS)
In the near future five people living on the street watch the end of the world go by: Sham has seen it coming, and carries a satchel containing proof; Karla refuses to believe it is happening, because a positive outlook has always served her in the past; Nickle, a foul-mouthed believer with St. Vitus Dance, has been trying to die in the arms of God for a while, but dying with everyone else doesn’t feel so special; Crown is disturbed most by the failure of a system he was once so good at manipulating, yet no longer functions; and Mina, the poet, atheist, and reluctant hero, must be the one to conjure up the most procreative of transformations in the presence of a dying world. With nothing left to lose, what is it these five ill-matched people possess that can bring the world back from the brink? Both funny and poignant, Pas de Dieux is a consideration of what it means to have hope, lose hope, screw hope, and dance for your enemy.
9 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 21
Short and Sweet — by LineStorm Playwrights
Directed by Paul Angelo
Tickets: $10 | Online or 800-494-8497 (TIXS)
LineStorm Playwrights, a new name and new energy from old friends P-Town Playwrights, offers eleven short shorts: After this Episode by Brianna Barrett, Assessment by Audrey Block, Break by Sara Jean Accuardi, Dress by Naga Nataka, Eye of the Beholder by Rich Rubin, Four Women, One Man by Susan Faust, Games People Play by Debbie Lamedman, Last Gasp by Miriam Feder, New Brunswick, New Jersey by E.M. Lewis, Overdue by Josie Seid, and Shanghaied by Lolly Ward.
12 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 22
Literary Theory — by Sherry Lane
Directed by Riley Lozano
Tickets: $10 | Online or 800-494-8497 (TIXS)
What is literature? And what purpose does it serve? As Amy prepares her lectures, she grapples with these questions and receives some unexpected visitors. A lively glimpse into the history of literary theory and a celebration of all things Portland.
2 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 22
Dust on My Shoes, The Musical — by Beverly Frentress
Tickets: $10 | Online or 800-494-8497 (TIXS)
When the question turns to fidelity, Allan and Melinda take a closer look at their relationship and how to save their blended family. They wind their way amidst the ballads, pop songs, R&B and electronica of this original score.
5 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 22
My Little Jezebel — by Danna Schaeffer
Directed by Julie Akers
Tickets: $10 | Online or 800-494-8497 (TIXS)
Murder is like no other death. This one-woman show bares the struggle to live with the murder of a beloved daughter but stay open to joy and even hilarity.
7 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 22
4×3: Knock it Off, The Glurping, The Rusty Wheel and Morning Coffee — by Brad Bolchunos, Lauren Emery and Miriam Feder
Tickets: $10 | Online or 800-494-8497 (TIXS)
In Brad Bolchunos’ play Knock it Off, Hodge and his friends confront assumptions about tolerance when an uninvited guest brings along unsettling behavior. Bolchunos’ comedy The Glurping asks if all we have to fear is fear itself, can Marvin Fitzbacher summon the courage to be king? Lauren Emery’s play The Rusty Wheel explores the dynamics of confrontation and the struggle for power in the workplace when a woman tells her boss that she doesn’t like the way he touches her. What follows is awkward, unsettling, and brutally funny. Miriam Feder’s play Morning Coffee, directed by Julie Akers, ponders the pitfalls of love over 50 as Karl and Nancy navigate a friends-with-benefits relationship. Is keeping options open really an option?
7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 27
Short & Sweet — by LineStorm Playwrights
Directed by Paul Angelo
Tickets: $10 | Online or 800-494-8497 (TIXS)
LineStorm Playwrights, a new name and new energy from old friends P-Town Playwrights, offers eleven short shorts: After this Episode by Brianna Barrett, Assessment by Audrey Block, Break by Sara Jean Accuardi, Dress by Naga Nataka, Eye of the Beholder by Rich Rubin, Four Women, One Man by Susan Faust, Games People Play by Debbie Lamedman, Last Gasp by Miriam Feder, New Brunswick, New Jersey by E.M. Lewis, Overdue by Josie Seid, and Shanghaied by Lolly Ward.
9:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 27
Crazy Dukes Instant Play Festival — by Katie Bennett, Brad Bolchunos, Jeff Donaldson-Forbes, Julianna Gonzalez, Alex Haslett and Gabrielle Widman
Tickets: $10 | Online or 800-494-8497 (TIXS)
The Crazy Dukes Instant Play Festival is guaranteed to be the very newest, freshest work performed at Fertile Ground 2017. How do we know this? Because the work is created during the festival! Think of it as theater on a highwire with no net. Six talented playwrights will get a handful of prompts and will be randomly assigned two to six cast members on the first night of PDXP’s Daisy Dukes Shorts Night and after-party, Jan. 20. Each of the playwrights will then write ten-minute plays in 48 hours, rehearse them in five days and stage them for you. Guaranteed crazy — and guaranteed amazing!
7 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 28
Daisy Dukes Shorts Night — by PDX Playwrights
Directed by Julie Akers
Tickets: $10 | Online or 800-494-8497 (TIXS)
A jury chose these 11 short shorts written on the theme “All the Difference in the World:” Blah and Order by Alex Haslett, Buddha Belly by Anna Nicholas, The Cover of Darkness by Miriam Feder, Eros in Chains by Danna Schaeffer, Heaven on Fire by Katie Bennett, Live Strong by James Kim, Orbit by Brad Bolchunos, The Question by Gregory Forbes, Spilt Beans by Sally Stember, Swing Set by David Matson and Transmit Now by Peter Armetta.
9:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 28
Crazy Dukes Instant Play Festival — by Katie Bennett, Brad Bolchunos, Jeff Donaldson-Forbes, Julianna Gonzalez, Alex Haslett and Gabrielle Widman
Tickets: $10 | Online or 800-494-8497 (TIXS)
The Crazy Dukes Instant Play Festival is guaranteed to be the very newest, freshest work performed at Fertile Ground 2017. How do we know this? Because the work is created during the festival! Think of it as theater on a highwire with no net. Six talented playwrights will get a handful of prompts and will be randomly assigned two to six cast members on the first night of PDXP’s Daisy Dukes Shorts Night and after-party, Jan. 20. Each of the playwrights will then write ten-minute plays in 48 hours, rehearse them in five days and stage them for you. Guaranteed crazy — and guaranteed amazing!
12 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 29
Dust on My Shoes, The Musical — by Beverly Frentress
Tickets: $10 | Online or 800-494-8497 (TIXS)
When the question turns to fidelity, Allan and Melinda take a closer look at their relationship and how to save their blended family. They wind their way amidst the ballads, pop songs, R&B and electronica of this original score.
2 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 29
My Little Jezebel — by Danna Schaeffer
Directed by Julie Akers
Tickets: $10 | Online or 800-494-8497 (TIXS)
Murder is like no other death. This one-woman show bares the struggle to live with the murder of a beloved daughter but stay open to joy and even hilarity.
5 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 29
4×3: Knock it Off, The Glurping, The Rusty Wheel and Morning Coffee — by Brad Bolchunos, Lauren Emery and Miriam Feder
Tickets: $10 | Online or 800-494-8497 (TIXS)
In Brad Bolchunos’ play Knock it Off, Hodge and his friends confront assumptions about tolerance when an uninvited guest brings along unsettling behavior. Bolchunos’ comedy The Glurping asks if all we have to fear is fear itself, can Marvin Fitzbacher summon the courage to be king? Lauren Emery’s play The Rusty Wheel explores the dynamics of confrontation and the struggle for power in the workplace when a woman tells her boss that she doesn’t like the way he touches her. What follows is awkward, unsettling, and brutally funny. Miriam Feder’s play Morning Coffee, directed by Julie Akers, ponders the pitfalls of love over 50 as Karl and Nancy navigate a friends-with-benefits relationship. Is keeping options open really an option?
7 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 29
Pas de Dieux: A Dance of (no) Gods — by John Ernest Servilio
Tickets: $10 | Online or 800-494-8497 (TIXS)
In the near future five people living on the street watch the end of the world go by: Sham has seen it coming, and carries a satchel containing proof; Karla refuses to believe it is happening, because a positive outlook has always served her in the past; Nickle, a foul-mouthed believer with St. Vitus Dance, has been trying to die in the arms of God for a while, but dying with everyone else doesn’t feel so special; Crown is disturbed most by the failure of a system he was once so good at manipulating, yet no longer functions; and Mina, the poet, atheist, and reluctant hero, must be the one to conjure up the most procreative of transformations in the presence of a dying world. With nothing left to lose, what is it these five ill-matched people possess that can bring the world back from the brink? Both funny and poignant, Pas de Dieux is a consideration of what it means to have hope, lose hope, screw hope, and dance for your enemy.
We can’t wait to see you at the festival within the festival!
