Ummm...she said WHAT?!

Portland Center Stage’s

NOW HEAR THIS

invites you to a concert reading of

The Drunken City

By Adam Bock

*

November 3, 2008

4pm-6pm

@ Portland Center Stage

128 NW Eleventh Avenue (between Couch & Davis)

in the Rehearsal Room

Admission is free, but space is limited

Please email Megan Ward at meganw@pcs.org

to reserve your seat

—————————–

Marnie’s getting married! The girls are out on the town to celebrate her last night of being single, when they run into Frank and Eddie. Sparks fly and Marnie is left questioning why she’s getting married. In The Drunken City, everyone is trying to sober up and find some balance—especially the bride-to-be.

*
Adam Bock’s plays include The Thugs (OBIE Award) Swimming in the Shallows (3 BATCC Awards, Clauder Award) Five Flights (Glickman Award) The Typographer’s Dream, The Shaker Chair and Three Guys and a Brenda (Heideman Award). He is the resident playwright at Encore Theater, a Shotgun Players artistic associate, and a New Dramatist member playwright. He is currently writing a screenplay for Scott Rudin/Miramax.

Our outstanding cast includes:

Brittany Burch, Paul Glazier, Chris Harder, Julie Jeske Murray, Chris Murray, & Laura Faye Smith

Now Hear This and Portland Center Stage gratefully acknowledge the support of the Oregon Cultural Trust.

People. People.

Let's talk about theater etiquette. This past weekend I saw some shows in Portland and I was amazed at how many people talked, or fell asleep and snored, or had their cell phone go off. KNOCK IT OFF!

Don't talk or whisper to your neighbor, we can hear you. And even if we can't totally hear you, we are distracted by what we can hear but cannot quite make out. It's not o.k., people are working and creating art right in front of you, by all means enjoy yourself, but don't be distracting to the performers or the other audience members. It's rude. Turn off your cell phone. Don't even text, you think you're being sneaky but the light from your screen is so bright in our dark theaters. Don't fall asleep, have some caffeine before you enter the theater. Or have your friend next to you wake you up if you start snoring. And please dear god do not do not get up to go the bathroom. Most of the performing spaces in Portland are small and exiting the audience space is awkward, but even in a house as big as PCS, the actors can see you and hear you more than you think. And other audience member get taken out of the play because they are watching you exit and then come back in. Now if it's an emergency, then fine. But seriously, most of us need to learn to use the toilet before getting into the car...I mean theater.

O.K. that's my little rant. Now you know. Don't do it anymore.
Thanks.

Wassup

Wassap 2008


Wassup the Original

And Scene

Homesexuals have a fan page on facebook and now some pretty cool tribute videos.









p.s. I love The Gays

London, I love you...Do you love me too?

Tonight, my friend Langan invited me to see The Kooks in concert at the Crystal Ballroom. It was an awesome concert and I'm glad I got to hang out with my friend before she leaves for New York. But all I could think about during the concert, was that this band could be my friend Sam Man's band. The lead singer, when blinded by the rock concert lighting, could be mistaken for Sam. Probably never in real life, but his lead singer attitude reminded me of him. In fact the whole band could have been his band. I could see Max, Jamie, Chris, and Alex on stage. Weird.

When I was living in London, my friends used to play a game with me. They would play a song and then I would have to guess if the band was British or American. I sucked at this game, because to me the vocalist sounded the same. I lost some cool points here. Oh well. But when listening to the Kooks I could tell they were English. In fact that's mainly the reason I went, besides hanging out with you Langan.

While watching the band, I was annoyed at how clean cut and American the audience all looked. And the smell of axe body spray made me want to vomit. I would never be caught dead at a venue in London in the outfit I wore to the concert. I was wearing sneakers (trainers) and the coolest thing about my outfit was my leather jacket, which I bought second hand at Camden Market. My friend was wearing sneakers made from hemp and recycled tires...so green and so Portland. So that was cool. But seriously going to this concert made me yearn for London. I keep having these flashbacks to parties in central London where my friend Sam Hall would DJ, or afternoons with tea, McVities and Neighbours (an Australian Soap) with Laurel, or beans on toast, and the horrible corner store I used to buy my food, or Topshop and Oxford Circus, or Camden or Portobello Market or trips to Greenwich or Brick Lane with Margot. It was like I was there. I kept hoping that when I walked out that front door I would be coming out of the Mean Fiddler or 333 Mother some place like that. But alas.

So...who wants to put me up on the couch so I can visit London?

Spring Awakening

Well my Spring has been awakened. I got to see Spring Awakening tonight at the Keller. The tour is in town. I highly suggest seeing this show. It was a good time. I happened to be sitting next to two teenage girls who were loving every minute of it and even grabbed each others hands when the cute boy got up to sing. EEEEE! SO EXCITING. AWWW...remember, remember what that was like? To have your heart leap out of your throat you were so excited!?

I am not a huge musical fan. It's not the unrealistic behavior of bursting out into song, I know plenty of people that do this for real in real life, I'm not sure what it is exactly. But whatever. The songs in this show do an excellent job of giving you that teenager feeling again. These characters may be in period dress, but god damn do they rock out with their cock out. And I have to say, thank god for the masturbation, abuse, sexual abuse, sex ( he makes like he puts it in...yeah. This was too much for some), suicide, boys kissing boys, and an abortion. Finally a musical that gets down and dirty. Oh wait? Aren't these things also in Grease and it Rent (and many others I can't remember right now)? SOOO...why were some of the "older" theater patrons around me so shocked...cuase the actors are kids. Literally the cast is pulled from high schools and colleges around the country. And apparently when they auditioned they had to make a myspace page to see how many hits they could get. The kid with the most hits got called in. Yep...so I hear. Or maybe it's because the blocking is more graphic. Will someone tell me...please.

Anyway, it was a good night all told. The choreography was really interesting and the set was cool. It almost looked like it was 3D at points because of the lighting, which was also really well done. Very rock and roll but could so scale back and be poetic. The hanging light bulbs reminded me of the Armory chandelier. Oh and there were young kids pulled from the audience and asked to sit on these bleachers on stage and be part of the ensemble. Marc Acito, who I ran into at intermission thought I was one of those kids. To be fair, the girl he was referring to kinda did look like me: white with long blonde hair. And the band was on stage and the characters interacted with it (several characters sat down and played the piano) and were constantly pulling mics out of their jackets or handing them to each other. I feel like this was a choice by the director to make it feel more like a rock concert than a musical. Don't hide the mics that's sooo musical theater. Of course they were wearing body mics as well, but the choice to pull out the mics and use the mic stand had to have been a deliberate choice. It's so more rock and roll.

I'm really glad I was able to go. Thanks Cynthia for the tickets! I can't wait for the rights to become avalible.

Go Porland It's your birthday

And we're going to party like it's your birthday...

I am very proud of the Portland theater scene these days. Last night I saw 'The Receptionist' by Adam Bock directed by Rose Riordan at CoHo Productions. It was fabulous. Chris Murray, Laura Faye Smith, Gary Norman, and Sharonlee McLean starred and they were all incredible. Gary Norman was transformed on stage. You have never seen Gary do a role quite like this. I definitely recommend you check it out.

Last week I saw, 'Wish' by james moore at defunkt theater. Well crafted and hilarious. I was really enjoying the story but then-hang on- it takes a sharp left turn. But don't get discouraged a singing hamster will fill you in in just a second. Another good night of theater.

The next night I saw 'Dead Funny' by Terry Johnson at Third Rail Rep. They have moved into their new space and are hitting it out of the park. It was sold out and the audience loved every moment. I was able to just sit there and enjoy it. Maureen Porter is so lovely on stage, your heart just goes out to her character. You care deeply about the show even if you don't know anything about Benny Hill because you are invested in the characters. I also thought it was smart that the company didn't use the whole stage instead hey built their set just the size they needed. Brilliant.
It warms my heart that there are so many good shows going on right now.