Profile Theatre Brings a Bit of Hollywood to Portland

For the final show of their most ambitious season to date, Profile Theatre presents How to Make An American Son, by christopher oscar peña, directed by Ben Villegas Randle. Peña is one of the featured playwrights of Profile’s special two-year 25th anniversary season entitled “The American Generation” along with Kristoffer Diaz and Lauren Yee. How to Make An American Son is the first play Profile is producing by peña and is a play that will leave the audience with quite a lasting impact. Peña is no stranger to pushing boundaries, inducing laughter, and bringing heart and thoughtfulness to his work. He is not only one of the most prolific up-and-coming contemporary playwrights, but has already established a solid career as a Hollywood writer.

Pena’s distinct voice can be found in hit TV shows such as Emmy award-winning Jane the Virgin, HBO’s Insecure, Promised Land on Hulu and many more television credits. His comedic style and razor-sharp timing along with his wit and clever social commentary make his characters feel honest and real. In How to Make An American Son, peña uses some of his real-life experiences to craft characters that are relatable and nuanced in a way that makes the audience feel right at home, yet a little on edge. This “love letter to his father,” centers the story of a father, Mando, a Honduran-born immigrant who built a successful janitorial business, and his gay son, Orlando, who benefits from the privilege Mando’s hard work affords him, but who is still embarrassed by his father’s old-fashioned ideals and line of work. The two both face their own crises simultaneously as they are trying to achieve their own version of the “American dream,” while trying to relate to one another, and find their places in a society that won’t let them truly belong.

Over the course of the play, the love, humor, danger, and struggles of the characters sink in as the audience becomes part of the family. Artistic Director Josh Hecht says “Chris has written a play that is at once incredibly personal and incredibly incisive about arriving, belonging and forging an American identity. It’s a privilege to present this important new voice in the American theatre.” 

How to Make An American Son runs June 8-25 at Imago Theatre (17 SE 8th Ave, Portland) and tickets are on sale now at profiletheatre.org/americanson