Bag&Baggage Announces 2020/21 Season

In the midst of current theatre closures and social distancing efforts, Bag&Baggage Productions, Hillsboro's resident professional theatre, is looking to the future. While B&B's typical theatre season begins in the summer months, the company's plans for the 2020/21 Season are shifting in response to the current state of the world, with the new season slated to open in September of 2020.

"We believe that telling human stories is such an important element of our society," says B&B Artistic Director Cassie Greer, "and at the same time, we want to make sure that we're not trying to get people back inside traditional theatre spaces until it is actually safe and responsible to do so. We are so fortunate to have the support of our community and our artists throughout this time, and we are committed to emerging on the other side of this."

When the company does emerge, they plan to bring a dynamic season featuring both premieres and old favorites to Downtown Hillsboro's Vault Theater. The 2020/21 Season marks the first selected by Greer, whose inaugural season at the helm of the company, beginning in the spring of 2019, featured work that had previously been programmed by outgoing Founding Artistic Director, Scott Palmer. "Selecting this season has been an exciting opportunity to begin creating a little bit of a roadmap for where we are heading as a company," says Greer. "I'm interested in the ways we can stay true to our mission of cracking open the classics and exploring existing stories and texts in new ways, while also being a little bit more expansive in our thinking about how we tell these stories and whose voices we are featuring."

B&B will kick off the 2020/21 Season in the fall with the World Premiere of Dan Kitrosser's Svetlana! Svetlana!, inspired by the voice and writings of Joseph Stalin's only daughter, Svetlana Alliluyeva. Kitrosser is an award-winning Portland-based playwright, and this brand new comedy from his desk examines history, love, life, death, and the struggle to create - all performed by a cast of only two very versatile actors. Following in October is the Pacific Northwest Premiere of Jennifer Blackmer's new stage adaptation of Margaret Atwood's Alias Grace. Taking us into the room with one of Canada's most notorious murderers in 1859, Blackmer's take on Atwood's prize-winning novel is a fascinating study of memory, culpability, femininity, and the shadowy places within the human mind.

For the holidays, B&B returns to its roots and lightens things up with The Farndale Avenue Housing Estate Townswomen's Guild Dramatic Society's Production of 'A Christmas Carol' reprising a fan-favorite show from their 2012/13 Season. Featuring the enthusiastic and inept "ladies" of the dramatic society accompanied by their trusty stage manager, Gordon, antics and mishaps ensue in this irreverent take on Dickens' holiday classic.

March sees the company take on year three of their nationally-recognized Problem Play Project with a World Premiere collaborative venture by Don Wilson Glenn and Dmae Roberts entitled Troy, USA. The Project commissions Oregon-based playwrights of color to adapt Shakespeare's so-called "problem plays" with an equity and diversity lens, as B&B aims to bring greater representation to the stage and take on a more diverse array of social challenges. Glenn and Roberts' adaptation of Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida examines the story through the lens of the post-riot Detroit suburbs in the late Vietnam War era exploring war, race, class, oppression, betrayal, and the lengths to which we will go for love. The show will feature a multicultural ensemble cast of historic activists and organizers, illuminating some of our country's lesser-told histories and heroes in the first half of the 1970s.

B&B will conclude the season in May with Mary Zimmerman's visceral and lyrical Metamorphoses. Adapted from the ancient tales of Roman poet Ovid, the play received myriad awards during its run on Broadway, including the 2002 "Best Play" from Drama League Awards and "Outstanding Play" from both the Drama Desk and Lucille Lortel Awards. Zimmerman's work is an ode to the power of love and the shadows that lurk beneath it, ultimately reminding us that transformation is an essential part of human life and that sharing stories can sometimes bring us a glimpse of the divine.

Bag&Baggage will also continue their Emerging Artist Program in the 2020/21 Season, bringing four early career theatre professionals to work in every facet of the company for the season. The program culminates with a performance of a show created for young audiences based on Grimm's fairy tales; the Emerging Artist show will take the stage in June 2021, bringing local elementary school field trips to The Vault in addition to public performances on the weekends.

In addition to the company's theatrical work, B&B will host an array of their performing arts colleagues at The Vault in the 2020/21 Season, including cabaret artist Tony Starlight; Los Angeles-based comedy troupe "Fake Radio"; No Filter Improv; Staged! Musical Theatre; along with several others.

Season Tickets for the 2020/21 Season are available online at bagnbaggage.org or by calling the box office at 503-345-9590. Available at a discounted rate until May 1st, a regular Five Show Pass is $145 for adults and $124 for students and seniors; a Four Show Pass is $118 for adults and $100 for students and seniors. More information on all of the shows can be found online at bagnbaggage.org

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