Miracle Theatre Group Announces 28th Season

Miracle Theatre Group, the Northwest's premier Latino arts and culture organization, announces its 2011-2012 season featuring an exciting line-up of five productions, including the world premieres of three original, company-created works.

Miracle kicks off its 28th season with its third annual Luna Nueva festival, a multidisciplinary celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month featuring live music and dance performances, staged readings of new plays, open-mic poetry nights and more. A complete schedule will be announced later this summer for events from September 16 through October 1, 2011.

In October, Miracle celebrates Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) with a new company-created work titled ¡Viva la Revolución!, a bilingual production filled with music, dance and the traditions of Mexico honoring the sacrifices made by women in armed conflict, fighting to change society.

In February the company stages Boleros for the Disenchanted, a romantic drama exploring the challenges and rewards of a lifetime of love, a play penned by José Rivera, who was nominated for an Oscar for his screenplay adaptation of The Motorcycle Diaries.

Miracle's MainStage season continues in March with Jardín de Sueños, a family-friendly Spanish-language production that reveals the power of myths to create personal strength.

The final production Miracle's 28th season is Oedipus el Rey, the streetwise adaptation of the classic Sophocles tragedy that reveals the tragedy of power run amok, a story timely in Chicano gangland as it was to the ancient Greeks.

"Miracle's MainStage season reflects the human desire for transformation and fulfillment, the drive to make the most of our potential," reflects Olga Sanchez, Artistic Director of Miracle MainStage productions. "Through this desire we can overcome flaws and circumstances, surprising ourselves and others as we achieve great things in the world. But what initiate s this creative impulse, and what sustains us when challenges arise and self-doubts wear away at our resolve? Our season examines life and death, myth, love and fate... and the courage to create and embrace change."

Dañel Malán, Artistic Director of Teatro Milagro, says the theatre's touring show next year plays on a variation of the same theme when it looks at B'aktun 13 and asks if this is the end of the world? Or a time of change? "Teatro Milagro's play about the end of the Mayan calendar cycle isn't about what will happen, but what is happening, and how we have the power to change ourselves," she says. "Through mask-movement, a Mexican musical score and simple ritual, the tale of crossing the border, exploring the depths of Mayan mythology, and facing the realities of a dawning new age of humanity will explode on the stage of Milagro like a force of nature."

Also on the schedule are a number of special events, including the annual community Christmas celebration, Posada Milagro and a staged reading in Spanish for the 2012 International Women's Day. El Centro Milagro will also continue to play host to a variety of community meetings and events, including the Small- and Mid-sized Arts Coalition, the Portland Theatre Marketers Roundtable, Los Porteños Latino Writers Group, OYE, Latino Artists eXchange, Fusion Arte and many others.

Miracle Theatre Group's 2011-2012 season includes:

¡VIVA LA REVOLUCIÓN!
Created by Martín Milagro
October 21 to November 13, 2011
An original, bilingual celebration of the Day of the Dead
Sponsored by Ronni Lacroute and the Consulate of Mexico in Portland
Every year, the dead are commemorated in Portland's longest-running Día de los Muertos celebration. In the
early 20th century, when the people of Mexico joined forces to demand reform, Las Adelitas were women who placed themselves in the line of fire in support of the Mexican revolutionaries. Celebrated in music and dance with corridos and baile folklórico, we honor those who fought bravely for liberation.

B'AKTUN 13
Written by Dañel Malán
January 13 to 21, 2012
An original, bilingual Teatro Milagro production
Sponsored by Juan Young Trust
Deported to Mexico because their parents were discovered to be undocumented immigrants, two college students from Oregon immediately find themselves swept up in the prophecies surrounding B'aktun 13, the final era in the Mayan calendar. Their future is suddenly as uncertain as the world around them: Will the Earth change on December 21, 2012? Or will they?

BOLEROS FOR THE DISENCHANTED
Written by José Rivera (Oscar-nominated author of the screenplay adaptation of The Motorcycle Diaries)
February 10 to March 3, 2012
Sponsored by Urban Robotics
Passion and humor collide amid the warm, sunny breezes of 1950s Puerto Rico when Eusebio sweeps Flora off her feet and off to America - away from her family and her familiar life. Nearly 40 years later, an angel visits Eusebio with a mysterious message that stirs up old secrets and causes Flora to question the life she has tirelessly built in a foreign land. "Deeply affecting! Beautiful! A play that celebrates love." -The Boston Globe

JARDÍN DE SUEÑOS
An original play created by Miracle Theatre Group
March 23 to April 14, 2012
In Spanish with easy-to-follow English supertitles
Sponsored by the Consulate of Mexico in Portland
Imagine the impossible, the magnificent, the terrifying ... Like a garden of dreams, folktales are filled with legendary creatures who lead us down the paths of discovery. For some, it's about love; for others, it's about knowledge. For young Cristina, it's about listening to her heart and finding her voice.

OEDIPUS EL REY
Written by Luis Alfaro
May 4 to 26, 2012
A story that "crackles with electricity" -Washington Examiner
Sponsored by Josie Mendoza and Hugh Mackworth
With Chicano swagger and sly sense of humor, Luis Alfaro transports Sophocles' tragedy to the mean streets of East L.A. Here Oedipus does hard time for ripping off a Costco, Jocasta splashes on the Jean Naté while glued to "All My Children" and the oracle takes cash only. But the word on the street is not good and the passion Oedipus has for one woman will violate our most sacRed Law.

PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE AND LOCATION
Performances begin at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays, 8:00 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and 2:00 p.m. Sundays at the Milagro Theatre (525 S.E. Stark St., Portland).

TICKET INFORMATION
Various season ticket packages are available, ranging from $74-$104. Individual ticket prices are $15-$30, which include a variety of discounts for students, seniors and groups of 15 or more; previews/Thursdays and Sundays; as well as advance cash purchases. Subscriptions, single tickets and group reservations are available by calling 503-236-7253. For more information, visit www.milagro.org.

2011-2012 SEASON SPONSORS
Miracle Theatre Group's 2011-2012 season is sponsored in part by Meyer Memorial Trust, The Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, The Kinsman Foundation, The Collins Foundation, The Shubert Foundation, James F. and Marion L. Miller Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Oregon Arts Commission, Regional Arts & Culture Council (including support from the City of Portland, Clackamas, Multnomah and Washington Counties, and Metro) and Work for Art (including contributions from more than 1500 employees at companies throughout the tri-county region), El Centinela, and El Hispanic News.

ABOUT MIRACLE THEATRE GROUP
Miracle Theatre Group has been dedicated to bringing the vibrancy of Latino theatre to the Northwest community and beyond for more than 25 years. In addition to its national tours, Miracle provides a home for Spanish and Latino arts and culture at El Centro Milagro, where it enriches the local community with a variety of community outreach projects and educational programs designed to share the diversity of Latino culture. For more information about the Miracle Theatre Group, visit www.milagro.org or call 503-236-7253.

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