PETE Presents THE AMERICANS A Co-Production With The Historic Alberta House

PETE presents THE AMERICANS a co-production with the Historic Alberta House runs January 19 - February 4 at Alberta House, 5131 NE 23rd Ave, Portland, OR 97211.

A nation premised on an idea-not on an alleged shared bloodline or eons of history on common land-must periodically question exactly who and what it is - Jelani Cobb.

I think any solution will first have to start with the real story. We need to sit down around the same table and agree on the diagnostic - Raoul Peck.

Exactly who and what is American? Over half of the US population believes we will see another civil war; it's even more if you ask young people. We have the most diverse federal political representation, while voter suppression increases. There was an insurrection in the US capitol. And we have been labeled a "backsliding democracy" by International IDEA.

PETE meets an American idea in movement, stand-up and jazz forms. Working site specifically in the historic Alberta House, we ask you to join us in a town-hall, town-square, dance-hall. We will dance with American realness in high contrast image, sound and video. We are excited to join Alberta house in their on-going work curating place and attention for cultural experiences and community conversations.

We look back to the silent generation, and the counterculture of 1959, in order to better understand our present moment. Anchored by the photographs of Robert Frank in his seminal work, "The Americans", PETE engages a diverse team of artists to steal from the past, drag it out and dust it off, in order to see ourselves anew.

Led by co-artistic director Cristi Miles, the play will be developed in collaboration with guest artists Christopher Gonzales, Gerrin Delane Mitchell, Rose Proctor, Ezri Reyes, Damaris Webb, Andrew Welsh, and core PETE members Jacob Coleman, Rebecca Lingafelter and Amber Whitehall, as well as PETE's design team: Jenny Ampersand, Miranda K Hardy, Peter Ksander, Trevor Sargent and Mark Valadez.

Made possible with support from Ronni LaCroute, Pancho Savery, Charlotte Rubin, The Oregon Cultural Trust, the Regional Arts and Culture Council, The Kinsman Foundation and The Mental Insight Foundation.

The Americans

A co-production with The Alberta House

Directed by Cristi Miles

Shows: January 19 - February 4

Wed - Sun at 7:30 pm

Run Time: approximately 90 minutes

Venue: Alberta House, 5131 NE 23rd Ave, Portland, OR 97211

Tickets: $5-$50

PETE is a company of artists who make new plays in a collaborative way. We make visceral work that vanguards design and embodiment. We are committed to creative rigor, to the enrichment of our local arts ecology, and to . We challenge established notions of theatrical form and content with innovative practice, presentation and organization. We strive to achieve a radical kind of presence shared with audiences in the performance event.

PETE has been making performance since its inception in 2011, including Fronteriza, a personal reckoning with borderlands; Weather Room, a mobile environment-script; Beckett Women, an evening of shorts; Our Ruined House, spy vs spy meets electro-pop dance party; Deception Unit, a vodka-soaked kitchen-sink tragi-comedy; How to Learn, a lecture performance on education, privilege and knowledge; a collaboration on new English translations of Chekhov's major work with translator Stepan Simek, including our most recent, Cherry Orchard. In addition, PETE facilitates training for working professionals and emerging artists. PETE offers a year-long training program and incubator for new work, The Institute for Contemporary Performance.

PETE is Jacob Coleman, Rebecca Lingafelter, Cristi Miles, and Amber Whitehall, with Jenny Ampersand, Molly Gardner, Miranda K Hardy, Peter Ksander, Kristina Mast, Trevor Sergant, Robert Quillen Camp, and Mark Valadez.

Alberta House is an event space and creative laboratory run by Artistic Director Vin Shambry and Creative Director Matthew Kerrigan . The House is a blank canvas focusing on reaching and engaging voices in our community that have been disproportionately impacted by Oregon's social, economic, and racial injustices. We envision a diverse, equitable, and inclusive space building on a vibrant history of gallery exhibits, dance, music, theatre, storytelling, and celebration. Alberts House is everyone's laboratory.

More info at petensemble.org.

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