Photo Flash: Portland Center Stage Presents THE RECEPTIONIST

Portland Center Stage gleefully proves that the even the most mundane offices can be truly horrifying in Adam's Bock's The Receptionist, opening on the Portland Center Stage Studio after a hit run at CoHo Productions in 2008. The Receptionist begins previews on Tuesday January 26, opens on Friday January 29 and runs Tuesday through Sunday until March 21, 2010. Due to a packed opening week of performances, press seats for The Receptionist will be available on the Saturday, February 6 performance at 7:30 pm.

For a complete performance schedule, go to http://tickets.pcs.org/buytickets/calendar.asp.

Tickets for The Receptionist start at $24, with student and under 30 prices available. Rush tickets will be available for $20 a few minutes before each performance. This darkly comic exploration of the horrors beneath the surface of the most boring office routines reunites director Rose Riordan with playwright Adam Bock, whose 2006 play The Thugs was workshopped at Portland Center
Stage's JAW: a Playwright's Festival and later premiered in the Ellyn Bye Studio.

In it, N.E. Office receptionist Beverly manages to deftly juggle pastry and phone calls while hoarding pens and keeping on top of the inter-office gossip. But her coworker Lorraine is late (AGAIN), and her boss Mr. Raymond is MIA. Then Mr. Dart arrives from Central Office and Beverly is forced to wonder just what sort of office she actually works for.

Adam Bock's The Thugs premiered at NYC's Soho Rep in 2006, winning an OBIE for playwriting, and was named to both of TimeOut NY's Top Ten lists. The Receptionist premiered at the Manhattan Theater Club in 2007 under the direction of Joe Mantello. Other award-winning scripts include Five Flights, Swimming in the Shallows, The Shaker Chair and The Typographer's Dream. Mr. Bock helped Jack Cummings III develop The Audience, nominated for three 2005 Drama Desk Awards including Best Musical. These and other plays have been read or workshopped at New York Theater Workshop, Playwrights Horizons, NYC's Vineyard Theater, Soho Rep, Underwood Theater, Rude
Mechanicals NYC, the JAW Festival at Portland Center Stage, Printer's Devil, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Magic Theater, Salt Lake Actors Company, Southwark Theater, TheatreWorks New Works Festival, New Works at Perry-Mansfield and Clubbed Thumb. Mr. Bock is an artistic associate at Shotgun Players and Encore Theater, and is a resident playwright at New Dramatists.

Director Rose Riordan is in her 14th season at Portland Center Stage, where she serves as associate artistic director. Previously at PCS she has directed A Christmas Carol, Frost/Nixon, How to Disappear Completely and Never Be Found, Doubt, The Underpants, The Pillowman by Martin McDonagh and The Thugs by Adam Bock, which won four Drammy Awards, including Best Ensemble and Best Director. Last fall, she directed The Receptionist at CoHo Productions, which won a Drammy for Best Actress for Sharonlee McLean. Born and raised in Alaska, Rose began her career in theater before she had acquired a lexicon for describing the work.

Prior to the age of 10, she wrote, directed and produced plays, most of them backyard productions for family, friends and neighbors. Her first "professional" full-length play, an intense examination of six stewardesses and their "man troubles," was presented at Eagle River Elementary School. A defining moment for her, it solidified Rose's commitment to a pursuit of theater with the sole desire to illuminate and be illuminated. In 1999 she founded Portland Center Stage's annual JAW: A Playwrights Festival. JAW has been instrumental in developing new work for the PCS repertory: Outrage, Flesh and Blood, Another Fine Mess, O Lovely Glowworm, Celebrity Row, Act a Lady, The Thugs and A Feminine Ending. She directed staged readings for plays at four of the JAW festivals-The Thugs (2005), Telethon (2006), A Story About a Girl (2007), and 99 Ways to Fuck a Swan (2009). She enjoys being part of a company committed to new work and having a beautiful building in which to work. Rose also provided the scenic and costume design for The Receptionist. Lighting design is by Don Crossley and sound design is by Jen Raynak. 

Cast includes Sharonlee McClean (Beverly) and Laura Faye Smith (Lorraine), both reprising their roles in the CoHo Productions performance. New additions to the cast include Chris Harder (Mr. Dart), fresh off his critically acclaimed role in Sam Shepard's Fool for Love at CoHo Productions and Portland Center Stage's very own Database Administrator, Bob Thomas, who will play the role of Mr. Raymond. 

PORTLAND CENTER STAGE inspires our community by bringing stories to life in unexpected ways. Established in 1988 as an off shoot of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, PCS became an independent theater in 1994 and has been under the leadership of Artistic Director Chris Coleman since May 2000. The company presents a blend of classic, contemporary and original productions in a conscious effort to appeal to the eclectic palate of theatergoers in Portland. PCS also offers a variety of education and outreach programs for curious minds from six to 106, including discussions, classes, workshops and partnerships with organizations throughout the Portland metro area.

THE GERDING THEATER AT THE ARMORY houses a 599-seat Main Stage and the 200-seat black box
Ellyn Bye Studio. It was the first building on the National Register of Historic Places, and the first performing arts venue, to achieve a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Platinum certification. The Gerding Theater at the Armory opened to the public on Oct. 1, 2006. The capital campaign to fund the renovation of this hub for community artistic activity continues.

Sharonlee McLean

Sharonlee McLean and

Bob Thomas and Chris Harder

Sharonlee McLean and Laura Faye Smith

Sharonlee McLean and Laura Faye Smith

Sharonlee McLean and Laura Faye Smith