Portland Center Stage Presents AN ILIAD, 10/1

Former Ashland Associate Artistic Director Penny Metropulos and veteran performer Joseph Graves will pick up the gauntlet thrown by adaptors Denis O'Hare and Lisa Peterson and spin the western world's oldest yarn into a freshly riveting tale in An Iliad, launching a thousand ships this Fall in the Ellyn Bye Studio. An Iliad previews on Tuesday September 28th, opens on Friday, October 1st, and runs Tuesday through Sunday through November 21st.  Tickets start at $32, with student and under 30 discounts available. Rush tickets are $20. Show times are 7:30 pm Tuesday through Saturday, with a 2:00 pm Sunday matinee and alternating Saturday 2:00 pm and Sunday 7:30 pm performances. See the show calendar http://www.pcs.org/iliad/ for the complete performance schedule.
 
Imagine a barroom raconteur telling literally the oldest story in the book and making you believe it is being told for the first time and you have some idea of the experience of this immediate and eerily relevant one-man adaptation of Homer's The Iliad. Gods and goddesses, weak-tendoned heroes and the face that launched a thousand ships... it's all just another (incredibly engrossing) yarn in an evening that will permanently transform your view of warriors and the ancient and terrible acts they perpetuate on behalf of their nation-states.
 
Written around 850 B.C., The Iliad is commonly considered the oldest extant work of western literature- literally the first story to be written down in the newly invented written Greek language. The story revolves around the tale of Achilles, a semi-divine hero famous for his near-invulnerability (save one pesky spot on his heel) and his serious anger management problems. Before the Greeks end the Trojan War with a clever ruse (and a giant wooden horse), Achilles exacts a horrible, bloody revenge for the battlefield death of his dearest friend, Petroclus. It's a story that glorifies war in with one hand while lamenting the appalling waste of it with the other, and in Denis O'Hare and Lisa Peterson's adaptation, An Iliad, Achilles becomes a resonant place marker for each and every warrior, from Sparta to Afghanistan who has ever shouldered the burden of his country's rage and injustice.
 
Enriching the experience of the performance for audiences will be the following pre-and post-show events:
 
Oregon Stories of War
Mondays November 1st, 8th & 15th at 7:00pm in the Ellyn Bye Studio Theater
In conjunction with Portland Center Stage's production of An Iliad, and the Veteran's Day holiday, PCS will partner with The Telling Project to offer an innovative performance in which military veterans, after interviews and subsequent  training and rehearsal, have staged the 'telling' of their stories for our community.  The Telling Project creates opportunities for veterans to speak and their communities to listen.  Join us for these Oregon veteran's stories followed by a Q&A with audience members. FREE
 
War: What Is It Good For?
Sunday, November 7th, following the 2pm matineeExplore with our panel of local cultural experts the complex ways art and war interact in this post show panel discussion moderated by Tim DuRoche of the World Affairs Council.
 
An Iliad was originally devised by Tony-award winning actor Denis O'Hare (now a featured performer in the HBO hit TV series Tru Blood) in collaboration with director Lisa Peterson at the Sundance Theatre Institute. The project recently received rave reviews at Seattle Repertory Theatre, where it was performed by veteran Seattle actor Hans Altwies.
An Iliad will be directed by former Oregon Shakespeare Festival Associate Artistic Director Penny Metropulos, whose 19 years with the Festival included directing productions of Henry IV Part 1, The Comedy of Errors (a new musical version), Tracy's Tiger (an original musical), Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Philanderer, Humble Boy, Lorca in a Green Dress (premier), Antony and Cleopatra, As You Like It, The Tempest, The Night of the Iguana, The Good Person of Szechuan, The Three Musketeers (premiere), A Midsummer Night's Dream, Death of a Salesman, Timon of Athens, Cabaret Verboten, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Lips Together (Portland and Ashland), Teeth Apart, and Restoration.
 
When not performing the role of the Poet in An Iliad, Joseph Graves lives in Beijing, China where he is the artistic director of Peking University's Institute of World Theatre and Film. In China in the last 8 years he has produced and/or directed 50 plays, including many Chinese premieres of Western pieces.  He has performed over 100 roles on stage, such as the title characters in: King Lear, Othello, Hamlet, Richard III, Macbeth, Coriolanus, Timon of Athens, Henry V, Tartuffe, Uncle Vanya and many more. In the early 80s he appeared as guest-star in a number of American televisions shows such as Knight Rider and Fantasy Island among others, and has written several film scripts including, Sweetwater which launched VH1's Movies That Rock series, and Hannah And Jack for Academy Award winner, Sir John Mills. He returns in November to China to direct the film, How I Became a Shadow which he also wrote, based on the life of the controversial Chinese poet, and the first translator of Shakespeare's plays into Chinese, Zhu Shenghao. Joseph's latest play, Revel's World of Shakespeare (in English and Chinese) is available on Google Books.
 
Scenic design for An Iliad will be created by William Bloodgood, with costume design by Jeff Cone, lighting design by Diane Ferry-Williams and sound design by Sterling Tinsley.
 
Additional support for this production has been provided by CTA Lab and Stems Floral. Media support has been provided by Kink.fm and the Willamette Week.
Portland Center Stage's 2010/11 season is funded in part by Umpqua Private Bank, the Regional Arts & Culture Council and Work for Art; the Oregon Arts Commission; the Paul G.Allen Family Foundation; and Tim & Mary Boyle. The Mark Spencer Hotel is the official hotel partner for Portland Center Stage.
 
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.