Summerfield Estates Presents The Final PCS REMIX: Original Works Offering

Portland-based theater artist and filmmaker Ashley Song Mellinger will helm the final offering from the PCS Remix: Original Works series, which brings multidisciplinary artists together to create short theatrical works with complete artistic freedom to explore whatever direction inspires them.

"Summerfield Estates is a choose-your-own-adventure sci-farce that gives the audience a chance to participate in a weird, cinematic adventure," said Mellinger, who is the lead artist and will also star as the central character Mouser - a rogue secret agent who wakes up in a retirement home not knowing how she got there.

Joining Mellinger is Xzavier Beacham in the role of Felix, Mouser's rival in the cat-and-mouse games that ensue. They're joined by Treasure Lunan as Dallas, the charming and ever-so-helpful sapient being that rounds out the cast.

Live performances will be presented digitally via Zoom, where the audience will have the opportunity to help guide the story. There are four opportunities to catch this campy, off-kilter adventure: June 25 and 26 at 7:30 p.m., and June 26 and 27 at 2 p.m. Tickets are Pay What You Will, starting at $5, and can be reserved at pcs.org/summerfield-estates.

Imagine waking up in a strange place with no memory of how you got there or who you are. Step into the shoes of Mouser, a special agent of dubious background, who wakes up on the bathroom floor of a retirement community and must rely entirely on the decisions made by the audience to figure out what she's doing there and how to get out! Viewers will help craft the story in this techno/choose-your-own-adventure/sci-farce created by Ashley Song Mellinger. Streamed live and changing in real-time, Summerfield Estates offers a thrilling, hilarious journey that can be taken again and again.

As a theater artist and filmmaker, Mellinger is committed to re-imagining traditional narratives and including marginalized voices, without centering exclusively on their identities and trauma. She is an award-winning, half-Korean actor and producer, who co-founded Desert Island Studios to increase artists' accessibility to film resources. Her theater credits include: The Winter's Tale (Portland Shakespeare Project); BLISS (or Emily Post is Dead!) (Defunkt Theatre); Redwood (world premiere, Portland Center Stage); Girl vs. Troll (CoHo Labs); and Night Shift (Profile Theatre 72-Hour Play Fest).

Summerfield Estates is created and conceived by Mellinger, and directed and written by Joe Bowden. PCS Literary Manager Kamilah Bush is the dramaturg; Trent Eccles is the lighting designer and board operator; Casi Pacilio is the sound designer and audio engineer; Will Cotter is the video designer; Jamie Lynne Simons is the stage manager, Asia Brown is on Camera 1 and Edward Davee is on Camera 2.

Tickets can be purchased at pcs.org or by calling the box office at 503.445.3700, Monday through Thursday, from 10 a.m to 4 p.m. The run time for this original work is approximately 60 minutes. More information can be found at pcs.org/summerfield-estates.

The PCS Remix: Original Works series gathers artists from a broad spectrum of creative expressions to make short, devised theatrical pieces. The goal is collaboration and experimentation, rather than finished works of art. These projects allow PCS to support brilliant artists and give them the opportunity to explore whatever direction inspires them - and to deepen connections with the community by sharing this exciting exploratory work. The PCS Remix: Original Works series is supported in part by the Kinsman Foundation, Oregon Cultural Trust, and AHA, Inc.

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