The Theatre Company Launches In 2020

Jen Rowe and Brandon Woolley are teaming up to launch The Theatre Company in Portland, OR. They will oversee the artistic vision of the company as CoArtistic Directors with their first season beginning in 2020. As staples in the Portland theatre community in multiple roles (director, actor, casting director, producer), these two thirty-somethings plan to present Portland premieres of timely, socially relevant, and culturally conscious plays. The Theatre Company's mission is to enliven their community by transforming found spaces with bold, theatrical endeavors. Their inaugural two-show season will premier in March 2020 with The Moors by Jen Silverman and Vinegar Tom by Caryl Churchill in October 2020. Woolley directs and Rowe leads the cast of The Moors as Huldey in a production that will transform Copeland Commons at TaborSpace in Southeast Portland. Rowe directs Churchill's Vinegar Tom staged at The Hallowed Halls, a recording studio at Holgate and 64th Avenue in Southeast Portland.

The genesis for this new company began in June of 2019. Jen spent the last year working as a director and assistant director in multiple venues around the country, and Brandon had made a few career changes that ultimately landed him in a position to think clearly about his theatrical goals. The two met up after Jen reached out via Instagram to see about grabbing drinks and a great bond was forged over theater and their love of Portland.

With multiple artistic endeavors under their belts, the next logical step seemed to be starting their own company. Friends and theater community members had been pestering both Rowe and Woolley to do so for years, but the timing never felt right. With the Portland theater community going through a large transition including new leadership, spaces being reimagined or demolished, and new people arriving each day to the city, something about the summer of 2019 seemed like the perfect time. Bolstered by the current theatrical climate, the duo focused on what excites them most about the people, stories, and spaces that Portland has to offer. This led them to their mission which focuses on site specific theater across the city; finding spaces that support the storytelling and plays that inspire them in order to create alchemy with story, space, and spectacle.

The Moors is a bold, theatrical satire that takes us on a wild ride through the beautiful and the dangerous while upending gender politics and demanding visibility. The play focuses on spinster sisters, Agatha and Huldey, their split-personality maid, a governess from London, and a love story between a Mastiff and a Moor-Hen. The play will be performed at TaborSpace in Southeast Portland. Program Director Josh Pinkston says "We are excited to be partnering with The Theatre Co. production of The Moors for the story they're telling and the way they're telling it. Part of the perks of doing what we do at Taborspace is meeting and interacting with good people like Brandon and Jen who are also doing good work."

The Hallowed Halls will partner with The Theatre Company for their final show in 2020. This recording studio was originally a library, then a women's health clinic and is on the National Historic Register. Cleo Knickerbocker of The Hallowed Halls says "We connect with the message of Vinegar Tom and how this play relates to the past life of our historic building."

The history and style of the space create the perfect setting for Vinegar Tom, one of Caryl Churchill's first plays that is equal parts music with scenes interwoven throughout. Born out of the women's rights movement of the 60s and 70s, this play with music is a direct response to the uncompromising systems of patriarchy. Steeped in a landscape of pride, poverty and prejudice the question persists - what makes a witch?

The Theatre Company will celebrate the launch of their company with a party at Picnic PDX located at 1305 NW 23rd Ave. on November 4 from 6 to 8 p.m. Meet and mingle with Rowe and Woolley and learn more about the company. Longtime collaborator and board member, Rose Riordan, will be on hand to help usher in this new endeavor. She believes strongly in the work that these two will create and feels that TTC will "...make a quality home for all theatre artists. I'm excited to see the future and proud to call myself a board member!" The Theatre Company invites all to join them at the launch party and hopes to further inspire community and artistic excellence within this already thriving city.

For further information on the upcoming season, subscriptions, and shows visit www.thetheatreco.org

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