'WATSON INTELLIGENCE', LUNA GALE and More on Tap for CoHo Productions's 22nd Season
By: BWW News Desk Apr. 14, 2017
CoHo Productions has announced #CoHoSeason22, featuring four artist-led co-productions of contemporary plays in the main subscription season for 2017-2018.
Subscriptions are on sale now, with an add on Summerfest pass available (CoHo Summerfest 2017 lineup will be announced later this April.) For tickets and the latest information, visit www.cohoproductions.org.
Each year, CoHo accepts project proposals from local artist-producers. CoHo's Artistic Council carefully reads and considers each submission, then conducts group interviews with finalists before deciding on a main season based on each production's promise of artistic vision, professional merit, thematic relevance and its potential to connect with CoHo audiences.
CoHo Productions 2017/18 Season:
September 8 - September 30, 2017
The (Curious Case of the) Watson Intelligence by Madeline George
Directed by Philip Cuomo.
October 27 - November 18, 2017
Year of the Rooster by Olivia Dufault
Co-produced by Rolland Walsh; Featuring Mike O'Connell and Rolland Walsh.
February 9 - March 3, 2018
This Girl Laughs, This Girl Cries and This Girl Does Nothing by Finegan Kruckemeyer
Co-produced by Tamara Carroll & Beth Thompson; Directed by Tamara Carroll; Featuring Alex Ramirez, JennifeR Rowe and Beth Thompson.
April 20 - May 12, 2018
Luna Gale by Rebecca Gilman
Co-produced by Jason Glick and Danielle Weathers; Directed by Brandon Woolley; Featuring Sharonlee McLean, Danielle Weathers, Jahnavi Alyssa, Michel Castillo, Jason Glick and Marian Mendez.
CoHo Theatre is located at 2257 NW Raleigh St., Portland, OR 97210. Contact the Box Office at (503) 220 - 2646 or online at www.cohoproductions.org. 17/18 TICKET PRICES: $98 Season Subscription; $80 Season Subscription +65/-30; $32 Standard Single Ticket; $25 Single Ticket +65/-30; and $20 Thrifty Thursday Ticket.
DETAILED SHOW DESCRIPTIONS:
September 8 - September 30, 2017
CoHo Productions presents
The (Curious Case of the) Watson Intelligence
by Madeline George
Directed by Philip Cuomo
ABOUT THE PRODUCTION
The (curious case of the) Watson Intelligence is an emotionally-intelligent drama that follows a time-travelling love triangle between the head, the heart and the machine.
"Mr. Watson, come here - I want you!"
From the Victorian age to the 21st century, 'Watson' is the perfect partner. Mr. Watson was on the other end of the wire when Alexander Graham Bell sent the first communication by telephone. Dr. Watson accompanied each step and anticipated every need of fiction's greatest detective. Watson's the name of IBM's natural language-processing supercomputer, winner of the famous Jeopardy! match in 2011. And Josh Watson is the IT guy with a friendly fix for crashed technology and broken hearts, uncommonly trustworthy and aiming to please. All the Watsons want to give you what you need, but do you want what you need in a partner?
ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT
Madeleine George's plays, including Hurricane Diane, The (Curious Case of the) Watson Intelligence (Pulitzer Prize finalist, Outer Critics Circle John Gassner Award), Seven Homeless Mammoths Wander New England, Precious Little, and The Zero Hour, have been produced at theaters around the country. She was a founding member of the Obie-winning playwrights' collective 13P (Thirteen Playwrights, Inc.), and is a resident playwright at New Dramatists.
Madeleine is the recipient of a Whiting Award, the Princess Grace Playwriting Fellowship, and two MacDowell Fellowships, and she holds commissions from the Sloan Foundation/Manhattan Theatre Club, the Big Ten Theatre Consortium, and the Children's Theater Company in Minneapolis. She is currently the Mellon Playwright in Residence at Two River Theater in Red Bank, New Jersey.http://www.madeleinegeorge.com/
October 27 - November 18, 2017
CoHo Productions and Rolland Walsh present
Year of the Rooster
By Olivia Dufault
Featuring Mike O'Connell and Rolland Walsh
ABOUT THE PRODUCTION
Year of the Rooster is a furious, foul-mouthed, comedic attack on heavy-weight subjects like rural poverty, animal cruelty and toxic masculinity in America.
"Ya gotta have winners and losers in this world."
Gil is a loser in a loser town. He still lives with his mama, with no friends or future plans, just the 19-year old manager at McDonald's who bullies his broken spirit while dreaming of Disney World and world domination. Gil's chance at winning the American Dream is a nightmare until he gets a prize-fighting rooster named Odysseus Rex. Cockfighting was invented by the ancient Greeks (just like Democracy); now illegal in all 50 states. The stakes are life and death, the rooster is on stage - what are you willing to bet he wins?
ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT
Olivia Dufault's plays include Year of the Rooster (New York Times Critics' Pick), The Tomb of King Tot (New York Times Critics' Pick), The Messenger, and For Want of a Horse. Her plays have been performed at the Ensemble Studio Theatre/Youngblood, Clubbed Thumb, the Flea Theatre, and the Marin Theatre, amongst others.
She is the 2015-16 Rita Goldberg Playwrights' Workshop Fellow and 2013=14 PoNY Fellow, as well as the recipient of the 2015 Playwrights of New York Fellowship, the 2013 David Colicchio Emerging Playwright Award, the 2010 Lipkin Playwriting Award, and the 2008, 2009, and 2010 Harle Adair Damann Playwriting Award. She currently writes for the AMC television show Preacher. She is a member of New Dramatists, the LCT Writers in Residence, and the Youngblood Playwriting Group.February 9 - March 3, 2018
CoHo Productions with Tamara Carroll & Beth Thompson present
This Girl Laughs, This Girl Cries, This Girl Does Nothing
by Finegan Kruckemeyer
Directed by Tamara Carroll
Featuring Alex Ramirez, JennifeR Rowe and Beth Thompson
ABOUT THE PRODUCTION
This Girl Laughs, This Girl Cries, This Girl Does Nothing is an expressive, cyclical fable fit for all ages, especially for the brave, curious ones who follow their heart to find home.
"Thrice upon a time, a girl was born."
10-year-old triplet sisters are abandoned in the woods by their heartbroken father on a snowy night. Beatrix follows the direction of her departed dad and the setting sun, believing her own bright energy can warm anyone's heart. Albienne has a strong appetite for cakes and battle, and goes off in the opposite direction to explore the unknown. Carmen cannot move forward or back, she is best at staying still, oddly silent, helpful to others in need. So the sisters separate, but remain connected, while facing fantastical, touching adventures: they wage wars, win wealth, make homes and travel in lighthouses under the sea. Seasons change, years pass, and they become grown women - eventually returning to the same but different place, reunited as family.
ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT
Finegan Kruckemeyer has had 81 commissioned plays performed on five continents and translated into six languages, and was an inaugural recipient of the $160,000 Sidney Myer Creative Fellowship. This year 46 seasons (including 14 premieres) are presented worldwide. In Germany, he is represented by Rowohlt Agency.
To date, Finegan's plays have had seasons in: over 100 international festivals; all Australian states/territories; ten US national tours; five UK national tours; and at the Sydney Opera House (six works), Ireland's Dublin Theatre Festival (two works), Scotland's Imaginate Festival (two works), Shanghai's Malan Flower Theatre, New York's Lincoln Center for the Arts and New Victory Theater (three works), and DC's Kennedy Center for the Arts (three works)...Finegan was born in Ireland, and came to Adelaide, Australia aged eight. In 2004, he moved with his wife Essie to Hobart, Tasmania, from which he now writes for national/international companies. He is committed to maKing Strong and respectful work for children, which acknowledges them as astute audience members outside the plays, and worthy subjects within. http://finegankruckemeyer.com/
April 20 - May 13, 2017
CoHo Productions with Jason Glick & Danielle Weathers present
Luna Gale
by Rebecca Gilman
Directed by Brandon Woolley
Featuring Sharonlee McLean, Danielle Weathers, Jahnavi Alyssa, Michel Casstillo, Jason Glick and Marian Mendez
ABOUT THE PRODUCTION
Luna Gale is a suspenseful, ethically-blurry play offering a candid look at an intra-family custody dispute for the right to raise a minor child, determined by cases of addiction, assault and conflicting religious beliefs.
"Are you Luna's mother?"
Social worker Caroline is over-burdened by desperate cases at an under-funded Child Protective Services agency, especially when her gut instincts contradict by-the-book protocol. In one case, infant Luna Gale is hospitalized and removed from her stressed-out teenage parents Karlie and Peter, who are court-ordered to attend rehab groups for methamphetamine abuse - but the waiting list is too long. Karlie's divorced mother Cindy, a nurse's assistant and born-again Christian, seeks to adopt Luna with her Pastor's guidance, but against her daughter's wishes. Unspoken motives surface through unconventional methods while belief systems and best intentions are tested as all question how to best take care of children.
ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT
Rebecca Gilman is an Artistic Associate at the Goodman in Chicago. Ms. Gilman's plays include Luna Gale, A True History of the Johnstown Flood, Dollhouse, Boy Gets Girl, Spinning Into Butter, Blue Surge(all of which were commissioned and originally produced by the Goodman), The Glory of Living, The Sweetest Swing in Baseball, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter and The Crowd You're in With.
Ms. Gilman is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, The Harper Lee Award, The Scott McPherson Award, The Prince Prize for Commissioning New Work, The Roger L. Stevens Award from the Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays, The Evening Standard Award for Most Promising Playwright, The George Devine Award, The Theatre Masters Visionary Award, The Great Plains Playwright Award and an Illinois Arts Council playwriting fellowship. Boy Gets Girl received an Olivier Award nomination for Best New Play and she was named a finalist for the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for her play, The Glory of Living.
She is a member of the Council of the Dramatists Guild of America and a board member of the ACLU of Illinois. She received her MFA in playwriting from the University of Iowa. Ms. Gilman is an associate professor of playwriting and screenwriting at Northwestern University as part of its MFA in Writing for the Screen and Stage program. She is the recipient of a Global Connections Grant by Theatre Communications Group and an American Scandinavian Foundation Creative Writing Grant for the development of a new play in conjunction with Göteborgs Dramatiska Teater in Gothenburg, Sweden: Rödvinsvänster (Red-Wine Leftists): 1977.
For 22 years, CoHo Productions has pioneered artist led co-production as a model of creating theatre. Each season, CoHo solicits scripts and project proposals from Portland's community of theatre professionals and selects three to produce in partnership. The artistic vision is democratic, reflecting the tastes of the Portland theatre community from the ground up. Seasons are diverse and unpredictable; the sole quality nurtured and insisted on is excellence.
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