Two exciting hybrid and collaborative theater pieces are in the works for the same weekend this fall: Bare Portland is back with another devised multi-modal work, called Mira (SPACE Gallery, October 18-20). Grounded in the lyricism of Tennessee Williams, the story of a lonely young woman’s transcendence is told through a fusion of theater, movement, and digital experiences (via our phones) of image, sound, and text. And to coincide with artist-writer Ashley Bryan’s exhibit at the Portland Museum of Art, the Theater Ensemble of Color brings Bryan’s children’s story Beautiful Blackbird (October 19-22) to the Portland Museum of Art (with one performance at Hannaford Hall). The beloved children’s book, adapted for theater and movement, will be performed with live musical accompaniment and with art by Daniel Minter.
Portland Stage starts off its season with an examination of race, history, and biography with Ben Butler (September 25-October 21), the story of a Colby-grad and Civil War general, and his quandary involving a runaway slave. PSC follows up with Refuge Malja ملجأ (October 30-November 18), a new play by local Bess Welden with Arabic translations by Ali Al Mshakheel, about a Jewish-American war photographer’s connection with a young Middle Eastern refugee. A slew of more great PSC programming is also happening outside of the mainstage lineup, including a performance of Monica Wood’s Big Life/Small City (October 1), an interweaving of texts old and new about Portland and this year’s From Away, an annual reading of works from beyond; and the return of the Halloween-themed staged reading now called The Haunting Hour 2.0 (October 24-November 3).
