Sowing the Seeds

The Big Question

What’s the value of theater?

Last year, a debate over that issue broke out on theater blogs
across the country. Put another way—what can theater provide that
your television, movie theater, or internet connection can’t?

Here’s an answer: In Sojourn Theatre’s summer production of
Built, audience members were challenged to explore their own
ideas about living in Portland, and to identify the contradictions
inherent therein—to acknowledge the environmental consequences of
preferring a drafty old Victorian house to a charmlessly
energy-efficient condo, for example, or to consider the effect that
increasing density (“building up”) will have on the street-level
character of the city. Built was developed in Portland, about
living in Portland—it was relevant and provocative in a way that
spoke directly to local concerns.

This is not to say that local application is a direct measure of
quality—only that live theater is capable of offering experiences
that other mediums can’t.

At its best, theater can be challenging, vital, and relevant. That
it all too often is none of the above is the fault of companies who
insist on producing tired, unambitious work, and audiences who fail to
demand better—who shrug off boring or ill-conceived work as just
part of the “theatah” experience.

For every labored reimagining of Shakespeare, though, there’s
something correspondingly exciting and new: a pop-culture onslaught
from Hand2Mouth; the sophisticated performances and complex themes that
Third Rail Repertory consistently delivers; a surprisingly professional
upstart company, Lucky Apple Productions, reaching across artistic
boundaries to include music from local musician Super XX Man in their
show Fat Pig. These artists and more offer experiences that
simply can’t be found in any other medium.

The Festival

The economy might currently be holed up in its bedroom crying and
listening to Disintegration on repeat (23rd Avenue Books and
photography gallery Quality Pictures are the most recent art-world
casualties of the recession), but for those who value live performance,
the fact remains: The only way for audiences to ensure that the theater
remains a vital and viable art form is to make an effort to seek out
and support new work.

An opportunity to do just that arises this weekend, courtesy of the
Portland Area Theatre Alliance’s Fertile Ground festival, a 10-day, citywide festival devoted exclusively to showcasing new
works. Participating companies include Portland Center Stage,
Action/Adventure Theatre, Artists Repertory Theatre, and Fuse Theatre
Ensemble (in collaboration with the Museum of Contemporary Craft, for a
show about the nature of craft). With eight fully staged productions,
11 staged readings, plus workshop readings, town hall discussions, and
a few parties, it’s a sweeping invitation for audiences to explore and
support the development of new theater in Portland.

Evolve or Die

Think of Fertile Ground as an umbrella—any company can
participate, and participants are responsible for their own production
costs. As Trisha Pancio, the director of Fertile Ground (and current PR
manager of Portland Center Stage) explains it, the festival grew out of
an interest in hosting a fringe festival—but it was ultimately
decided that while a fringe festival is a great way to bring touring
acts to a city, it does nothing to support the local theater community.
A need was identified for a festival that would support theater artists
living and working in Portland while providing audiences access to
brand-new work.

Pancio sees Fertile Ground as an opportunity for theater in Portland
to develop the region-specific reputation already enjoyed by music and
food. “Success breeds success,” Pancio tells me. “Develop a reputation
and people will move here to produce work. We’ll start to develop an
aesthetic that appeals to our generation.” She hopes that the festival
will be the first step in raising Portland’s profile. “If Portland
wants to see themselves on national stages, they have to start by
cultivating artists with a Portland point of view,” she says. “That’s
why it’s interesting to cultivate these local playwrights who have been
toiling in obscurity—because they have a uniquely local
perspective.”

A perfect example of that perspective comes from Action/Adventure
Theatre, the young company behind the serialized, soap opera-like
Fall of the House, which follows the lives of a group of
twentysomethings, doing the things that twentysomethings do. The show
is nimble, relatable, and cheap, making it one of the few shows in town
that can compete with live music as both an affordable entertainment
option and a social happening—the newest episode will premiere at
Fertile Ground. Action/Adventure’s Miranda King ardently echoed
Pancio’s points about the importance of fostering new ways of
approaching theater.

“Theater needs to develop or it’s going to die,” King says bluntly.
“Theater artists need to push themselves out of their comfort zones. I
understand that a lot of people studied Shakespeare—and don’t get
me wrong, I love Shakespeare—but does it really challenge anyone?
I think that’s one of the most exciting things about Fertile Ground.
The Portland theater community came together around the idea of
creating new work.”

The Bottom Line

There are challenges, of course, to producing new work. Sojourn
Theatre’s founding Artistic Director Michael Rohd—currently a
resident artist at Northwestern University, and who will be at Fertile
Ground for a panel discussion of the state of new play
development—noted in a phone interview that Oregon artists suffer
from a comparative lack of state and local funding, which can make it
difficult to keep up with the technological innovations that are
redefining theater both nationally and abroad.

“Live performance is being taken apart and remade completely, with
interactivity and digital media,” Rohd says. “It’s become a completely
different event. Arts funding here puts artists behind the curve in
terms of being able to experiment with technology in the same ways that
pop culture can.”

While Fertile Ground doesn’t alleviate the financial burden of
producing innovative work, it does generate momentum around the
idea of such work—which ultimately, hopefully, will result
in more interest in and support for technological and artistic
risks.

Not every show in the festival promises to shake up the very
foundations of performance, of course—but even the Northwest
Children Theater’s original adaptation of Alice in Wonderland gets creative with a jazz-inspired musical score. And with other works,
like Portland Center Stage’s multimedia montage Apollo, or Dance
Naked Productions’ Inviting Desire, a “theatrical exploration of
the erotic imagination,” it’s safe to assume they offer the type of
experience that only live performance can provide.

So, should you go? Yes, if you have any interest in fostering the
development of new work in Portland. Or you could content yourself with
ignoring local theater as usual, hope that the TBA festival continues
to bring innovative theater and performance art to town for eight days
a year, and forget supporting the development of such work in your own
community. It’s up to you.

Fertile Ground kicks off Friday, January 23, with a dance party
at Backspace, 115 NW 5th, 9 pm, $5, all ages. Festival
runs January 23-February 1, festival passes $150, individual ticket
prices vary; see fertilegroundpx.org for complete
schedule and ticket prices