AUGUST 2019
WILLAMETTE SHAKESPEARE
AND
PORTLAND ACTORS ENSEMBLE
PRESENT
AS YOU LIKE IT
IN A NEW VENUE!
AS YOU LIKE IT continues this weekend (August 16-18) at Mad Violets Wine Company, located at 17425 NE Hillside Drive, Newberg, OR 97132, near Vidon Vineyard and J. Christopher. Food for sale will be provided by Jessie’s Hand Pie Shoppe.
Directions to Mad Violets
To find Mad Violets Wine Co. take NE North Valley Road to Hillside Drive and continue past J. Christopher toward Vidon Vineyard. The driveway to Mad Violets will be on your left.
REQUEST FOR VOLUNTEERS
We need volunteers for the vineyard performances to help direct parking, hand out programs, direct people to their seats, accept donations for the drawing, and help anyone who has a question. To volunteer please contact us by calling 503.583.2190 or by email by clicking on this link: Willamette Shakespeare.
Please make a tax-deductible donation to help us continue presenting free performances in the Willamette Valley. Donations can be matched to the Oregon Cultural Trust for a tax credit. Donate by clicking here. Willamette Shakespeare and Portland Actors Ensemble are tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organizations.
As the 2018 audiences can tell you, the plays in the vineyards are not necessarily done in the traditional manner. This year’s production of As You Like It has as PAE Board Chair Paul Susi said, “an earnest and lovely cast” that has collective charisma and music that will make for a satisfying performance experience for the audience. The music, the lightheartedness, and the winning spirit of a sweet and raucous play will win through.
There is the intentional gender-switching. The text as written is meant to be goofy and earthy and frankly bawdy. In the Audrey/Touchstone scene there are innuendos, which are commonplace in Shakespeare, and a kiss, but expect the unexpected.
The intention in the genderswitching is to highlight how the love and the silliness that our characters experience is universal and relatable to folks of all sexualities and gender identities. To quote a line from the play, “We find tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, sermons in stones, and good in everything.”
It is helpful to know that the first woman to appear in a Shakespeare play did so in 1660 – 44 years after Shakespeare’s death. It’s well known that professional theatre troupes in Renaissance England included male actors only, so that the roles of, for instance, Juliet, Rosalind, Lady Macbeth, and Cleopatra were first played by boys.
Now we must give our vineyard hosts the huge round of thanks they so much deserve. This 2019 production of As You Like It by William Shakespeare opened at Stoller Family Estate on Friday, August 2nd at 7 pm. This is Willamette Shakespeare’s 11th season, and each season has opened at the Stoller venue. This is also the 50th season for Portland Actors Ensemble (PAE). The production moved to Montinore Estates in Forest Grove with performances on Friday, August 9th, Saturday, August 10th, and Sunday, August 11th. This Friday, August 16th, the production will open at a new venue in Newberg. Mad Violets Wine Company will host on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, August 16th, 17th, and 18th. Performances begin at 7 pm on Friday and Saturday, and at 6 pm on Sunday.
Join us in the pastoral fields this summer as we present a new twist on, coincidentally, the very first production of Portland Actors Ensemble 50 years ago, and the very first production of Willamette Shakespeare 11 years ago.
One of Shakespeare’s most popular comedies, As You Like It is a hilarious play about the complexities of life and love. Director Sara Fay Goldman takes the Shakespearean classic and adds to its gender-bending plot a further reflection on gender roles, identity, and love.
Last year’s performances of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) (revised) at Stoller Family Estate set new attendance and donation records. Willamette Shakespeare and Portland Actors Ensemble are grateful for your support and for the consistent support of Stoller Family Estate.
A very special thank you to Ronni Lacroute, who supports so much of the arts here in the valley and in Portland. Without her support over the past years, it is doubtful, unlikely even, that Willamette Shakespeare would be here today helping to provide free theatre to all of us.
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Production Staff
Sara Fay Goldman (she/her) – Director / Choreography / Adaptation / Songwriter
Molly Shevaun Reed (she/her) – Stage Manager / PM
Gary Strong (he/him) – Producer
Jake Merriman (he/him) – Dramaturg
Myrrh Larsen (they/them) – Music Director / Songwriter
Kimberly Smay (she/her) – Costume Designer
Leslie Renee (she/her or they/them) – Violence / Intimacy Coach
Sam Dinkowitz (he/him) – Set / Props Designer
Paul Susi – Board
Cameron Poehner – Social Media / Marketing
Performers
Catherine “Cat” Louise Miller (they/them/theirs) – Rosalind
Kelsea Ashenbrenner (she/her) – Celia
Alex Blesi (they/them or she/her) – Orlando
Rusty Tennant (they/them) – Touchstone + Jacques
Kate Faye Cummings (she/her) – Olive
Sofia May Molina (she/her) – Adam
Paul Bright (he/him) – Duke Senior/Charles/William
Jacquelle Cherise Davis (she/her) – Phebe / HYMEN
Jacob Beaver (he/him) – Silvius / HYMEN
Mishelle Apalategui (she/her) – Duke Frederique / Corin
Evan Tait (he/him) – Le Beu / Audrey
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2019 PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE
Stoller Family Estate
16161 NE McDougall Road, Dayton, OR 97114
Friday, August 2nd, 7 pm
Saturday, August 3rd, 7 pm
Sunday, August 4th, 6 pm
Montinore Estate
3663 SW Dilley Rd, Forest Grove, OR 97116
Friday, August 9th, 7 pm
Saturday, August 10th, 7 pm
Sunday, August 11th, 6 pm
Mad Violets Wine Company
17429 NE Hillside Dr, Newberg, OR 97132
Friday, August 16th, 7 pm
Saturday, August 17th, 7 pm
Sunday, August 18th, 6 pm
DIRECTOR
Sara Fay Goldman directs As You Like It. Under Sara’s direction the audience is in for a treat. The setting may seem familiar. Fluidity and shifts in dress and gender is a theme. Watch for mimicry of the traditional theatrical forms of Shakespeare’s day, one of Shakespeare’s themes. There might be a feminist twist. See if you can identify the music and spot the visual puns. Expect the unexpected.
As Sara said, this production should be a good time and leave us with a sense of hope for building compassionate, inclusive communities. The play is all about love, after all.
We encourage you to join our MAILING LIST or FACEBOOK PAGE to stay up-to-date on all Willamette Shakespeare news.
You can watch a video of another performance of this play by clicking on the link below, although the characters in this version are a bit wooden or, should I say, plastic:
Please consider making a tax-deductible donation to help us keep classical theatre free in the Willamette Valley. Donations can be matched to the Oregon Cultural Trust for a tax credit.
Special highlights
Rusty Tennant (Touchstone + Jacques)
Rusty Tennant, the Artistic Director of Fuse Theatre Ensemble, has an MFA in Directing and Performance from the University of New Orleans.
Selected Regional Credits: Directing:The Reason for the Season (Director, Artists Rep), Ten Chimneys (Asst. Director, [Dámaso Rodriguez, dir.] Artists Rep), A Streetcar Named Desire (Asst. Dir., Fight Choreographer [Jon Kretzu, dir] Artists Rep). As an Actor: Carousel (Gary English, dir. Connecticut Rep), House of Plunder (Ryan Rilette, dir. Southern Rep), Mother Courage (Robert Benedetti, dir. Nevada Conservatory Theatre).
Recent Portland productions: Directing: Cabaret (Seven 2019 Drammy Awards including: Outstanding Production of a Musical, Outstanding Ensemble, and Outstanding Direction), Sordid Lives, Stupid Kids, Under the Influence (Director, OUTwright/Fuse), King Lear (Director, Post5), Rope (Director, Bag&Baggage), The Last Days (Director, Post 5), Sonnetscape (Director/Performer, Fuse), Suburban Tribe (Co-Director, Fuse), Tether (Director, Fuse). As an actor: The Importance of Being Frank, Richard III (Buckingham, Post5), HenryIV 1 (Falstaff, Post5), A Midsummer Night’s Somnambulism (Bottom, Fuse).
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Kate Faye Cummings (Olive)
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Paul Bright (Duke Senior/Charles/William)
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Jacquelle Cherise Davis (Phebe / HYMEN)
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Jacob Beaver (Silvius / HYMEN)
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Mishelle Apalategui (Duke Frederique / Corin)
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Evan Tait (Le Beau / Audrey)
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Kelsea Ashenbrenner (Celia)
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Alex Blesi (Orlando)
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Catherine “Cat” Louise Miller (Rosalind)
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Molly Shevaun Reed (Stage Manager/PM)
Paul Susi, Board Chair
Portland Actors Ensemble
Paul Susi is an educator, activist, arts administrator, and a performing artist. Paul has worked as a youth counselor and an educator at several Portland nonprofit organizations serving homeless, recovering, post-incarcerated, and adjudicated populations. He has appeared onstage with Boom Arts, Profile Theater, Shaking the Tree, Push Leg, Anon It Moves, String House Productions, Action/Adventure Theater, Los Portenos, Cerimon House, Northwest Children’s Theater, Working Theatre Collective, Contagious Theater, defunkt, Milagro Teatro, Hand2Mouth Theatre, and The Forgery. Paul has appeared regionally and internationally with Shakespeare Santa Cruz, Vermont Stage Company, Island Stage Left, and Poland’s Stacja Szamocin. He has worked on several projects supported by the Regional Arts and Culture Council. Most recently, Paul co-founded The Color of Now, a live discussion series focusing on race and privilege in Portland, and served as Lead Shelter Host and shift supervisor for the innovative Peace Shelter, supervising 4 staff and 100 self-identified men experiencing homelessness in downtown Portland.
Paul’s vision for and his respect of the history of this company will see PAE well into its 50th season, and beyond. Paul, who is an accomplished artist and vital voice for the arts in the Portland community, was recently recognized for his extensive contributions by the Regional Arts & Culture Council. Please click the link below for a glimpse of Paul’s vision and some of the other theater honorees:
In addition to his artistic contributions, Paul has many other passions and projects that make his voice vital in our community and an excellent match for PAE. Paul is a tireless advocate for the houseless and the marginalized through his involvement in the Transition Project and Street Books. His leadership in the Oregon Humanities Conversation Project invites us to engage in deeper conversations as community members about important topics such as education, home, and diversity.
In Paul’s own words:
“I am so proud and honored to lead this fantastic organization, particularly as our community continues to experience profound change and growth. As an artist of color, a native Portlander and as someone who cares deeply about Shakespeare, I’m so, so excited for the opportunity to promote a broader, unexpected vision of these works, and to highlight how they speak to our turbulent now. When so many other companies have diminished or disappeared altogether, free, “poor” theaters have endured beyond anyone’s expectations. We are resolved to build on this generous heritage, and to pursue greater rigor, excellence, professionalism, and daring innovation, than ever before.
PRODUCTION HISTORY
2019 – As You Like It
2018 – The Complete Works of William Shakespeare
2017 – The Winter’s Tale
2016 – Love’s Labour’s Lost
2015 – The Taming of the Shrew
2014 – Twelfth Night; Romeo & Juliet
2012 – Much Ado About Nothing and Pericles
2011 – All’s Well That Ends Well
2010 – A Midsummer Night’s Dream
2009 – As You Like It
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