dirtybombpdx presents
DIRTY BOMB
by Rob Newton

Festival Performance Dates: Jan 22, 23, 29, 30 at 8:00pm; Jan 24 and 31 at 3:00 pm
Venue: Conduit (918 SW Yamhill St., 4th floor)
Single Tickets: $15 - 20. Call 800-494-TIXS or online at http://www.fertilegroundpdx.org/Calendar.html

Flash Your GrOw Button and Save: $2 per ticket

It’s Marion’s 70th birthday and she’s made plans. But her 45-year-old daughter has run away from home and her son thinks the blind giant he met on the subway might be a messenger from God. So birthday brunch with her dead husband will have to wait while Marion goes searching for her daughter and finds a beautiful boy who’s just looking for a warm place in a cold cold world. At the edge of ground zero, a Mother, daughter, brother and lover find each other and find it’s not so easy letting go. DIRTY BOMB, the gift that keeps on giving.

**Conduit performance space is downtown at 918 SW Yamhill St. 4th floor, not SE as listed in the Festival Guide**

Simple Machines Theatre (with Theory 1:Dance) present
bugged. and light that lingers
by Rollin Carlson & Tony Fuemmeler; Meshi Chavez

Festival Performance dates: Jan 23, 26 and 27 at 8:00 pm; Jan 30 at 8:00 & 10:00 pm

Venue: Blackfish Gallery (420 NW 9th Ave)

Single Tickets: $12, Call 800-494-TIXS or online at http://www.fertilegroundpdx.org/Calendar.html

Flash Your Fertile Ground Button and Save: $2 per ticket

bugged. Big things come in small packages. An overhead projector, recycled cardboard and two puppeteers conjure up dreams of hungry cities, giant bugs and the creepy crawlies of electronic culture in this shadow puppet triptych set to a live soundtrack. bugged. is a wordless journey through a metamorphic micro-universe that allows the audience to creep into the spaces between nature and technology, between big and small, between fear and love. 

Drawing on a range of influences from science fiction and graphic novels to silent movies and film animation, Simple Machines Theatre uses simple objects to create a layered dream-world of insects and humankind embroiled in struggles for survival.

light that lingers It begins in Nothing, the spring board from which all things are created.  This is a time-less, space-less place.  Then something exists, light or spirit, churning discovering, becoming.  This existence begins to want.  Want turns to endless expansion, expansion to implosion.  The awareness of another, something is here.  The search continues towards connection, union.  Fusion occurs.  Nothing returns.

Miracle Theatre Group presents

American Sueño
by Dañel Malán and Rebecca Martínez

Festival Performance Dates: Jan 22 at 8:00 pm, Jan 23 at 2:00 and 8:00 pm

Full Extended Run: January 15-23, 2010

Venue: Milagro Theatre (525 SE Stark St)

Single Tickets: $14 - $20. Call 503.236.7253or online at http://www.milagro.org 

Flash Your GrOw Button and Save: $2 per ticket

American Sueño shares the stories of four marginalized individuals in search of their version of the American Dream: Augustín Obrero, a musician, and his sister Monica, struggle between living their with their family traditions and searching for new lives of their own; Mimi, a drag performer, yearns to find true love, regardless of her gender identity; and the homeless Cruz, a mere shadow of a woman she once was, searches for a way off the streets. To realize their dreams, they each must decide, “What am I willing to sacrifice in order to make my American Dream a reality?”

Broad Arts presents

A Broad for All Seasons
written and composed by Melinda Pittman

Festival Performance Dates: Jan 22 and 23 at 8:00 pm
Full Extended Run: January 2-23, 2010

Venue: Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center (5340 North Interstate Avenue)

Single Tickets: $12 - $20. Call 800-494-TIXS or online at http://www.fertilegroundpdx.org/Calendar.html

Flash Your GrOw Button and Save: $2 per ticket

Aung San Suu Kyi? Wangari Maathai? Mairead Corrigan Maguire? Bonnie Tinker? Who are these mystery women? And why are their spirits appearing at the same place, at the same time, at the beginning of the world’s turning? And what does their presence have to do with me? BroadArts Theatre invites you to solve the mystery at A/Broad for All Seasons, our newest original theatre-comedy with music. In the show, the Goddess Lilith has reached her elder years. Lilith, embodied by BroadArts’ Artistic Director Melinda E. Pittman, hires a personal assistant to help her finish her memoirs. Lilith’s protégé’ tires of the older woman’s attitude and outlandish tales. The titans clash as they each struggle to create and re-create the world they want to live in. And then there is that mystery stranger, knocking at the door, knocking at the door…

Masque Alfresco presents

Leg Wrestling With Wittgenstein
by Don Teeters

Festival Performance Dates: Jan 24 at 2:00 and 7:00 pm, Jan 31 at 2:00 and 7:00 pm

Venue: Hipbone Studio (1847 E. Burnside)

Single Tickets: $10. Call 800-494-TIXS or online at http://www.fertilegroundpdx.org/Calendar.html

Flash Your GrOw Button and Save: $2

Masque Alfresco presents the world premiere of Leg Wrestling with Wittgenstein, an existential tragicomedy featuring an unheard of high school teacher and self-proclaimed philosopher, Vaughn Miracle. He’s a precocious sort who has spent 10 diligent years on his doctorial dissertation dissecting the work of Ludwig Wittgenstein, the famous 20th century philosopher. After ten reclusive years Vaughn now considers himself to be Wittgenstein’s equal, basking in narcissistic self-delusion. An accidental shooting by a student leaves Vaughn in a coma-induced netherworld. Now Vaughn is forced to look more closely at what is real and what is not, something he only thinks he does. In this altered state he is confronted by a tribunal of demonic hybrids who are after his soul and exhaust him with their absurd logic. He becomes confused and his own logic begins to fall apart as they brainwash him into believing what isn’t. That is the crux of what he must overcome: believing what isn’t. To do that Vaughn must go through the demonic creatures to eventually match wits with his idol, Ludwig Wittgenstein, taking his mind to where it’s never been. Even is he does break out of his coma, there’s still his friend Frank, who’s having an affair with his wife while Vaughn’s physical body lies in a hospital bed. If he can change his delusional beliefs he may have a chance. Otherwise like so many others, Vaughn might as well be worshipping Christ on a traffic sign or sticking his head in the sand.

Contagious Theatre presents

Full Bar Double Feature
by William Lund III and Stephen Lisk

Festival Performance Dates: Jan 22, 23 and 24 at 8:00 pm

Full Extended Run: January 21 – 24, 2010

Venue: The East Portland Eagle's Lodge (4904 SE Hawthorne Blvd)

Single Tickets: $8 - $10. Email  reservations@contagioustheatre.com

Flash Your GrOw Button and Save: $2 per ticket

First is a one-man show by Steve Lisk, "Don't You Know Who I Think I Am?" After finding out his ex-girlfriend is pregnant with his child, the seemingly hopeless drug addict, Wendell Freeze decides to party one last time before embarking on fatherhood.  However his celebration is disrupted when God visits Wendell in his tiny Hollywood apartment to challenge him in a game of football.  Not thinking it possible to turn down God, Wendell enters into a competition, not with seasoned players – but his own emotions, i.e. Anger, Love, Hate, and Envy etc.

Second, Will Lund's one-act, "Did You Say Cumquat?" is the second episode with the cast of last year's smash "I Have Herpes?" The green room is never safe in this college theatre - strange characters throw each other into into a world of confusion involving donuts, mustaches, coffee, and electrocution.

Shaking the Tree presents
Memory Water: A Tale of Love, Loss and Liquid
created by Andrea Stolowitz. Inspired by the many sightings of La Llorna (The Weeping Woman) from 1502-2010

Festival Performance Date(s): Jan 22, 23, 28, 29 and 30 at 7:00 pm
Venue: Shaking The Tree Studio (1407 SE Stark St)

Single Tickets: $15. Call 800-494-TIXS or online at http://www.fertilegroundpdx.org/Calendar.html

Flash Your GrOw Button and Save: $5

Memory Water is a collaboration between Drammy award winning director Samantha Van Der Merwe, dancer & choreographer Chisao Hata and playwright Andrea Stolowitz (JAW 2009). The play explores the tragic tale of La Llorona, a beautiful but poor woman, who throws her two illegitimate children into the river after being spurned by her wealthy lover, a rich Hidalgo who must return to Spain to marry a noblewoman. Drawing strong references to the Medea tale from ancient Greece, we wonder what it must take to do something like that. What state of mind one must be in and how can one find redemption after such an act? Using the river as a witness, we begin to wade through the polluted water and dredge the river for answers, just like the ghostly apparition of La Llorona who drags the river for the souls of her lost children with her long fingernails and wailing cry. Here’s a question for everyone? What is the one thing, the one regret that you cannot let go of, the thing you are always dragging the river for? Is it possible to turn a river of life into a river of death and most importantly, can it be turned back into a vital flowing river again? Come and find out.

Portland Story Theater presents
Mawson's Mettle: Alone On The Wide Shores Of The World
by Lawrence Howard

Festival Performance Date(s): Jan 22, 23, 29 and 30 at 8:30 pm
Venue: Hipbone Studio (1847 E. Burnside, #104)

Single Tickets: $12. Call 503-793-5484 or online at www.portlandstorytheater.com

Flash Your GrOw Button and Save: $2

Lawrence Howard unveils the much-anticipated sequel to last-year's sold-out solo show, Shackleton's Antarctic Nightmare. This next chapter in the Armchair Adventurer Series is called Mawson's Mettle: Alone On The Wide Shores Of The World. A veteran of one of Shackleton's earlier voyages, Mawson led his own expedition to the frozen continent in 1911. Out sledging with two other men, Mawson was thrown into peril when one of the sledges -- along with the six best dogs, most of the food and equipment, and one of his companions -- was lost in a deep crevasse. After his second companion and the rest of the dogs died, Mawson struggled against freezing temperatures, 80 mile-per-hour winds, loneliness, grief, illness and starvation, man-hauling the remaining sledge for hundreds of miles. This is an epic story of survival against all odds and, ultimately, a joyous celebration of the human spirit.

Northwest Children’s Theater & School presents
Pinocchio
adapted by Milo Mowery; composed by Rodolfo Ortega

Festival Performance Date(s): Jan 29 at 7:00 pm, Jan 30 at 2:00 and 7:00 pm, Jan 31 at 2:00 pm

Full Extended Run: January 29 – February 21, 2009
Venue: Northwest Neighborhood Cultural Center (1819 NW Everett)
Single Tickets: $18 - $22. Call 503-222-4480 or online at www.nwcts.org
Flash Your GrOw Button and Save: $2

“Look at that! What do you know? It is gears and wheels that make me go!”

From a pile of shiny scrap metal comes the buzz, clink and whir of the original toy story! This industrial musical is the tale of Gepetto’s brand-new mechanical boy who learns, through much trial and many errors, what it means to be human. NWCT World Premiere!

Bump in the Road Theater presents
More Foreplay at the Someday
created by local playwrights John Donnelly, Gretchen O’Halloran, Rich Rubin, Derya Ruggles, Molly B. Tinsley, and Ellen West plus a poem by Sharon Wood Wortman.

Festival Performance Date(s): Jan 24 at 5:00 pm, Jan 25, 26, and 27 at 7:00 pm

Venue: Someday Lounge (125 NW Fifth Ave)

Single Tickets: $8 - $10. Call 503-248-1030 or reserve online at www.somedaylounge.com
Flash Your GrOw Button and Save: $2

Members of a local playwriting group asked Bump in the Road to produce their six original ten-minute plays on the subject of sex.  “Hot Dish” by John Donnelly deals with a woman being friendly with a new neighbor; “Snafu” by Gretchen O’Halloran portrays an illicit affair where the man is obsessed with the military; “How Nice of You To Ask” pairs a green interviewer with a very experienced elderly woman; “Goddess” by Derya Ruggles ends the show in a blaze; “The Lust Factor” by Molly B. Tinsley stresses out a couple in sex research;  “Hal” by Ellen West is about elderly sex when the woman thinks she has an insurmountable handicap.  Sharon Wood Wortman’s poem “Engineered,” a tribute to her husband, opens the show. All are comedies.  

Whitebird Dance presents
Tere Mathern Dance
and Minh Tran and Company

SORRY.  This Event is SOLD OUT!

Festival Performance Date(s): Jan 23 and 24 at 8:00 pm

Full Extended Run: January 20 – January 24, 2010
Venue: Miller Hall, World Forestry Center (4033 SW Canyon Rd)
Single Tickets: $16 - $26. Tickets at www.whitebird.org and Ticketmaster

Flash Your GrOw Button and Save: $4

Tere Mathern and Minh Tran are two of the Pacific Northwest’s finest choreographers. Mathern creates acclaimed work that is distinctive for its elegant marriage of razor-sharp, spare abstraction with fluid, spatial form. Minh Tran has been celebrated for his fusion of traditional Asian and contemporary western techniques. Tere Mathern Dance and Minh Tran & Company will perform two new works in the round. With a live score by Tim DuRoche and a set by visual artist David Eckard, Mathern’s “PIVOT” explores the instance of transfer - the fulcrum between balance and risk.  With composer Heather Perkins and and visual film designer David Bryant, Minh Tran’s “KISS” is based on the personal and emotional history of Tran’s coming-out experience. Together Mathern and Tran, who have long danced for and with each other, have created a special duet “Twine” that they will perform.

Curious Comedy presents
Tandem
Created and performed by Jean Louis (Stacey Hallal & Bob Ladewig)
Festival Performance Date(s): Jan 22, 23, 29 and 30 at 9:00 pm

Venue: Curious Comedy Theater (5225 NE Martin Luther King Blvd)
Single Tickets: $15 (Free with SexyNurd ticket). Call 503-477-9477 or online at www.curiouscomedy.org 
Flash Your GrOw Button and Save: $3

In their debut show, Tandem, Jean Louis' Stacey Hallal and Bob Ladewig explore the challenges of relationships and communication through character-based sketch, stand up, and video - ultimately proving that two wrongs can make a right... though they often take three lefts to get there. Stacey is well-known for her one person show, The Humperdink Family Reunion, which she performed in Portland to rave reviews before touring across the U.S. and Canada. Bob Hicks of the Oregonian said of Stacey: “Comic actress Stacey Hallal has a face that can rise like a puff pastry or fall like a mob informer with an anvil tied round his feet. Her eyes can pop like a Looney Toons critters, and she can stretch a grin as crazy-wide as Jack Nicholson’s in The Shining. Her voice has the same cockeyed flexibility, and she uses both to highly amusing effect. In other words, she’s a genuine talent.”  Directed by Tamara Carroll.

Such a Production presents

The Only Way Out Is Through
by Miriam Feder

Festival Performance Dates: Jan 22, 23 at 7:30 pm, Jan 24 at 3:00 pm, Jan 28, 29 and 30 at 7:30 pm, Jan 31 at 3:00 pm

Full Extended Run: January 15-31, 2010

Venue: Sellwood Masonic Lodge (7126 SE Milwaukie Ave)

Single Tickets: $15 - $20. Call 800-494-TIXS or online at http://www.fertilegroundpdx.org/Calendar.html

Flash Your GrOw Button and Save: $3 per ticket

You might say this is a coming-of-age musical—make that, coming of “a certain age”—somewhere around 50. It’s that wonderful time when children leave, the disillusionments and cultural lies are stacked neatly in the corner, the bullshit-o-meter is calibrated and a woman gets a whole new lease on life.

Laine and Shelley were best-friends in college. They get together at Shelley’s after 20 years or so to catch up and rediscover the virtues of friendship and trust. There have been romances, divorce, children, jobs, layoffs, disappointments, growth and now it’s time for a new approach. Maybe they’re comfortable enough in their own skin to stay there—to call it good, or good enough. In the meantime they’ll have fun singing through their troubles and triumphs.

Portland Playhouse presents
Willow Jade
by Hunt Holman

Festival Performance Date(s): Jan 22, 23 at 8:00 pm, Jan 24 at 2:00 pm, Jan 28, 29, 30 at 8:00 pm and 31 at 2:00 pm
Venue: Portland Playhouse (602 NE Prescott)
Single Tickets: $10 - $19. Call 800-494-TIXS or online at http://www.fertilegroundpdx.org/Calendar.html

Flash Your GrOw Button and Save: $3

Willow’s the hottest sweet-young-thing in town, making more than carob-chip banana bread with her old man, and there’s a price on her head. Doug and Lance, thirty-something slackers, and Steve, the spandex-clad bicyclist, are planning live-action D&D that may or may not involve chain mail, broadswords, and some amiable back-stabbing over ancient history. Meanwhile, the Orcs have left the Caves of Chaos early this year, going a-viking down the mountains, hungry for slaughter. Seattle’s for suckers, L.A.’s for the beautiful, but right here, in small-town Washington, is where it gets real.  Be warned:  The Spell of Flames won’t always save you. In Willow Jade, Portland playwright and Dungeon Master Hunt Holman takes no prisoners.  So strap on your armor and prepare for battle.

Play after Play presents
The Gentle People – An Ancient Legend from Patagonia
created by Melanya Helene and Marc Otto

Festival Performance Date(s): Jan 23 at 10:00 am, Jan 24 at 2:00 pm, Jan 30 at 10:00 am and Jan 31 at 2:00 pm.

Full Extended Run: January 23rd - February 14th, 2010
Venue: The Brooklyn Bay (1825 SE Franklin St)
Single Tickets: $7 (under 2 free) Call 503-772-4005or online at www.playafterplay.com
Flash Your GrOw Button and Save: $2

First the Play:  The gentle people live happily in harmony with the natural world.  When they are discovered by the greedy selfish people, they must make a difficult decision to maintain their peaceful way of life. This touching story, filled with lively music and engagingly physical performances will captivate children and adults alike.  Most appropriate for ages 2-9.  Then the “Play”:  After the play, kids of all ages are invited to come out and play!  This is an opportunity to the kids to interact with the performers one on one.  The kids are invited to come onto the mats and crawl, roll and tumble on, under and all around the performers.

Oregon Children’s Theatre presents
Texting the Sun
by Matt Zrebski

Festival Performance Date(s): Jan 24 at 7:30 pm
Venue: CoHo Theater (2257 NW Raleigh)
Single Tickets: FREE
Flash Your GrOw Button and Save: FREE

Texting the Sun is a relevant, thought-provoking production which spotlights our 21st-century, multi-media reality through the eyes of young adolescents. How are they—along with their parents, teachers and counselors—expected to cope with the minute-to-minute assault of news cycles, advertising campaigns, social sites, video games, cell phones, and instant messaging? How are they to know what’s real or unreal? Fact or fiction? Helfpul or hurtful? Safe…or dangerous?