anuary 18, 2017
Page 13
J
Arts &
ENTERTAINMENT
c annon ’ s
r ib e xpress
5410 NE 33rd Ave,
Portland, Or
Call to Order:
503-288-3836
Open (hours)
Sun-Thurs: 11a-8p
Fri-Sat:
11a- 9p
Cannon’s, tasty food and
friendly neighborhood
atmosphere.
Black residents facing displacement picket in1973 when plans move forward to teardown houses
and existing buildings in north Portland to make room for the expansion of Emanuel Hospital. ‘Left
Hook, a new staged reading about the community displacement the project caused opens the week-
end of Jan. 20-22.
Knocked Out by
Gentrification
‘Left Hook’ tells
1970s story of
displacement
‘Left Hook’ a new theater work
about gentrification in 1970’s
Portland will premiere this month
as part of the Fertile Ground cele-
bration of new theater works.
‘Left Hook,’ is set in a boxing
club in the once-thriving Afri-
can-American neighborhood of
Albina where community mem-
bers face loss and anger when
their lives are irrevocably disrupt-
ed by urban renewal.
The backdrop is the construc-
tion of a sports arena and then a
freeway that has forced many
businesses to close and many res-
idents to move, but now city plan-
ners have a new ambitious project
in mind: a major expansion of a
local hospital. As scores of addi-
tional homes are razed, people in
the neighborhood grow increasing
angry about the loss of community
and their powerlessness in the face
of it.
The stage reading by Rich Ru-
bin is presented by Vanport Mo-
saic, the non-profit organization
created to tell the history of Van-
port, a community of workers, in-
cluding a large black population,
which came to Portland for jobs
during World War II. Rubin wrote
Cottonwood in the Flood, a mul-
ticultural play about the Vanport
Flood.
Left Hook will show on Friday,
Jan. 20 at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday,
Jan. 21 at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.;
and Sunday, Jan.22 at 2 p.m. at
the Interstate Firehouse Cultural
Center, 5240 N. Interstate Ave.
Admission is pay what you can or
a suggested $10 for adults or $5
for students and seniors. Vanport
Mosaic will have a curated con-
versation following the Sunday
matinee.