July 26, 2017
Page 9
Mississippi
Alberta
North Portland
Vancouver
East County
Beaverton
JAW: Playwrights Festival attendees enjoy ‘Press Play’ events with performances by local artists between the festival’s staged readings. The annual event returns this
weekend to Portland Center Stage at the Armory.
A Space to Create
JAW: Playwrights Festival
an incubator of new works
Portland Center Stage at the Armory, downtown, hosts
its annual festival for talented playwrights this weekend
featuring staged readings of scripts in development along
with a host of exciting performances, all free and open to
the public.
JAW: A Playwrights Festival was launched in 1999 as
a space for playwrights to have complete creative control
and the resources to work on whatever they want to devel-
opment in their scripts.
Attendees can also enjoy a host of Press Play perfor-
mances and dig deeper with Community Artist Labs pre-
sented by JAW featured artists.
This year’s JAW staged readings include Kate Att-
well’s Testmatch, examining women’s sports, mangos,
and the ever-present legacy of colonialism; Small Steps
by Briandaniel Oglesby, a comedy traversing 50 million
miles and a million years; Mfoniso Udofia’s In Old Age,
part of a nine-play cycle about Nigerian American immi-
grants that explores the true nature of love and forgive-
ness; and Tiny Houses, Stefanie Zadravec’s comic riff on
Pandora’s Box that follows the ripple effect on several
women who suddenly realize they can disrupt the status
quo.
The big weekend opens with a kickoff event on Friday,
July 28 at 8 p.m. Readings will be presented on Saturday
and Sunday at 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. in various locations at
The Armory, 128 N.W. 11th Ave.
For a complete schedule and more information, visit
pcs.org/jaw.