Writing to Make
a Difference
‘City
of
Roses’
Volume XLVII • Number 19
Local playwright
finds groove
after hiatus
2018
Washington
Classic
See Metro, page 9
SECTION
B
Established in 1970
www.portlandobserver.com
Wednesday • May 16, 2018
Committed to Cultural Diversity
‘Left Hook’ to Displacement
New play
premieres for
Vanport Mosaic
D anny p eterSon
t he p ortlanD o bServer
A new play that touches on the history
of displacement in 1970s Portland, where
hundreds of homes and businesses were
razed in historical black neighborhoods,
will debut next week as part of the Vanport
Mosaic Festival.
“Left Hook” is inspired in part by the
history of the Knott Street Boxing Club
and the urban renewal projects that dis-
rupted a once vibrant neighborhood. It is a
follow up to playwright Rich Rubin’s 2016
play “Cottonwood in the Flood,” which
was about Vanport and the May 30, 1948
Memorial Day flood that destroyed the
Portland town 70 years ago.
The new play focuses on a hub of thriv-
ing African American businesses and
homes in the Albina District of north and
northeast Portland where many former
Vanport residents resided. Several blocks
of the neighborhood were eventually razed
when urban renewal projects spurred
the expansion of Emanuel Hospital and
prompted the demolition of about 300
homes of mostly African American fami-
lies who were then forced to relocate.
‘Left Hook” has an all African-Amer-
ican and local cast and uses the story of
Knott Street to tell a story about a fictitious
boxing gym whose future is made uncer-
tain by the changes.
Damaris Webb, a Portland native and
African American theater maker, is once
again helming the role of director for Ru-
bin’s play after bringing his Cottonwood in
the Flood to life on the stage two years ago.
She is the co-founder and director of
the Vanport Mosaic, a non-profit that en-
gages the community through storytelling,
art, education, and media about forgotten
local histories. The effort was first started
by Laura Lo Forti, a self-described ‘story
midwife’ and ‘recovering journalist,’ who
began working with elders in the commu-
by
photo by S hawnte S imS
Displacement of African-Americans in 1970s Portland is captured in ‘Left Hook,’ a new play inspired by the Knott Street Boxing
Club and the urban renewal projects that forced people out of their historical neighborhoods. The production premiers for the
Vanport Mosaic Festival, a community wide festival that commemorates the 1948 Portland flood that displaced thousands of
people of color. Pictured are cast members (top row, center) Shareen Jacobs; (middle row from left) Tonea Lolin and Jasper
Howard; and (bottom row from left) Anthony Armstrong, Kenneth Dembo, and Jame Savannah.
C ontinueD on p age 4