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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (May 16, 2018)
Page 8 May 16, 2018 Arts & ENTERTAINMENT Subscribe! 503-288-0033 Fill Out & Send To: Attn: Subscriptions, PO Box 3137, Portland OR 97208 $45.00 for 3 months • $80.00 for 6 mo. • $125.00 for 1 year (please include check with this subscription form) Name: Telephone: Address: or email subscriptions@portlandobserver.com Avalon Flowers 520 SW 3rd Ave., Portland, OR 97204 • 503-796-9250 A full service flower experience Cori Stewart-- Owner, Operator • Birthdays • Anniversaries • Funerals • Weddings Open: Mon.-Fri. 7:30am til 5:30pm Saturday 9am til 2pm. Website: avalonflowerspdx.com email: avalonflowers@msn.com We Offer Wire Services Lester Purry stars in ‘Fences,’ the August Wilson play about a husband, father, former athlete and garbage collector trying to define himself in 1950s Pittsburgh. The play with its African-American narrative tackles issues of mental health and the impacts of racism. Now playing through June 10 at Portland Playhouse, 602 N.E. Prescott St. Dismantling Barriers Find Local and National News at “Fences’ drama at Portland Playhouse Portland Playhouse presents ‘Fences’ another August Wil- son play with an amazing Afri- can-American narrative where the issues of mental health and racism undergird a powerful and engag- ing script. The production opened this month at the theater’s newly ren- ovated performance venue at 602 N.E. Prescott St. and runs through June 10. It is the seventh of the late African American playwright’s 10-play “American Century Cy- cle” that the Playhouse has staged Fences” is a story about Troy, a 53-year-old black husband, father, former athlete and now garbage collector who struggles to define himself both inside and out of his 1950s Pittsburgh home. It asks “What makes us choose the things we keep at a distance and what we decide to let in?” Lou Bellamy, the founding Ar- tistic Director of Penumbra The- atre Company, which has produced more August Wilson productions than any company in the world, in- cluding the premiere of “Jitney!,” directs the Portland production. In honor of Mental Health Month, a panel discussion aimed at dismantling barriers and ad- dressing the needs of mental health access and services for the black community will be held fol- lowing the 2 p.m. matinee on Sun- day, May 20. You do not need to attend the performance to attend this discussion. On June 10, in honor of Fathers Day, a special discussion will fol- low the play giving black fathers and their sons an intimate conver- sational experience on “What we say, what we wished we said, and the things rarely heard outside the black home.” For tickets and more informa- tion, visit portlandplayhouse.org. PassinArt Play Confronts Gentrification www.portlandobserver.com ROSE Community Devel- opment in Lents and the local African-American theater com- pany PassinArt are presenting “Repulsing the Monkey,” a play about gentrification, May 21-23 and May 28-30 with 7:30 p.m. shows at TEAM Event Center, 9201 S.E. Foster Rd. Two post-show discussions with artists and community members to examine the impact of gentrification on diverse com- munities in the Portland area will take place after the shows on Monday, May 21 and Wednes- day, May 30. Tickets from $5 to $15 can be purchased online at PassinArt: A Theatre Company at passinart. net or by calling 503-235-8079. Tickets will also be available at the door based on availability. Repulsing the Monkey is a story about a brother and a sister who have inherited their parents’ bar in a blue collar neighborhood in Pittsburgh. The area is becom- ing gentrified and they struggle with the question: Should they sell or should they keep their family and neighborhood’s her- itage alive?
