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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 23, 2019)
January 23, 2019 Page 9 Mississippi Alberta North Portland Vancouver East County Beaverton photo by J erry f oster Quigley Provost-Landrum (left) and Trish Egan perform as two women, one black and one white, who meet in a memoir writing class where they critique each other’s work and come to understand and learn from each other . Hazardous Beauty Making friends with people who are different “Hazardous Beauty,” a play about two women, one black and one white, who meet in a memoir writing class and come to understand and learn from one another, makes its world premiere this month at the Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center in north Portland. Written by Bonnie Ratner, a Portland writer, producer, director, actor and edu- cator, and performed by Portland’s Afri- can-American theater producing company, PassinArts, the new production debuts as part of Portland’s annual Fertile Ground Festival of new works. Hazardous Beauty is a provocative, often very funny guide to making friends with people who are different from us. The characters Chloe, played by Quig- ley Provost-Landrum, and Leah, played by Trish Egan share stories and experiences about their sometimes painful, at times joy- ful and often humorous lives. The women, although from different backgrounds, try to make sense of love, work, art and aging while exploring what all this means at the intersection of gender, race and class. During the 2016 Fertile Ground Festi- val reading of Hazardous Beauty, audienc- es called this play “wonderfully provoc- ative, witty, complex and brilliant.” The story has been revised and updated with new surprises for this fully produced world premiere. “Hazardous Beauty” opens Friday, Jan. 25 and plays through Feb. 17 at the Inter- state Firehouse, located at 5340 N. Inter- state Ave. Showtimes are Friday and Sat- urdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m. Audience talkbacks will follow the Sunday matinees on Feb. 3 and Feb.10. Individual tickets are $20 and $15 for seniors and students and available online at passinart.org or visiting JP’s Framing & Gallery, 418 N.E. Killingsworth. PassinArt: A Theatre Company was founded in 1982 and is the longest-pro- ducing African-American theatre compa- ny in Oregon. The group’s mission is to entertain, educate, and inspire artists and diverse audiences while addressing critical issues facing our community; and to cele- brate our history and culture.
