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Volume XLVIII • Number 44
‘City
of
Roses’
www.portlandobserver.com
Wednesday • November 13, 2019
Committed to Cultural Diversity
photo by S alim S anchez
A local group of actors raised their voices to collaborate with Portland playwright Damaris Webb to write the script and then perform in
“SOUL’D: The Economics of our Black Body” a new play that delves into the economic dreams and realities for black Americans, coming
Thursday, Nov. 14 to Nov. 24 to the Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center. They are (from left) are Ken Dembo, La’Tevin Alexander,
Shareen Jacobs, Catherine Braxton, Tyharra Cozier, Webb, Sydney Jackson and Auntais Faulkner
Giving Voice to Economic Truths
Actors contribute to
script in new play
b everly c orbell
t he p ortland o bServer
When Damaris Webb’s new play,
“SOUL’D: The Economics of our Black
Body,” was performed at the Vanport
Mosaic Festival back in May, it was only
15 minutes long. But now the play, to be
performed again starting Thursday, Nov.
14 and continuing through Nov. 24, has
grown to nearly an hour long. Performanc-
by
es will be at 7:30 p.m. each evening at the
Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center in
north Portland, with Sunday matinees at
2:30 p.m.
The play has grown not because of
Webb’s sole input, but because it was “a
work in progress” and a collaborative ef-
fort of all the cast members, she said, and
everyone contributed to the final expanded
product.
“We all co-wrote this play, but I’m at
the head in shaping and pushing,” Webb
said. “It’s collaborative, horizontal play-
making.”
Online
Sports
Betting
Debut
Launch comes
with hopes
and concerns
Traditionally, plays are vertical, from
the top down, she said, with the playwright
at the top. But this collaborative approach
as a way of crafting a script often has a
different result, she said.
“Everyone contributes, from personal
experience, research on personal narra-
tives, legislation and news articles,” she
said. “This piece is not a linear story of
a particular person’s journey, but it does
have a beginning, a middle and an end.”
The play investigates the narrative of the
b everly c orbell
t he p ortland o bServer
When the Oregon Lottery
launched its new online betting
app Scoreboard last month,
Lottery director Barry Pack
said the move would increase
state revenue by attracting new
players without relying on cur-
rent players of state-sanctioned
betting games like video pok-
er. Others are more cautious,
and worry about an increase in
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c ontinued on p age 4
by