PSU Magazine Spring 1999

Portland International Performance Festival1999 Mainstage Performances July 16-18 Street Rhythms and Front Porch Tales An evening with storyteller and National Public Radio commentator Lorraine Johnson-Coleman and performance artist/poet Dael Orlandersmith, at Artists Repertory Theatre. July 22-24 Dream Seeds Setsuko Yamada, Japanese dancer and choreographer, and members of her company Biwakei, at Lincoln Hall. July 29-31 Theatre Gargantua Toronto's acrobatic trapeze company presents the U.S. premiere of its startl ing production, "Raging Dreams- Into the Visceral," in Lincoln Hall. Films Science Fiction in Japanese Film, screen– ings on Thursdays at 6:40 p.m., with introductory remarks and post-screening discussions led by Professor Laurence Kominz at the Fifth Avenue Cinema. July 15 Mothra July 22 Japan Sinks July 29 Nausicaa of the Valley of the Winds (animation video, free) folk tale, The Dybbuk, performed in English. PIP Fest may just be as much community outreach as it is theater, forging links between many of Oregon's often overlooked ethnic groups. One of the event's most unusual theatrical innovations, "Home is Where the Art Is," challenged common perspectives on theater by holding performances in actual living spaces throughout the greater Portland area. "It was taking intercultural art and ·performing it all over, getting people to go into parts of the community where they may have never been," Griggs says. 6 PSU MAGAZINE SPRING 1999 Lecture Series Free artists' forum at noon on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, location TBA July 15 Finding the Extraordinary Lorraine Johnson-Coleman, guest artist July 20 The Suzuki Method of Acting Yukihiro Goto, guest artist July 27 Cycles of Creation: Theatre Gargantua's Creative Process Jacquie P.A. Thomas, guest artist July 29 Apology for the Actor Ian Ricketts, guest artist Special Events July 15 Dael Orlandersmith Featured with the Portland Poetry Slam and special guests July 15 Lorraine Johnson-Coleman Just Plain Folks, book signing at Powells July 17 Late night Poetry Slam Hosted by Dael Orlandersmith July 16, 23, 30 Talkback Sessions Friday night post-show with the main– stage performance audiences A brochure will be available in May by calling (503) 7H EARNor toll-free 1-800-547-8887, ext. 3276. Visit the festival Web site at http://extended.pdx. edulpipf.htm. The first year, "Home is Where the Art ls" consisted of 24 performances in one weekend in venues that ranged from downtown Portland to the rural farm fields of Washington County. "There was actually quite a bit of cross-fertilization," Griggs says. Another year, Portland Taiko drum– mers performed at a North Portland public housing project, wowing resi– dents with their athletic traditional drumming style and persuading some in the crowd to come up and participate. And, in yet another year, PIP Fest sent a Senegalese dance company to a migrant worker community housing project. So much fun was had that the dance troupe was invited back. Setsuko Yamada (above) will offer a workshop that focuses on "giving birth to dance." Dael Orlandersmith (below) brings her New York-based street poetry to PIP Fest. "There was a lot of pressure, in a sense, that if we were going to perform in a migrant community, then we'd have to find a Spanish language play or band," Griggs says. "But we'd done that before ... so we wanted to bring something different." In the end, Griggs says the response was surprising. He found an adventur– ous theater audience that was willing to take a chance. "It took awhile, but I'd say the audience is out there in Portland." D (Lisa Looing, a Portland freelance writer, wrote the articles "Harmonic Cont1eTgence" and "Idio-frequcu:y" in the winter 1999 PSU Magazine.)