Around these parts our mission is inspire the community by “bringing stories to life in unexpected ways” or if you’re prone to anagrammatical games, you might say, “Bigger Notion stirs, an expediency fuels wit.”

All of which is to say, your last week to see Beard/Twelfth Night is nearing, before things take off with Sometimes A Great Notion. To ease the transition from Elizabethan romp to the wooden wilds of Waconda, the spell-binding Per Se performs this First Thursday, March 6 from 6-7 pm for the low-low cost of free in the lobby of the Gerding Theater.

Per Se is the wing-wearing, wisecracking, emotionally-charged musical alter-ego of one, Anne Adams, whom the Willamette Week lauds as a “sweet-voiced angel. . .and one of [Portland’s] greatest unknown pop treasures.”

Per Se’s admirers and critical following is fervent to say the least:

“Per Se happens and something magical enchants the room…you will cry even if you do not feel like it…maybe you will notice you have entered a gingerbread house and it is snowing sparkly snowflake ornaments and oranges are peeled like puzzle pieces…”

And fully justified, I might add. Adams is a gifted singer-songwriter presence who transcends either sides of that hyphenated label, a mesmerizing performer who “brings stories to life in unexpected ways”. . .in other words, a girl after our own heart.

Summing up her theatrical approach for the Daily Vanguard, Adams mused on the fairy tale-like energy she brings to performance:
“Hmm. All little girls like fairies, I think, so to a certain extent it’s my emotional side, my more naive self that I sing from, that wants to indulge that whim. From a more academic perspective, there’s the Shakespearean model of fairies, not only as beings with magical powers, but as emcees of shows, agents of fate and mischievous manipulators of human emotions. So, I guess putting on wings, which I do sometimes, is a statement of intent. Hi, I will be playing the Puck; I’m just messing with y’all. Or I’m Ariel, fixing to whip up a tiny tempest.”

So “call it what you will,” but stop by on First Thursday for an intimate (no cover) early evening with the irresistable Per Se, enjoy a class of wine at the Armory Café, and get lost in the unexpected!

Find out more about our First Thursday events.
Read more from Outreach Director Tim duRoche’s blog.