How do stories come to life in unexpected ways? Sometimes through very unexpected partnerships. And sometimes by just asking the right questions.

Like for example: how might the story of Ragtime illuminate salient truths and metaphors for homeless and at-risk youth in Portland?

One word that answers both questions is “empathy” – the ability to see the world through the restorative lens of someone else’s journey.

Next week, October 6-8, PCS will be sponsoring a workshop with two invaluable service organizations, New Avenues for Youth and Outside In and Write Around Portland around themes and ideas in Ragtime. It’s a great opportunity to use arts-integrated teaching (that is learning in and through the lens of creativity and the arts) and participant-centered, experiential learning to talk about real world skills.

As happenstance would have it:
Outside In (through their education program that helps youth obtain their GED and enter college) has been studying American Labor history, including the Lawrence, Massachusetts IWW textile strike of 1912 –which figures into the plot of Ragtime–and the Portland Longshoremen’s Strike of 1934.  As part of their study they’ve talked about the power in organizing.  To get beneath the surface a little more have even engaged in role playing games around the 1934 event–to understand the issue more deeply.

Throw into the mix: Youth working with New Avenues’ Skill Building component (which includes a similar GED prep program) have been using the notion of “perspectives” as guidepost in their creative writing.

Over the three days next week, youth from New Avenues and Outside In will work with workshop facilitators from Write Around Portland exploring empathy, multiple perspectives–engaging in free-writes; seeing Ragtime and participating in a Q & A; and diving into another day of writing using the idea of Historical fiction, employing images or events in history as “Prompts” to craft story. In this case the prompts are Ragtime and images of Portlanders of different age, class, and ethnic make-up from the era currently on view (courtesy of the extensive Nelson Photo Archive) in the lower lobby gallery spaces of the Gerding Theater.

Since I began working at PCS, I’ve been searching for the right fit to do a project with Write Around Portland. I’m a big fan of their work and find their commitment to the literary arts as an empowerment tool very inspiring.

A fantastic community-based literary arts organization, Write Around Portland has facilitated more than 370 creative writing workshops, unleashing the creative power of more than 2,400 adults and youth by helping them access the literary arts and community. Their traditional workshops are held in partnership with social service agencies, community organizations, health care providers, correctional facilities and schools (see list at bottom of this page). These workshops are offered free to people living with HIV/AIDS, veterans, survivors of domestic violence, adults and youth in addiction recovery, low income seniors, people in prison, homeless youth and others who may not have access to writing in community because of income, isolation or other barriers. To ensure that everyone in our city has access to the power of writing in community, writing journals, pens, bus tickets, childcare and snacks are provided for participants in these workshops.

I’m excited and curious to watch as the ideas unfold and the writing pours out. We’ll keep you posted on the results!

Finally opened on Friday night, and thought I’d share a few images from the show.

{Tateh (Leif Norby) and his daughter (Anna Bishop) get off the boat and greet their new Shtetl in Ragtime. Photo by Owen Carey.}

{Coalhouse (Gavin Gregory) gets the keys to a new car while Henry Ford (Todd A. Horman) extols the virtues of mass production in Ragtime. Photo by Owen Carey. }

{Susannah Mars in “What Kind of Woman.” Photo by Owen Carey.}

{The men of Ragtime share the profundity (and profanity) of a baseball game in the show stopping number “What a Game!” Photo by Owen Carey.}

more posts about Ragtime || Get the Details on the Show || Buy Tickets

Our front of house staff reports hearing this question almost every night- “It sounds beautiful, but where on earth do they put the orchestra??” Luckily, one of our orchestra members, John Nastos, is a blogger himself and has posted a fascinating piece that explains the logistics of having an offstage orchestra that can be integrated with the on-stage performances. After all, normally the orchestra would be in a pit just in front of the singers where they could hear the music and see the conductor throughout the show. So how do the singers and orchestra both see the conductor during Ragtime?

Well, I’ll let John explain it:

For both Grey Gardens and Ragtime, the orchestra has had a rather non-traditional placement in the theater. Instead of being in the orchestra pit in front of the stage, the orchestra lives on what’s called the “slab,” which is behind the stage. So, as an audience member, if you had X-ray vision and could see through the back wall of the set, you would be able to see into our space. The instrumentalists’ backs would be towards you and Rick Lewis (our conductor) would be facing you.

Rick watches what is going on onstage from a small closed-circuit television in front of him. The actors can see Rick’s conducting on a large monitor facing the stage mounted in the back of the theater (if you were watching the performance, you could turn around and see it from most seats in the house). The instrumentalists also get to see what is going on onstage via a large monitor behind Rick…

Read the rest of John’s blog post here.

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{Tateh (Leif Norby) and his daughter (Anna Bishop) arrive in America in Ragtime. Photo by Owen Carey.}

We’re delighted to have Ragtime open and garnering rave reviews- from the press and from our own audience!

First, the audience weighs in…on our website, on Facebook, and on Twitter:

On Our Site

“Ragtime is one of my three favorite musicals, so I was apprehensive when PCS announced it for their season. I had seen the original production (breathtaking!), a touring show in Seattle (still good though on a smaller scale), and a really scaled down version in Portland at the Keller (only OK). Now for yours: Brilliant!!! The singing was extraordinary, the story came more into focus, I loved the use of chairs and the screens. And to top it all was Susannah Mars. Mother finally came into focus where she should have been in all previous showings. Thank you. I plan to see it at PCS many more times.” – Jerry Lesch

Read more audience reviews. (And write your own!)

{Mother (Susannah Mars) decides to keep a baby found abandoned in her garden (and transforms her whole life in the process) in Ragtime. Photo by Owen Carey}

Twitter

@MiracleInsider:  “Saw RAGTIME last night at PCS – a huge success – wonderful vocals – Musical Director Rick Lewis really triumphs – will be big hit.”

@toddmintz: “Ragtime rocked the F’ing house yesterday…awesome performance!”

@misconstrue: “Enjoyed the heck out of Portland Center Stage’s Ragtime last night. First rate voices, acting, and stagecraft. Kudos.”

Follow us on Twitter.

{Coalhouse (Gavin Gregory) gets a new car and a whole new slice of the American Dream in Ragtime. Photo by Owen Carey.}

Facebook

“The show was fantastic! A good refresher of American history and of how our nation got it’s start from “wheels of a dream”. Change begins with dreams and the journey of change begins with the support of family & friends working tog…ether to endure the obstacles of life. After seeing this show, and watching the decline of the industrial revolution in our country with hard working people loosing their jobs to cheaper overseas labor, it seems History is repeating its self. HATS off (yep…puns intended) to PCS and the Ragtime cast for instilling the importance of keeping dreams in America!” – Laura Henderson Kennedy

“Ragtime was amazing! A classy production. Beautiful sights and sounds. Entertaining and educational. It kept making me cry but I laughed as well. What a show.” – Katherine Fitch

“Just saw Ragtime tonight (thanks, Kelsey!) This is one of the most amazing and powerful productions I’ve ever seen at PCS. And I’ve seen some great ones. The cast is superb. I was blown away by the vocals and orchestra, the beautiful costumes and the profound story. Thank you for a brilliant show.” – Michael Todd Pozycki

“I was “bowled” over by the amazingly talented cast of Ragtime last night. The ensemble singing was so beautiful, as was the directing and scenery. Bravo, Chris!” – Carole Penner

“Loved, loved, loved the show last night. The cast was absolutely incredible and the singing was fantastic. And that was only the first preview night. Can’t wait to see where it goes from here.” – Heather Adams

Friend us on Facebook (and tell us what you thought!)

{What a Game! The men of Ragtime celebrate the profundities (and profanities) of a baseball game. Photo by Owen Carey.}

And what did the press think so far? Here’s a brief excerpt of Michael McGregor’s review for the Oregonian:

Distilled by Terrence McNally from E.L. Doctorow’s wide-ranging novel and pulsed by Stephen Flaherty’s lean but luscious rag-based score, Ragtime highlights three versions of the American Dream at the end of the Gilded Age …

Coleman’s unexpectedly apt less-is-more approach places in the foreground not only Ragtime’s Tony-winning book and score but also the powerful voices he’s found for both major and minor roles. Chief among these are local favorites Susannah Mars as a wealthy white woman discovering abilities and desires beyond being a wife and Leif Norby as a Latvian Jewish immigrant transformed from poor street artist to privileged filmmaker.”

Read the rest of the review.

And here’s a bit from Barry Johnson’s Arts Watch commentary:

The orchestra, led by Rick Lewis, had the musical goods and so did the cast, which was jam-packed with good singers — most notably the two locals in the cast, Susannah Mars and Leif Norby, along with Gavin Gregory as Coalhouse Walker…

Yes, it’s far easier to keep the door closed to the human misery at your doorstep, in Mother’s case the arrival of Sarah and her infant son (the child of Coalhouse Walker). But when it’s a specific misery, sometimes we find it within ourselves to do something about it, if we can. Mars, who sings beautifully throughout, is particularly poignant here, and as the play progresses, Father is right: She is always carrying the symbol of that pain, the infant son of Coalhouse and Sarah. Mother’s caring doesn’t matter to the vast social forces in movement outside of her home in New Rochelle, of course; it matters at a strictly local level, though, and at a personal level, too. Mars’ ability to suggest this is one of the prime achievements of this production.

Read the rest of Barry’s take on the show.

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Recently I was talking to Terry Currier, the sage force and owner of Music Millennium, a 40-year-old icon of indie-biz that’s quite literally a “place where people and music still matter. After talking a bit we realized that the arts and the independent music and book fields share similar struggles—competing with online entertainment, building and retaining audience and the need to foster a larger sense of community to ensure a durable future.

I threw out the idea that while public spaces for creativity (theaters, clubs, art galleries) are vital we actually probably have a symbiotic relationship with “third-spaces” and creative free spaces like the indie-record store, bookstore, library, etc.—we both nurture wonder, conversation and the development of artists. I know that for myself, hanging out in the local record store, listening to the wise-acre behind the counter who knew every nook and cranny of jazz history was every bit as valuable as the teachers I studied with or the gigs I played in clubs.

So in an effort to support locally grown talent, locally grown business and give you all some good music to listen to in the process, Music Millennium joins forces with PCS to present SOUNDS. LIKE. PORTLAND—an early evening showcase of the best in local music, every Saturday from 5-7 pm in the Lobby of the Gerding Theater. Free—and all ages.

For October, in conjunction with our production of Ragtime, we feature blues/ragtime guitar master Mary Flower, jazz-blues-gospel pianist extraordinaire Janice Scroggins + special guests