Join us THIS Sunday, following the 2 p.m. matinee of Josh Kornbluth’s Ben Franklin Unplugged for Formative Stages: Theater and the Life of the Mind, copresented with The Oregon Psychoanalytic Center.

For this installment, Dr. Nancy Winters will delve into issues of independence, family and parental disappointment, and self-reliance in Kornbluth’s play. Winters quipped that Kornbluth’s play is “a great example of psychotherapy in action,”  encouraging, as it does, Josh’s journey to find his own inner Ben Franklin.

One-part cocktail conversation/one-part talk-back session, the lively series, now in its third year, puts theater on the couch and the audience in the conversational driver’s seat for post-show discussions that reveal that the world on the stage is truly a glorious microcosm of life. Join us for this field trip into the nooks and crannies that theater inhabits—from humor and mannered whimsy to the insatiable lust for life to the menage-a-trois between power, justice and truth, to idiosyncratic family dynamics and taboo.

Formative Stages: Theater and the Life of the Mind
Nancy Winters, MD on Josh Kornbluth’s Ben Franklin Unplugged
When: November 8, 2009 (following the 2 pm matinee)
Where: Ellyn Bye Studio , Gerding Theater at the Armory

Discussions take place in the theater directly following the 2 pm matinees. Free with theater admission

Another exciting  IDEAS IN PLAY program
IDEAS in PLAY are free public programs offered by Portland Center Stage that bridge conversations around theater and the arts, sustainability, history, and community. How can we use the lens of the theater to talk about who we are, what we believe and how we connect to one another? IDEAS in PLAY inspires stories to come to life in unexpected ways through conversation-based programs that ask: what’s the big idea here?

more posts about Ben Franklin: Unplugged || Get the Details on the Show || Buy Tickets

Portland Center Stage is very happy to be hosting three vital conversations that touch upon three vital threads of Portland DNA:  Education/Youth Activism;  Bike Culture/DIY enterprise; The Arts & Evolving Audience.

The conversations are  part of The New Communicators, a three-day festival of events, being held October 28-30 throughout Portland. The festival is intended to inspire,  educate, and invite questions on the evolving nature of conversation in a rapidly changing public realm.

Conversation is the thing. The sociologist Richard Sennett gives us a high-five on that: “rethinking the practices of urbanism is involved in creating a place in which people can talk to each other, and this is huge issue. You can’t have a public realm. . .if people don’t exchange with another and the element of exchange is talk.”

The New Communicators is a series of events created to share experiences and inspire discussion about how we communicate with others using both online and offline media. It is for anyone interested in exploring new ways of creating conversations in our personal lives, within our communities or in business. It is a chance to share ideas, experiences and lessons learned.

NEW COMMUNICATORS day#1:
Youth Power: Speaking for the Future
Wednesday, October 28, 8 – 10 am
Gerding Theater at the Armory
FREE

Youth are an often overlooked, sometimes hard to reach constituency, but one that (as the “youthquake” of the presidential election proved) has the ability to activate great social change.  Not only do they represent a whole new generation of makers, doers and thinkers, they are a critical mass of highly savvy renaissance-thinkers who can offer new perspectives, innovations, flexibility and passion for the future.

Evolving social media technology is a powerful tool that offers incredible possibilities in the realm of engaging youth in social causes and empowering them to become a generation of leaders for change, as well as for leveraging new approaches to education and participatory democracy. Today’s youth has moved far beyond the traditional “old-growth media” of newspapers to a more open-source, thriving omniverse, rich in digital-connectivity and grassroots creativity.

Discover ways to leverage youth engagement and how youth can contribute not only to your success, but to building the future we want for the region.

Voicebox Media (part of the Multnomah Youth Commission) is a media production company operated by and for youth, whose recent projects include the Regional innovation Forum and Activate Oregon, events fostering youth voice and social activism–from grassroots to public policy.

A CONVERSATION featuring:
Travis Huntington is a strategic communications and grassroots social marketing consultant, as well as a commercial multimedia producer and the founder/leader of Voicebox Media: www.ourcommission.org/youthvoice

Catherine Leedy is a nonprofit and leadership development consultant, was on the design team of the Regional Innovation Forum, and led the Activate Oregon Youth Summit

Liz Grover is an expert in new media communications and engaging the youth audience for social causes

Martin Tull is a leader and activist for Climate Change and serves on the Governor’s Global Warming Commission.

Moderated by  Tim DuRoche, cultural advocate and Community Programs Manager, Portland Center Stage.

RSVP and see you there!

NEW COMMUNICATORS day#2:
Creating Conversations Through the Love of Bicycles
Thursday, October 29th, 8am – 10am
Gerding Theater
FREE

There are many people who love bicycles. But how many can take this love and turn it into a business? And once they’ve started their cycling-related business, how do they engage their audience, market and brand their company?

Join us for a conversation with a group of cyclists who are creating conversations through their love of bicycles… a panel of four cycling and communication experts will talk about why they’re doing what they’re doing, how they’re doing it, and what’s next for cycling as communication.

The panel consists of:
Jonathan Maus, Founder and Editor-in-Chief of BikePortland
Slate Olson, General Manager of Rapha, North America
Natalie Ramsland, Founder and Framebuilder of Sweetpea Bicycles
Heidi Swift, Newspaper Columnist, Freelance Writer, Photographer and Bike Racer
David Lowe-Rogstad, Co-Founder of Substance and former road racer (he’s back on the bike for Cross Crusade this year), will be moderating the panel.

Coinciding with Oregon Manifest , this panel is an opportunity for framebuilders, cycling enthusiasts, and business owners of all sorts to learn how different companies are utilizing events, technology and stories to create conversations.

RSVP and we’ll see you there.

NEW COMMUNICATORS day#3:
10,000 Invitations:
A roundtable on arts institutions and new/social media
Friday, October 30, 4 to 6 pm
The Gerding Theater at the Armory

Hosted by Lisa Radon, Portland Monthly’s Culturephile.

Good minds from Portland arts institutions share the ways they’re using new and social media to engage audiences.

The Portland Art Museum creates conversational videos about works in the collection, creates a community website for its China Design Now exhibition, and tweets as M.C. Escher. Portland Center Stage creates show preview videos that go viral and uses Twitter in innovative ways. The Museum of Contemporary Craft creates video and podcast and invites audience response. PICA integrates Twitter, Flickr, and YouTube into its TBA Festival blog.

In education, programming, and marketing, we’ll talk about what’s worked and what’s on the horizon as the landscape continues to change with new tools and new challenges all the time.

Participants include:
Christina Olsen, PhD – Director of Education & Public Programs, Portland Art Museum
Beth Heinrich – Director of Marketing & Public Relations, Portland Art Museum
Cynthia Fuhrman – Marketing and Communications Director, Portland Center Stage
Patrick Leonard -Public Relations, Portland Institute for Contemporary Art
Rebecca Burrell-Public Relations and Marketing Specialist, Museum of Contemporary Craft
Namita Gupta-Wiggers -Curator, Museum of Contemporary Craft

RSVP and we’ll see you there!

As the brain-trust behind New Communicators writes: “This is not a traditional sort of conference. ..Anyone can attend and anyone can organize an event. Whether you are a individual, an existing organization who already holds regular events or a business, you can organize a New Communicators event. …If you have an event idea, are willing to organize it and can find a venue to house it, you are welcome to.”

The only limit is your imagination, after all as Benjy Barber tells us, “Imagination is the link to civil society that art and democracy share. . . . It is the faculty by which we stretch ourselves to include others, expand the compass of our interests, and overcome the limits of our parochial selves. Only then do we become fit subjects to live in democratic communities.”

Hope to see you here, contributing to conversation and communication’s evolution!

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

Bob Gerding

On behalf of the Gerding family, Portland Center Stage announces a celebration of life for Bob Gerding on Monday, September 14, at 4:00 pm. The celebration will take place on the Main Stage of The Gerding Theater at the Armory, 128 NW 11^th Ave, with a reception to follow; the event is open to the public.

Gerding, a Portland native who transformed the city’s downtown core with Earth-friendly high-rise buildings and energized its leading theater company, died on August 18 after a long fight with cancer. He was 71.

Gerding was best known for co-founding Gerding Edlen Development Co., the firm that redeveloped the former Blitz-Weinhard brewery into an urban cluster of offices and shops that are studied worldwide for their approach to mixed-use development and water and energy conservation. With his wife, Diana, Gerding dedicated much of his time and resources into Portland Center Stage, helping to lead the campaign for the landmark theater amid the Brewery Blocks that now bears his name. He was also an advocate for, and valued advisor to, numerous other arts non-profits in the city.

Gerding is survived by his wife, Diana; sister, Janet Conklin; his daughter, ShawnMarie Rehfeld; his son, Erik Gerding, and three grandchildren.

The family requests that, in lieu of flowers, any commemorative gifts to honor Bob be made to Portland Center Stage, Caldera, PICA, Literary Arts, or your favorite non-profit arts organization.

Please join PCS and Multnomah County Library on Tuesday, June 30 at 6 p.m. for a special evening with Vailey Oehlke, the newly appointed Library Director for the Multnomah County Library system.

Vailey Oehlke (pronounced VAY-lee EL-key) is forward-looking and energetic and brings a deep understanding of the library’s operations, challenges and opportunities and its prospects as a key animator of civic renewal. A strong participant in national and international library leadership, Vailey is known as a consensus builder and strategic thinker with experience in three library systems as well as a fantastic 12-year tenure  with the Multnomah County Library.

Following a brief reception, Vailey will talk about her vision for the Library and the vibrant role that libraries play, alongside arts, cultural and civic institutions, in convening and engaging vital conversation, catalyzing change, and harnessing a community’s creative and civic energies. Since its founding in 1864, Multnomah County Library has played a dynamic role in the evolution of the Portland metropolitan area.  Vailey will explore how today, amidst a turbulent economy, evolving technology and increased pressures on our educational system, the public library can become an evermore essential and integral part of the city’s community-building fabric.

Moderated by Tim DuRoche, Community Programs Manager at Portland Center Stage.

A Place for Books, A Space for People:
A conversation about libraries with Vailey Oehlke
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Gerding Theatre at the Armory, Mezzanine
6 p.m.  no host bar, light hors d’oeuvres
7 p.m.  program