Portland Center Stage

Marty Hughley | The Oregonian [Review 09 May 2013]

Lauren Weedman has been in town for several weeks now, rehearsing and previewing her solo show “The People’s Republic of Portland.” But perhaps her system still hasn’t adjusted in certain respects, such as toleration of the high caffeine levels in the local diet.
     
Then again, maybe Weedman, a Los Angeles writer/actor, is naturally as energetic, quick-witted and, well, jittery as she appeared in Friday’s opening night performance at the Gerding Theater. Darting from anecdote to impersonation, self-deprecation to dance routine, embellishing every observation with a half-formed comic flourish or glancing aside, she at times brought to mind the manic momentum of Robin Williams or Jonathan Winters.

Portland Center Stage commissioned Weedman to write a show about our fair city, but rather than compete with “Portlandia” satire, she riffs wildly within a loose, personal framework: pondering whether Portland’s welcoming weirdness might be right for her at age 44, with a young son, a husband who leaves every summer to work in Alaska, and a growing ambivalence about her careerist life in L.A.
     
She never quite answers the question she sets out near the beginning: “Could I live here?” And in other respects as well, the show still feels like a work in progress, both for its semi-improvisatory flow and a few thematically and technically abrupt transitions.
     
But from her opening tale of encountering a mass-transit proselytizer before the plane even touched down for her first Portland visit, through observant accounts of Pearl District dog chauvinism, geeky trivia competitions, strip clubs, the “ecstatic dance” scene, farmers markets, and so on, Weedman is relentlessly, rapidly funny. Somebody, keep her coffee cup full.

Aaron Scott | Portland Monthly [Review 09 May 2013]

The Los Angeles–based actor and comedian Lauren Weedman has officially drunk the Portland Kool-Aid. Or, given this is Portland, the kombucha. She’s also visited the strip clubs, suffered the baristas’ scours, and been to geek trivia night.

Weedman’s one-woman world premiere production of The People’s Republic of Portland begins with her first touching down in our city two years ago for her debut at Portland Center Stage in another one-woman show, Bust. The next 90 minutes are a caffeine-fueled travelogue through Portland Weird, over the course of which her mispronunciation of WILL-e-mette and ignorance about LEED transform into a tender love of bike paths and farmer’s markets. But although the show is exuberantly funny, in the end, like all vacation recounts, it doesn’t go much of anywhere at all.

Daniel Meeker’s set, bare white with two TV monitors and PDX in giant white letters, has all the slickness of a TV studio, which sets the perfect stage for the Oprah level excitement of the audience’s applause. And there’s no question Weedman’s flair for characterizations and energetic physicality fills it, her body bounding across the stage like a champion boxer and then breaking down for dance party interstitial moments colored with concert lighting by Don Crossley.

Kinsley Suer [PCS Blog Comment]

Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts with us, Corey. You and your wife are welcome back at PCS any time!

Cory Burnsed [PCS Blog Comment]

Lauren Weedman is absolutley fantastic in The People’s Republic of Portland. Her energetic and satirical social commentary on her experiences, ideas, and awakenings can only be described as hilariously humble and charming. My wife and I saw PRP last night for the first time and it won’t be our last. We laughed from beginning to end and the subject matter Lauren covers is perfect grounds for sparking conversation on the complexities and simplicities Portland has to offer to those passing through or those seeking a new beginning.

Thank you for bringing such a wildly brilliant talent to our home, Portland Center Stage!