Reviews of "Forever"
Dael Orlandersmith first performed her solo show Forever in 2014 at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Los Angeles. Since then, she has performed the piece at several theater companies across the country, earning much critical acclaim, as well as an Off-Broadway Alliance Award nomination for Best Solo Performance. Here's a roundup of the great reviews the production has recieved since its world premiere.
"In language that is always spare and simple, with rhythms now jagged and discordant, now incantatory and soothing, Ms. Orlandersmith holds us in a taut, quiet spell for the 80-minute show." -The New York Times
Brave and Heartfelt
"Ms. Orlandersmith has a gift for raw immediacy ... first and foremost, Ms. Orlandersmith is a poet, and her language sings." -The New York Times
"A harrowing memoir ... searching, brutally honest monologues ... This arc is familiar from Orlandersmith’s earlier solo pieces, Beauty’s Daughter, Monster and Gimmick, all about young black women determined to rise above bleak circumstances, who find salvation in art." -Los Angeles Times
"In Forever, she also redefines "family" for herself. Perusing Pere Lachaise, she insists that the famous people on the map there — the artists there — are her true family. ... They're all alive, and so is Orlandersmith, as, dressed in black with braids swinging and directed by Neel Keller, she takes the stage and transforms it." -The Huffington Post
"Orlandersmith’s intention, she says at one point, was to finally write something with the “naked, gut-honest” candor of an author like Wright. And in the harrowing, very personal and unflinchingly courageous journey described in Forever, she achieves it." -LA Weekly
More about Forever:
Who I Am: Celebrating Me - A Celebration for Black History Month
February 20 at 2 p.m. and February 22 at 7:30 p.m.
Perspectives series for "Forever" and "Each and Every Thing"
February 16 & 23, March 1 & 8 in the Ellyn Bye Studio
Immediately following the 7:30 p.m. performance
Dael Orlandersmith Is a Poet of Life’s Complexity
American Theater Magazine’s Stuart Miller sat down with Forever playwright and performer Dael Orlandersmith.
Perspectives series for "Forever" and "Each and Every Thing"
February 16 & 23, March 1 & 8 in the Ellyn Bye Studio
Immediately following the 7:30 p.m. performance
Current & Upcoming
Art Exhibit: ¡Soy Yo! by Mika Martinez
¡Soy Yo!, is a multi-media project, created by Mika Martinez, that examines and celebrates Latinx identity featuring more than 50 portraits of the Hispanic/Latino community in Portland.
Piano Bar with Courtney Freed and David Saffert
Join us for this monthly event with local songstress Courtney Freed and Portland-based pianist David Saffert as they host a good old-fashioned PIANO BAR.
NASSIM
From Iranian playwright Nassim Soleimanpour (creator of the Off-Broadway smash hit White Rabbit, Red Rabbit) comes an audacious new theatrical experiment, presented in collaboration with Boom Arts. Each night, a new, unrehearsed local performer joins the playwright on stage, while the script waits, unseen, in a sealed box... Touchingly autobiographical yet powerfully universal, NASSIM is a striking theatrical demonstration of how language can both divide and unite us.
Art Exhibit: Garam Garam Chai by Yusra Siddiqui
Portland Center Stage will host Garam Garam Chai, an art exhibit by Portland-based multidisciplinary artist Yusra Siddiqui, featuring a series of hand-sewn teabag printmaking pieces that serve as a contemplation of the communal tea times shared between Desi and British culture.
Coriolanus
Shakespeare’s tragedy about the war hero Coriolanus and the fight between the elite and the deprived masses will be fueled by a dynamic female and non-binary ensemble with a muscular, movement-focused staging.
May First Thursday with Adriana Wagner Quartet
May First Thursday will feature live music by the Adriana Wagner Quartet in the Main Lobby, joined by Garrett Baxter on bass, Matthew Sazima on piano and Ken Mastrogiovanni on drums.
Portland Center Stage is committed to identifying & interrupting instances of racism & all forms of oppression, through the principles of inclusion, diversity, equity, & accessibility (IDEA).
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