JAW Play Reading: Out There
Created by William Carlos Angulo, Isaac Gómez & Michelle J. Rodriguez
Music & Lyrics by Michelle J Rodriguez
Book by Isaac Gómez
When MJ, a once-great musician turned recluse, summons his best friends to his beach house with a "code red," old tensions and buried secrets resurface as the characters confront their shared pasts and uncertain futures. A PCS Commission, Out There is a richly layered story about family, love, and redemption told through the intersecting lives of three lifelong best friends—MJ, David, and Lars—and the people bound to them, in this deeply resonant portrait of connection. Set against the Pacific Northwest’s storm-lashed coastlines, and bustling cityscapes, Out There offers breathtaking music and heart-bending harmonies that will leave you on the edge of your seat! Be the first to catch this gem of a new musical before it launches into the world.
JAW New Play Festival FREE! July 28-30
A week-long assembling of artists and audiences to create new plays! Artistic teams, including playwrights, directors and actors, come together to rehearse — and a lot of times rewrite! — a play. The final piece of the process happens during the weekend, when we share “music stands readings” with audiences so the playwrights can hear their work, often for the very first time!
Michelle J. “Micha” Rodriguez (she/her) writes and performs in the worlds of music and theater. 2024-2025 Tow Foundation Playwright-in-Residence at the Bushwick Starr, 2023-2034 Vision Resident at Ars Nova, 2022 Helen Merrill Award for playwriting, 2022 NYC Women’s Fund Grant for Media, Music and Theater, 2020 Van Lier Fellow at Ars Nova. Raised in the Pacific Northwest and Kentucky by Puerto Rican parents, Michelle’s work explores kids-of-immigrants stories, divinity, queerness, intuition, joy-as-resistance, healing and spaces in-between.
Her musical PRESENCIA (composer/lyricist/bookwriter/performer) recently premiered at the Bushwick Starr (produced with Sol Project, Oye Group, Musical Theater Factory; developed with BAM and Lincoln Center). In development: OUT THERE; and RAIMUNDA (composer/lyricist) with bookwriter Noelle Viñas (Ars Nova, NYSAF). Her music project MICHA was a finalist for NPR’s 2018 Tiny Desk Contest with her song “Nena Nena Nena,” praised for a “bilingual set spanning laid-back southern soul and Latin pop flare” (NPR). BA Williams College. www.michamusica.com
Current & Upcoming
JAW Street Dance Showcase
Join us as we kick things off for JAW weekend with this wildly popular yearly showcase, presented by DJ NorthernDraw and featuring street, club, and urban dance styles, performed by artists from a variety of local Portland area dance crews and institutions.
JAW Play Reading: The Sugar Hole
By Virginia Baeta and Amy Driesler
A rent increase for a legendary lesbian bar threatens its existence, and Darcy has a plan to save it. Is the 90's-themed Lesbian Pageant she dreams up as a fundraiser the answer? Or do the lesbians around her have different ideas about what needs to be saved? The Sugar Hole skips through time and space—real and imagined—exploring what it means to be a lesbian in a lesbian community, the importance of spaces for queer people, and what makes someone feel they belong. Part zany comedy, part pageant, and fully heart-filled, The Sugar Hole speaks directly to what makes a community, a community.
JAW Community Artist Lab: Using Images to Catalyze New Work with Dr. Taylor Barfield
Playwrights from August Wilson to Stephen Sondheim have found inspiration for their dramatic works on the canvas of a visual artist. In this workshop, we'll use images and music as a way to launch the playwriting process, craft language, and listen for character.
JAW PRESS PLAY: Bridging Voices choir
Bridging Voices is a youth chorus for LGBTQ+ and allied youth, ages 13-21. We strive to be a safe, accessible place for youth to experience empowerment and unity through music. Bridging Voices is Portland’s first LGBTQ+ and Allied Youth Chorus and is one of the largest choruses of its kind in the nation.
JAW Play Reading: Teen Playwrights Showcase
Celebrate the newest generation of theater artists in this high-energy showcase of 8-10 minute plays written by local teens. These young writers are selected from PCS’s year-round education programs and the PCS Teen Council. The playwrights are commissioned to create bold new works that reflect their voices and experiences.
JAW PRESS PLAY: The Latino Network's Ballet Folklórico dancers
A performance by the Latino Network’s Ballet Folklórico students, a program that honors and promotes Mexican culture, heritage, and identity through traditional dance classes and performances for youth and the community.
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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