Photo Flash: EL QUIJOTE At Milagro Theatre Through 5/29

EL QUIJOTE - A Miracle MainStage bilingual adaptation of a play by Santiago García - will perform May 6-29, 2010. The production, based on the novel by Miguel de Cervantes, will be directed by Olga Sanchez. The show is sponsored by Urban Robotics and the National Endowment for the Arts.

An original bilingual adaptation of the classic novel from Spain’s Golden Age

To see the world through the eyes of Don Quijote is to embrace life as the fullest adventure. From windmills to wenches, this knight-errant, in the company of his humble squire Sancho Panza, continues to roam the world and haunt our imagination as he has for some four hundred years. And this lusty adaptation of Cervantes’ classic — filled with a muscular theatricality — proves the power of imagination to overcome the vagaries of life.
 
CAST
Gilberto Martín del Campo … El Quijote
Danny Bruno … Sancho Panza
Hadley Boyd … Housekeeper
Emily Gleason … Niece
Will Sonera Gregg … Priest
Rebecca Martínez … Teresa
Kevin-Michael Moore … Barber
                       
PRODUCTION TEAM
Olga Sanchez … Director
Mark Haack … Set Designer
Peter West … Lighting Designer
Rody Ortega … Composer/Sound Designer
Drew Foster … Prop Master
Sarah Gahagan … Costume Designer
Alyssa  Essman … Stage Manager
Melissa Weckhorst … Production Assistant, Costume Assistant
Ann Singer … Sound Board Operator
Rebecca Lewis … Carpenter
Christina Lydy Mills … Dramaturge
Olga Sanchez … Miracle MainStage Artistic Director
José E. González … Executive Director             
 
ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT

Santiago García, playwright, is a theater director, theorist, and founder of renowned Colombian theater ensemble Teatro La Candelaria, one of the most important theater groups in Latin America. La Candelaria (www.teatrolacandelaria.org.com) was founded in 1966 by a group of independent artists and intellectuals who came from experimental theater and the broader Colombian cultural movement. Directed by Santiago García, La Candelaria is one of Colombian theater's most innovative agents, modernizing national drama while addressing popular audiences. By means of an ongoing exploration of national folklore, situations and characters, they have created some of Colombia's most compelling plays, some of them through the method of creación colectiva (collective creation), addressing the acute social and political problems of their society. At the same time, they fostered the creation of Corporación Colombiana del Teatro and have developed a number of theoretical works that reflect upon dramatic creation, its methods and languages. La Candelaria is committed to repertoire, experimentation and discussion as fundamental elements of artistic creation.
 
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
Olga Sanchez is the Artistic Director of Miracle MainStage and Bellas Artes.  Earlier this year, she directed Miracle’s popular production of Canta y no llores, a celebration of Día de los muertos. Last season she directed The Shrunken Head of Pancho Villa and served as dramaturge for El Último, Dañel Malán’s bilingual eco-drama that is touring the country in 2009.  Favorite directorial projects for Miracle Theatre Group include: García Lorca's Bodas de sangre (in the original Spanish), Nilo Cruz’s Lorca in a Green Dress (Drammy Award, Excellence in Direction), Dañel Malan’s Frida, un retablo, the premieres of Joann Farías’ The Road to Xibalbá, Rubén Sierra’s When the Blues Chase Up a Rabbit and Quiara Alegría Hudes’ The Adventures of Barrio Grrrl!. She is a founding member of Los Porteños writers group, and her work was most recently published in the Rio Grande Review. Olga is the creator of Posada Milagro, a community-based holiday program; Milagro at SEIS, an intensive arts residency at the Spanish English International School; and Cuentos y Teatro, Miracle’s Spanish-language children’s acting camp. She holds a BA in Theatre from Hunter College, CUNY, and a Masters in Human Development from Pacific Oaks College NW, with specialization in Bicultural Development.
 
ABOUT THE SPONSORS
Urban Robotics Inc. provides cutting-edge software and hardware solutions for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, remote sensing and geospatial applications. Urban Robotics was founded in 2003 in response to technological advances in consumer-based digital cameras. Its first technology demo consisted of handheld PDAs actively displaying live overhead imagery of the user via air-ground data links. By 2004, the first PeARL™ imaging sensors were installed and put to use on U.S. Army aircraft abroad. In addition, it provided reconnaissance imagery for DHS including imagery data for Hurricane Ivan.
 
The National Endowment for the Arts is a public agency dedicated to supporting excellence in the arts, both new and established; bringing the arts to all Americans; and providing leadership in arts education. Established by Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government, the Endowment is the nation's largest annual funder of the arts, bringing great art to all 50 states, including rural areas, inner cities and military bases.
 
Miracle Theatre Group’s 2009-2010 MainStage season is made possible with the support of the Oregon Arts
Commission, Theatre Communications Group, Regional Arts & Culture Council/Work for Art, Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, Meyer Memorial Trust, Collins Foundation, James F. and Marion L. Miller Foundation, Shubert Foundation, U.S. Bank, Josie Mendoza and Hugh Mackworth, Jackson Foundation, Kelly Family Fund, The Boeing Company, Oregon Community Foundation, and El Hispanic News.
 
The restaurant sponsor for the opening night reception for this production is The Maiden.

Performance Schedule:
May 6-29, 2010
Thursday, May 6, 7:30 p.m., $14 Preview
Friday, May 7, 8 p.m., $22 Opening Night
(Opening night reception catered by The Maiden restaurant)

Thursdays at 7:30 p.m., $20 ($16 for students/seniors)
Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 p.m., $22 ($16 for students/seniors)
Sundays at 2 p.m., $20 ($16 for students/seniors)
Where: Milagro Theatre, 525 SE Stark Street, Portland, Oregon 97214

Tickets are priced at $20 - $22 depending on date; $16 for students and seniors any performance. Tickets can be purchased from www.milagro.org, 503-236-7253 or the PDX Ticket Network box office at the Hollywood Theatre daily 1-9 p.m.

Special events:
“Dialogues with Don Quijote: A Method to his Madness?”, Wednesdays, May 12, 19 and 26  at 7:30 p.m. with guest panelists; free; sponsored by Oregon Humanities.
 
ABOUT MIRACLE THEATRE GROUP
The Miracle Theatre Group has been dedicated to bringing the vibrancy of Latino theatre to the Northwest community and beyond for more than 25 years. In addition to its national tours, Miracle provides a home for Spanish and Latin American arts and culture at El Centro Milagro, where it enriches the local community with a variety of community outreach projects and educational programs designed to share the diversity of Latino culture. For more information about the Miracle Theatre Group, visit www.milagro.org or call 503-236-7253.

Photo Credit: Russell Young