MOTHERS & SONS, THE UNDERSTUDY & More Set for Artists Rep's 2015-16 Season

Artists Repertory Theatre announces an ambitious and stylistically diverse 2015/16 season of eight engaging plays. These selections emphasize Artists Rep's role as Portland's premiere mid-size regional theatre company by offering five of the most acclaimed contemporary plays in recent years, alongside two magnificent mid-20th Century classics, and the World Premiere production of the Broadway-scale musical, Cuba Libre.

"Interestingly, a theme has emerged as I looked at these spectacularly bold and theatrically diverse plays together," said Dámaso Rodriguez, Artistic Director. "Every single story presents us with characters facing, and ultimately emerging through, life's obstacles. From challenges of immense or even fantastical proportions to deep, internal hindrances they may not yet understand. How will the grace and beauty of these very human characters come to light?"

The 2015/16 season will again feature the work of Artists Rep's Resident Artist Company, alongside guest artists from Portland's world-class theatre community and beyond. Now comprised of 21 theatre practitioners, Artists Rep's Resident Artist Company represents some of Portland's finest talent, in a variety of theatrical disciplines.

ARTISTS REPERTORY THEATRE'S 2015/16 SEASON

The Understudy
by Theresa Rebeck

An understudy rehearsal for a fictional Kafka play on Broadway teeters on the edge of reality when Harry - the understudy for Jake, who is the understudy for Bruce, a Hollywood action star about to land a multimillion-dollar part - must work with the ill-fated production's exasperated stage manager whose life he ruined long ago. The Understudy is a raucously funny existential exposé on human motivation that examines the underbelly of the theatre business and the personal drama behind the curtain.

Cuba Libre
Book & additional lyrics by Carlos Lacámara
Music by Tiempo Libre
Directed by Dámaso Rodriguez
Music Direction by Jorge Gómez
Choreography by Maija Garcia
The irresistible rhythms of Cuban music drive this riveting, universal story of a man caught between countries, losses and loves, and his search for freedom. Set in America and Cuba, this timely tale reverberates across politics, ambition and romance with quick-witted dialogue, joy-filled dance and Latin-fusion beats. This Broadway-scale, contemporary musical features the internationally acclaimed, three-time Grammy nominated band Tiempo Libre with a company of 21 actors, dancers and musicians - a not-to-be-missed theatrical event.

Broomstick
by John Biguenet
A fairytale-twisted yarn of delightful humor and spine-tingling suspense conjures a spooky seasonal experience unlike any other. With Vana O'Brien in a tour-de-force solo performance, an Appalachian witch tells a heartfelt and poetic tale of her long life from first love, to heartache, to the hair-raising vengeance she wreaks upon those who've crossed her.

The Miracle Worker
by William Gibson
One of the most triumphant stories of the human spirit ever told, the soul-stirring The Miracle Worker evokes hope and inspiration for the entire family. With dignity, perseverance and respect in the face of seemingly insurmountable challenges, a child, a teacher and a family learn to communicate. A play based on the lives of Helen Keller, who became Deaf-Blind as an infant, and her teacher, Anne Sullivan, who enabled her to become one of the most influential women of the 20th Century.

Mothers & Sons
by Terrence McNally
In this sensitive and wryly humorous 2014 Tony Award-nominated play, a mother, after a 20-year silence, pays a surprise visit to her deceased son's former lover seeking a connection she can't fathom. At his Central Park apartment, with his husband and young son by his side, he shows her that healing and hope are possible, even after devastating loss. In this play, vastly different worlds collide, yet truth and compassion rise to reveal that all dreams begin with the common ground of forgiveness.

We Are Proud to Present a Presentation About the Herero of Namibia, Formerly Known as South West Africa, From the German Sudwestafrika, Between the Years 1884-1915
by Jackie Sibblies Drury

A multiracial cast of six idealistic actors set out to improvise a story about the first colonial genocide of the 20th Century in Africa, but get lost in the reality of their undertaking. The unusual presentation, humor and inevitable discomfort of this provocative new play gripped theatre hubs like New York, Chicago, London, Washington D.C. and Seattle with its unique theatrical investigation of prejudice, power and perspective.

Grand Concourse
by Heidi Schreck
In an industrial soup kitchen in the Bronx, Shelley is a nun struggling to pray and questioning her life's work. Her world in service to the needy, alongside a Dominican immigrant security guard and joke-writing "regular," is rocked when a rainbow-haired college drop-out comes to volunteer. The girl's enthusiasm and erratic behavior will change the course of their lives. With touching humor this motley group unravels the intricacies of need, the vagaries of compassion and limits of forgiveness.

The Skin of Our Teeth
by Thornton Wilder
This comedic masterpiece spans the entirety of history, with one ordinary American family who lives through it all. Dad's just invented the wheel, Cain is throwing rocks at the neighbor kid, mammoths and dinosaurs lounge in the family room and mom frets about how to get all those animals on the boat two by two. Through Ice Ages, biblical floods and political conventions, the Antrobus family of Excelsior, New Jersey perseveres. With an immense cast and time-set across the ages, this theatrical allegory captures the human spirit - of brilliance, idiocy and ultimately sweet survival.

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