Portland Stage Presents The Winnipesaukee Playhouse Production of OR

Portland Stage presents The Winnipesaukee Playhouse production of "Or," by Liz Duffy Adams, both live in theater and digital-on-demand.

For the first time Portland Stage is presenting a New Hampshire- based The Winnipesaukee Playhouse's production. Executive and Artistic Director Anita Stewart saw "Or," by Liz Duffy Adams, a historic comedy, at The Winnipesaukee Playhouse live last fall. Stewart quotes Liz Duffy Adams in her Artistic Director statement about the play, ""Our play will shortly ricochet between A dense array of seeming opposites...." then relates the plays themes to the ricocheting historic events we've been witnessing, "from the storming of the Capitol to the inauguration of a black woman as Vice President; the constraints of a pandemic to the desire to get on with life, where every moment seems historic . . . "Or," seems prescient.'"

"Adams writes of then and now," continues Stewart, 'of fact and fiction, embellishing a true history of Aphra Behn with grand poetic license. Her life, the life of a poet, playwright, and spy, was marginalized and largely forgotten after her death in 1689.

Stewart continues, "As I watch the romp that is 'Or,' I am left to ponder how history and future playwrights will choose to describe the moments that seem so consequential to us today. What will our legacy be? Who will be remembered? Who forgotten? How can we find a way to work with the inevitability of opposites as we strive to make our world a better place? "

In one line, the character Neil Gwynne provides the optimistic spin, "The world is changing . . . We are lucky to be alive right now. This is our utopia"
"Or" is a fictionalized account about a real-life historical figure, England's groundbreaking first female playwright Aphra Behn in the 1660's. In this play that is marketed as a double-crossing, bodice-ripping sex farce about art, politics, poetry, and intrigue, Behn is a spy, with a famous actress and the king as her lovers, and the return of an ex-lover, a double-agent, who may or may not be trying to murder the king.

For more information and tickets visit www.PortlandStage.org.

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