Review: FERTILE GROUND 2026: REVIEW ROUNDUP #1

This year’s Fertile Ground Festival started last Friday. As in years past, I’ll be posting short reviews of everything I see. Here’s the first set.

House of O

Othello meets the fashion world in Josie Seid's sharp new play. Ibu Othello, head of the world's most popular fashion house, has just married Deserae DeMonae, a former model. But his assistant, Niara Iago, has reservations about the new bride. And not without reason: Dez carries demons that may or may not belong entirely to her past.

Seid's Iago is far more than the jealous schemer of the original, though she is certainly that too. The play uses its sleek setting to examine modern expressions of racism, jealousy, and manipulation, while also paying affectionate homage to Shakespeare through character asides written in rhyming, Bard-inspired verse. This is a compelling adaptation that I could see working as a fully staged production.

The Mask I Wear

Jonathan Hernandez's solo show is both a personal reckoning and a scathing indictment of the entertainment industry. It follows Actor J through a gauntlet of auditions for TV, film, and theatre, where the only roles on offer are Latino stereotypes, i.e., the thug, the valet, the guard. Using a sliding doors framework, Hernandez splits Actor J into two: Johnny J, who builds a successful career by leaning into those stereotypes, and J-Boy, who refuses to do so, and doesn't get cast. The tension between them reveals the play's central question: if the theatrical canon is meant to represent universal human struggles, why are those stories so consistently performed in the exact same way?

Those who caught the debut last year will find this a substantially different show. It has been expanded with a larger cast of characters, but the more significant change is personal. Hernandez draws more directly on his own experiences, and on the doubt and anger those experiences have left behind. I have long found Hernandez to be one of Portland's most genuine and open-hearted performers, and also one of its most underappreciated. That he doesn't get cast more often may be, in the end, exactly the point this show is making.

Good Grief, Dru Rutledge!

Last year, Dru Rutledge lost her mother after a protracted illness. Not long after, she experienced a home invasion that further shook her feelings of security. Coming from a Midwest family that takes a very Midwest approach to processing feelings, she found herself without a roadmap for her grief. What she has learned, and what she shares here, is that grief is more manageable in community.

If you’re tuned into Portland’s musical theatre or opera scene, you know that Rutledge has a gorgeous voice. In this beautiful, highly personal cabaret, she draws songs from a range of musicals including her mom’s favorites like Phantom of the Opera through to contemporary ones like Shucked, and weaves them together with stories. Rutledge is warm and funny by nature, and here she is utterly unguarded. All of this combines into a collective space for healing that feels, for an hour, like melting into the center of a big, soft hug. There are two more performances, on Saturday, April 18, and Monday, April 20. Whether or not you’re currently grieving, do yourself a favor and snag a seat if you can.

Encounters

Encounters, a collection of short plays by Jeremy Cole, explores phases in mostly LGBTQ relationships, but much of what Cole is examining is deeply universal: the complexity of navigating singles bars, the changing phases of friendship, the particular intimacy of knowing someone completely and loving them anyway.

The show consists of seven short vignettes and a longer one-act. The vignettes include everything a frank conversation about how we reduce people to their looks, awkward scenes in a dance club, and monologues about trauma and abuse. The one-act, about a spontaneous mutual aid community that forms on the fire escapes of New York City, feels like the seed of something larger. Encounters won Third Eye Theatre's First Annual Portland Pride Play Festival. This year's festival is coming in July. Keep an eye out.

Queer Fantasia

The premise of Social Sciences Productions’ Queer Fantasia was to create a devised piece about making and finding queer joy. Director ashley hollingshead and ensemble of Rory Pierce Mazel, Helena Fisher-Welsh, Alex B. Henriquez, and Lisa Gilham have delivered exactly that. The show is composed of short sketches that range from a flash-mob-style dance party to an analysis of the queerness of classic films, to practical tips for staying optimistic in difficult times. It is so fun.

That's not to say it doesn't have its heartstring-pulling moments. It does. But every one of them points toward joy and affirmation. The overall effect is a performance that sends you out the door feeling genuinely lighter.

There is only one more opportunity to see this piece, and it is currently sold out. But a waitlist is available, and in my Fertile Ground experience, a few waitlisters always make it in. This one deserves a remount and a longer run. It's exactly the breath of fresh air we need right now.