Third Eye Theatre To Present ENCOUNTERS At Fertile Ground Festival
New play by Portland playwright Jeremy Cole explores LGBTQ relationships through eight vignettes.
Third Eye Theatre will present ENCOUNTERS, a collection of short plays by Jeremy Cole, as part of the Fertile Ground Festival.
The production features eight vignettes that examine a range of public and private encounters, moving between humorous and dramatic moments in LGBTQ relationships. The stories span multiple settings, including a 1940s fire escape in Brooklyn, a contemporary singles bar, New York City streets, and Ramah, New Mexico.
The first half of the evening presents seven of the vignettes, while the second half features the longer concluding piece, Members Only, which unfolds in three scenes set in Brooklyn in 1949. In that story, two women and two men form a supportive alliance called the Fire Escape Guild, eventually realizing that their bond has grown into a chosen family.
Other scenes include #Dating Life, in which two friends navigate a disappointing singles scene; A Cry in Ramah, about a young woman raised in the LDS church confronting family history; Heavy Lifting, which explores the dynamic between a longtime couple; and the comic vignette Hot? or Not., where a woman and her friend critique men in a bar as those men begin responding to their judgments. Additional pieces include Minor Violations, about confronting childhood trauma; The Old Playground, in which two friends reconnect before one moves abroad; and The Scoring System, a comic exchange between two men in a bar.
The cast includes Rebecca Berger-Howe, Jay Duncan, Quaye Dydasco, Jason England, Alec Henneberger, Xander Marvin, Carol Rose McCreary, Ethan Sloan, Devin James Stinson, and Emma Taniguchi.
The production is directed by Georgia Ketchmark, with costumes by Rebecca Dow. Gina Lou serves as stage manager and Mojo McCoy is the light and sound operator. Third Eye Theatre’s Artistic Director and Producer is Alacias Enger, and Ravyn Jazper-Hawke serves as Programming Manager.
ENCOUNTERS was the winning entry in Third Eye Theatre’s first Portland Pride Play Festival in 2025. Tickets range from $5 to $20.
The company will present its next Portland Pride Play Festival July 10–12, 2026 at The Back Door Theater. The festival is supported in part by the Regional Arts & Culture Council and the Arts Access Fund.
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