Risk/Reward and Boom Arts Present PAVEMENT: Parking Lot Drive-In Performances

With self-isolation and quarantine at the forefront of Portland's mind, arts organizations across the country ask, "What does this mean for live performance?" Risk/Reward and Boom Arts answer the question with an evening of pop-up performances in a public parking lot.

Using drive-in movie theaters as inspiration, audience members will drive to a secret location in Central Eastside sent to them only hours before the show. Then, they will park their cars and witness the spectacle from the safety of their vehicle. XRAY.FM's team of sound engineers will relay the sound directly into audience cars as artists perform throughout the parking lot, just like at a drive-in movie. Food will be available on site for pick up.

The show will feature short performances from a variety of local artists including dance artists: Suba Ganesan (Portland Creative Laureate), KT Kusmaul(Body Home Fat Dance), Oluyinka Akinjiola (Rejoice! Diaspora Dance Theater), Musicians: Kenji Bunch and Monica Ohuchi (Fear No Music), Portland Opera, and Amenta Abioto, theatre artist Gerrin Mitchell, and spoken word by Anya Pearson.

"Many of the artists and audiences I know in Portland crave live work. While we've been asked to expand outside of live performance, working in the digital sphere with Renée's Queer Cabaret, and finding ways to engage without being in the same room, Risk/Reward is ready to get artists back in front of people while keeping safety and social distance in place," says Katie Watkins, Risk/Reward's Producing Artistic Director.

Pavement began in 2018 as "an evening of pop-up performances in public places." In its original iteration in Portland's NW neighborhood The Pearl, artists were placed in a four-block radius, and audiences gathered, then walked through the streets, catching performances in alleyways, on the crosswalks, in shop storefronts and doorways, and more. In an effort to dissuade crowds from gathering (2018's event started with 30 people and ended at over 100), this year's audiences will be asked to maintain distance by staying in their vehicles, though there will be a few standing/seated spaces for masked folks without cars, who will be able to listen to the radios via smartphone.

Tracy Cameron Francis curated the initial iteration of Pavement, and in her new role as Artistic Director of Boom Arts, partnership on this event was a no-brainer. " While we had to postpone our inaugural outdoor performance festival Acting Out until Summer 2021, we are excited to do a mini version this summer as we find ways to safely bring artists and audiences together again. As an organization known for programming outside of the box, we are excited to continue to find creative ways to engage audiences and activate public spaces. "

Tickets are available on Risk/Reward's and Boom Art's websites, and the exact Central Eastside location of the event will be sent out to ticket buyers midday on the day of the event. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to "Don't Shoot Portland" to support the ongoing fight for racial justice in our city.

Details:

What: Pavement: pop-up performances in a public parking lot

Who: Presented by Risk/Reward & Boom Arts

When: July 18 at 7pm and 9pm

Where: Central Eastside Parking Lot

Tickets: https://web.ovationtix.com/trs/cal/34673 - $15-$100

More Info: risk-reward.org www.boomarts.org

ARTIST INFO:

ARTIST NAME: Oluyinka Akinjiola

BIO: Rejoice! Diaspora Dance Theater seeks to diversify the contemporary dance landscape with untold stories and under-told perspectives from communities of color. Grounded in values from the African Diaspora and using our art as activism. Rejoice! celebrates and cultivates community through artistic engagement, performances, and dialogue, weaving our stories of hardship and triumph.

ARTIST NAME: KT Kusmaul and Mickey Pollizatto

BIO: KT Kusmaul and Mickey Pollizatto are collaborating again/still, finding a way to create and connect despite distance, masks, and lots of disinfectant. Recent collaborations include Weighted Bodies and Rip/Pull, which were presented by On The Boards, Risk/Reward, Performance Works NW and Echo Theater. KT is the founder and artistic director of Body Home Fat Dance, bringing performance and classes to empower and connect the fat community. Mickey is a musician, sound collaborator and dancer. They have worked intimately with many local artists exploring queerness through sound, movement and connection.

ARTIST NAME: Subashini Ganesan

BIO: Subashini Ganesan is an artist, arts administrator, and the Creative Laureate of Portland. As an artist, Ganesan founded Natya Leela Academy where she choreographs and performs potent and universally relevant expressions in Bharathatyam. Since 2008 has received multiple Regional Arts & Culture Council Grants. She often collaborates with local choreographers like Mike Barber (Founder, Ten Tiny Dances) and Michelle Fujii (UNIT SOUZOU). Her works are often showcased at local & regional festivals including PICA's annual Time-Based Art Festival, Conduit's Dance+, Ten Tiny Dances Beaverton, NW Folk Life Festival, & the Salem Library's "World of Music."

ARTIST NAME: Anya Pearson

BIO: Anya Pearson is an award-winning actress, playwright, poet, producer, and activist. She was the inaugural winner of the $10,000 Voice is a Muscle Grant from the Corporeal Voices Foundation, for her choreopoem, Made to Dance in Burning Buildings. Made to Dance in Burning Buildings was showcased at Joe's Pub at The Public Theater and received its World Premiere at Shaking The Tree Theatre where Anya was the Playwright-in-Residence for the 2018-2019 season. Anya runs a production company called Urban Haiku whose mission is to produce groundbreaking work that transcends the traditional boundaries of theatre while also serving as the catalyst for art and community action to combine for real social change. She is a member of Actors' Equity Association, Linestorm Playwrights, Couch Film Collective, and a graduate of the William Esper Studio in New York City. www.anyapearson.com

ARTIST NAME: Fear No Music: Kenji Bunch and Monica Ohuchi

BIO: Fear No Music promotes music education through public performance of modern and contemporary classical music, and groundbreaking youth mentorship in composition. They work to promote living composers and to expose audiences to contemporary classical music being made both locally and globally. They also seek to educate and train the next generation of young composers in our community.

ARTIST NAME: Gerrin Mitchell

BIO: Gerrin Mitchell has worked with Portland Center Stage, Lakewood Performing Arts, Broadway Rose, Northwest Children's Theatre, Oregon Children's Theatre, Fuse Theatre, The August Wilson Red Door Project, Action/Adventure Theatre and Post5. He has also worked on numerous film, dance, drag and performance art projects throughout the city. Gerrin is a graduate of Dell'Arte International School of Physical Theatre.

ARTIST NAME: Amenta Abioto

BIO: Amenta Abioto is a songwriter and producer from Memphis, TN and currently based in Portland, OR. In her one-woman performance, she builds vocal and instrumental loops from synth, drum machine, and kalimba creating atmospheric textures. Amenta surprises and tantalizes audiences with mind bending ideas while skipping vocally from soul-shaking gospel to smooth jazz. Her music is boldly mystical and soul-fired, and her raw live performances invoke elements of both theatrical and magical surprise.

Photo Credit: Bob Holstrom

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