By Johnna Adams
March 5 - 15, 2015
9 Performances Only!
At the Studio Theatre at Portland Stage
25A Forest Avenue, Portland, Maine
Portland, Maine - Dramatic Repertory Company (Keith Powell Beyland, Artistic Director) continues its 2014-2015 season - A Year of the Woman Playwright - with the Maine Premiere of Gidion's
Knot by Johnna Adams. The show will run for 9 performances only, March 5 - 15, 2015 at the Studio Theatre at Portland Stage, 25A Forest Avenue, Portland, Maine.The cast of Gidion's Knot features Amanda Huotari (Artistic Director of Celebration Barn) and Bess Welden (DRC's A Bright New Boise & Swimming in the Shallows). The show is directed by Cait Robinson (The Singularity - Science Fiction Theater Company; Winesburg, Ohio and Carrie -
Stoneham Theatre Winter Festival; PINK - PortFringe, The Maids - MadHorse/Lorem Ipsum).
An unusual and charged parent/teacher conference unfolds as a mystery. A strong-willed mother
faces off against her son Gidion's fifth-grade teacher to understand why he was suspended from school. The unforeseen repercussions of their choices develop rapidly into a dramatic collision of ideas and ideals including freedom of expression, the strictures of our school system, bullying and personal responsibility. As the story reveals itself, the "truth" becomes increasingly complex and alarming.
“...resonant...[a] particularly eloquent study of people caught between the
competing demands of reason, morality and family... harrowing... a narrative that is
as elegant as it is chilling.” - Washington Post
“...heart-stopping... the show has pathos and suspense in bucketloads... the show
raises profound questions about parenting and education and documents the gutwrenching
force of maternal loyalty.” - Washingtonian
Tickets for Gidion's Knot range from $10 - $20 with Premium Tickets also available. Tickets are
available now from Brown Paper Tickets --online at www.dramaticrep.org or by phoneat 800-838-3006.
Gidion's Knot will play will play March 5 - 7 at 7:30pm, March 8 at 2:00pm and then March
11 - 15 at 7:30pm at the Studio Theatre at Portland Stage, 25A Forest Avenue, Portland, Maine.
Gidion's Knot cast & creative:
AMANDA HUOTARI (Heather) is artistic director of Celebration Barn, a center for physical theater
training and performance in South Paris. With a BFA in acting from Emerson College, she's studied
physical theater at the Lecoq School in France and trained in Commedia dell'Arte with Antonia Fava in Italy. An adjunct acting teacher at SMCC, she's also been a guest artist at Dartmouth, Bowdoin, and Bates Colleges, and was recently selected for the Maine Arts Commission's juried Teaching Artist Roster. Mandy's worked with many Maine theater companies including Add Verb Productions with whom she spent 9 years touring the one woman show, The Thin Line. Her own solo show, The Soiree, is directed by Avner Eisenberg and has been featured at festivals across the US and beyond. With Celebration Barn, she most recently co-created and toured two ensemble shows: Thumbs Up and The Fabulous Problemas.
BESS WELDEN (Corryn) has been making theater professionally as an actor, writer, director and
educator for over 20 years. She is excited and honored to be working with DRC again after performing in Swimming in the Shallows and A Bright New Boise. Most recently, she directed A Midsummer Night's Dream at Colby College where she is a Teaching Artist and Guest Director in the Theater and Dance Department. Her short play Madeleines premieres March 5th-8th as part of Snowlion Repertory's "The Maine Dish" at the Portland Ballet Studio Theater. Her theater for young audiences script Magic in the Attic will premiere in July in Birmingham, AL. Since its debut in Portland Stage's Studio Rep in February 2013, Bess has been touring her most recent solo show Big Mouth Thunder Thighs to venues around Maine continuing with appearances in Bangor and Monmouth later in 2015. Bess earned an MFA from the National Theater Conservatory, and has performed at the Denver Center Theater Company, Williamstown Theater Festival, Shakespeare Santa Cruz, Hangar Theater, Montana Shakespeare in the Parks, among others. In her adopted home state of Maine she has appeared at Portland Stage (Manifest, A Comedy of Errors, A Christmas Carol), the Opera House at Boothbay (Twelfth Night, Indoor/Outdoor), Mad Horse Theatre (The Cryptogram), Portland Symphony Orchestra (Ellis Island), and Freeport Shakespeare Festival/Freeport Factory Stage (Macbeth). She has toured extensively with her solo comedy, The Passion of the Hausfrau, which was developed through the Little Festival of the Unexpected and premiered at Portland Stage in 2009. Bess has co-written and performed four other solo plays and is the librettist of two musical works, A Little Miracle (Lincoln Center premiere) and Eagle Girl, composed by David Stock. She is a proud member of Portland Stage's Affiliate Artists, and performs and teaches regularly for PSC's Theater for Kids program.
JOHNNA ADAMS (Playwright) received a Steinberg/American Theatre Critics Association Citation in April 2013 for Gidion's Knot. She is the 2011 recipient of the Princess Grace Award, and a 2012 Finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Award. Gidion's Knot was published in the December 2012 edition of American Theatre Magazine. The Contemporary American Theatre Festival premiered Gidion's Knot in Shepherdtown, WV, in summer of 2012 and regional productions include InterAct Theatre (Philadelphia), Profiles (Chicago), Kitchen Dog (Dallas), Stages (Houston) and Furious Theatre Company (Los Angeles). Flux Theatre Ensemble (New York) produced her play Sans Merci in spring of 2013 in New York. The script was nominated for a New York Innovative Theatre
Award for best play. Her play Skinless was developed at the 2012 MFA Playwrights’ Workshop at the Kennedy Center and read at Rattlestick (New York) in winter of 2012. Her play Lickspittles, Buttonholers, and Damned Pernicious Go-Betweens was produced by Impetuous Theatre in autumn of 2013. Johnna's plays Angel Eaters, Rattlers, 8 Little Antichrists, Sans Merci, Cockfighters and The Sacred Geometry of S&M Porn are published by Original Works Publishing (www.originalworksonline.com) and Gidion's Knot is published by Dramatists Play Service, Inc. Johnna graduated from the DePaul University Theatre School with a BFA in Acting and received a 2012 MFA in Playwriting from Hunter College with Tina Howe.
CAIT ROBINSON (Director) is a director and dramaturg based in the Boston area, where she recently directed productions of The Singularity (Science Fiction Theater Co.), Winesburg, Ohio, and Carrie (Stoneham Theatre Winter Festival), as well as short play series at Boston Playwrights' Theatre and Fort Point Theatre Channel. Maine credits include PINK (PortFringe), The Maids (MadHorse/Lorem Ipsum), 4.48 Psychosis in the Portland Stage Studio, and The Julia Wars (Stonington Opera House). Cait is a graduate of Bowdoin College, Directors Lab West, Portland Stage's internship program, and American Conservatory Theater's fellowship program. Up next: directing The Bacchae at the A.R.T. Institute. Infinite gratitude to DRC and this incredible cast!
The Gidion's Knot creative team also includes STACEY KOLOSKI (Scenic Design), MICHAELA
WIRTH (Lighting Design), KEITH POWELL BEYLAND (Sound Design), and ANDREW
HESSELBART (Stage Manager).
A Year of the Woman Playwright – Despite women being the majority of the theater going
population, plays written by women are woefully underrepresented in the usual theatre season. As a counterpoint to this, DRC has decided to present a season of plays exclusively written by women. It is DRC's intention to show that there are plenty of great plays, touching on a wide variety of topics, being created by women playwrights. In addition, there are many modern, and not so modern, classic plays by women available to be found and produced. Theatre can and should reflect all perspectives. The 2014/15 Season received generous support from The Maine Community Foundation /Maine Theatre Fund
FuturePatrons – Theatre-goers 25 and under can see DRC shows for FREE!! Theatre is habit forming, and DRC wants to be a catalyst. DRCs innovative program strives to help build the next generation of theatre-goers. FuturePatron tickets are available day-of only, and require government-issued photo ID as proof of age. Seating is first-come, first-served and subject to availability. The 2014/15 Season FuturePatrons program is underwritten, in part, by Allagash Brewing
Company.
Dramatic Repertory Company aims to make a dramatic difference in the community. DRC continues to establish a burgeoning reputation for provocative and professional productions. DRC intends to produce new and overlooked works that otherwise may never be seen in Maine, as well as provide fresh perspectives on classic works.
Equivocation - Theatrical Highlight of 2014
My Name is Rachel Corrie - Theatrical Highlight of 2014
A Bright New Boise - Theatrical Highlight of 2013
Topdog/Underdog - Theatrical Highlight of 2012
- Megan Grumbling, Portland Phoenix
DRC - WINNER!
FIVE 2013 PEER AWARDS
including
BEST PRODUCTION - Topdog/Underdog
BEST ENSEMBLE - [title of show]
"This is what art is about. Making you think, react, respond.”
- Bill Cook, March 10, 2012
“A ‘MUST SEE’ evening of theatre! I guarantee you will not stop talking about this play
long after the lights go black.” - Broadwayworld.com, March 12, 2012
“GET THEE TO THE THEATER...A KICK-A** SHOW!”
- Portland Daily Sun, November 19, 2013
"DAZZLING...some of Portland's most arresting actors...BREATHTAKING!”
- Portland Phoenix, June 6, 2014
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