Ever find yourself lost in Shakespeare's flowery prose? A new project helps translate his writing into modern English. We also delve into a devastating scandal in the jazz community and take a trip across America on a bicycle with National Book Award–winning author Colum McCann.
Shakespeare is one of the greatest writers in the English language, but just how much do today’s audiences actually understand Shakespeare’s language? Last year the Oregon Shakespeare Festival began an unprecedented project to translate the Bard's entire canon into contemporary English. The project is beginning to bear fruit. This weekend, Portland Shakespeare Project will stage a reading of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” translated for the modern ear by the Oregon-born playwright Jeff Whitty (best known for his Tony Award–winning "Avenue Q," but also known to "State of Wonder" listeners for his mash-up of the Go-Go's and the 16th century tale "Arcadia").
The staged reading takes place March 5 at 7:30 p.m. at the Artists Repertory Theater. Admission is free, and there are pre- and post-discussions with Whitty, the director and several Shakespeare scholars.
Portland’s most prominent music teacher is facing allegations that he was inappropriate with some teenage students. Thara Memory has been coaching high school musicians in his American Music Program for over a decade. The news has sent the city’s musical community into a tailspin. Read the full article here.
Colum McCann says he writes as if he were a method actor: he gets inside the head of his characters and actually becomes them, and when you read one of his books or stories, the empathy is visceral. The author of six novels and three short story collections, McCann won a National Book Award for his novel “Let the Great World Spin” in 2009. McCann is also an activist and the founder of the organization Narrative 4. He was recently in Portland, and he sat down in front of a live audience with David Miller of "Think Out Loud." Hear the full hour-long interview here.
The band Surfer Blood ditches the warm weather of its West Palm Beach roots on its new album, “Snowdonia.” Exploring the bittersweet contrast of love and loss, “Snowdonia” is the band’s first release since the 2016 passing of their guitarist Thomas Fekete. The band stopped by the OPB studio for a session, and frontman John Paul Pitts and bassist Lindsey Mills spoke with Jerad Walker about amusement parks and how recording the new album helped them process grief. Watch videos of their performance.
Two photographers doing exciting things with 8 x 10 view cameras talk to us about their work. Lauren Semivan, a Detroit-based artist, brings dream-like inner landscapes to life in black-and-white exposures that treat line and abstract landscape as tools for forming a narrative. Tara Sellios, of Boston, specializes in elaborately constructed still-lifes populated with insect and animal specimens. Their larger-than-life prints are well worth the trip to see in person at Blue Sky Gallery in Portland.
Two of Portland’s funniest are about to premier a fresh set of sketch comedy. Couldn’t we all use a laugh, pretty badly, right about now? The Aces are Shelley McLendon and Michael Fetters. They’ve worked in other groups, like The Liberators, and together in productions like "The Lost Boys- Live!," and "Road House: The Play!" Their new show, “The Aces are Feeling Good!" runs Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays through March 18 at the Siren Theater.
Want more of Shelley McLendon's incredible wit, including a conversation between her and her sister, the actress Wendi McLendon-Covey ("Bridesmaids," "The Goldbergs")? Then check out our guest curated episode with McLendon showing us "What's So Funny About Portland."
"No. 9" from the series "Testimony", by Tara Sellios, 2015, digital chromogenic print, 55" x 45".
Aaron Scott
/Rehearsal at Portland Shakeseare Project for Jeff Whitty's translation of "A Midsummer Night's Dream".
Courtesy of the author
/Author Colum McCann
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