{"id":1456,"date":"2014-10-22T19:43:11","date_gmt":"2014-10-22T19:43:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.desdemona.org\/blog\/?p=1456"},"modified":"2014-11-13T16:17:56","modified_gmt":"2014-11-13T16:17:56","slug":"boom-arts-brings-the-world-to-portland-theaters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.desdemona.org\/blog\/boom-arts-brings-the-world-to-portland-theaters\/","title":{"rendered":"Boom Arts Brings the World to Portland Theaters"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Nathan Tucker
\nPortland Monthly Magazine<\/p>\n

In Ugandan playwright Deborah Asiimwe\u2019s Appointment with gOD<\/em>, a group of nervous visa hopefuls sit\u00a0in the waiting room of a US embassy office in an unnamed developing country, trading stories and tips. Their reasons for coming to the States are varied\u2014to pursue an education, to visit family, to find work, to evangelize, or, in the case of the protagonist, to attend a theater workshop\u2014but they share in common the harrowing experience of submitting oneself to the seemingly arbitrary judgment of these gatekeepers to our shores, a first experience of the US that many Americans never think about, least of all experience.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s compelling material all on its own, but audiences at a workshop performance hosted by PSU last spring were treated to an experience the scale of which belies the term \u201cworkshop.\u201d<\/strong> The performance was directed by Emily Mendelsohn, who\u2019s spent seven years collaborating with Asiimwe (ironically, Asiimwe had to participate via Skype, as she was denied a visa by the US Embassy). The reading included several of Portland\u2019s most commanding actors alongside Portlanders from Bangladesh, Mexico, Rwanda, Cameroon, and Nigeria; Ghanaian drummer Alex Addy <\/span>(son of the late Obo Addy),;an installation piece about the immigrant experience filled the theater\u2019s lobby; and the cast and community members sharing their own experiences of the visa process during talkbacks. \u201cIt\u2019s like I was reliving my experience multiple times,\u201d said talkback participant Kayse Jama, Executive Director of local nonprofit the Center for Intercultural Organizing, which collaborated on the production. \u201cAs I was watching the play, I almost got PTSD.\u201d (See a short documentary of the project below.)<\/p>\n

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There\u2019s only one arts organization in town producing this sort of multi-faceted, immersive, and intellectually captivating theater: Boom Arts<\/a>. Founder Ruth Wikler-Luker describes her upstart project, which she started in 2012, as \u201ca boutique presenter of theater and performance from around the world.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Utilizing a mix of fully staged, semi-staged, and script-in-hand work, it\u2019s a small-scale, flexible model that lets this imaginative curator do essentially whatever she wants, on her own terms. \u201cWhat I look for, as a curator, is socially relevant work that\u2019s also formally exciting,\u201d Wikler-Luker explains. \u201cI\u2019m looking for artists who are addressing the world around us in interesting ways, and who are drawing on interesting artistic tools.\u201d In the case of Appointment with gOD<\/em>, that meant singing, drumming, and visuals. In the case of another hit last season, A Kaddish for Bernie Maddoff<\/em>, it meant violin music and original annimation.<\/p>\n

Boom\u2019s upcoming production, a reading of celebrated German playwright Roland Schimmelpfennig\u2019s The Golden Dragon<\/em>, further illustrates that combination of elements\u2014what Wikler-Luker calls her \u201cmagic potion.\u201d<\/strong> The play is a chaotic and irreverent rumination on immigrant culture and disenfranchisement that\u2019s made waves around the world for its unusual staging elements and its incisive take on globalization. Seattle\u2019s Azeotrope Theatre and nationally sought-after director Desdemona Chaing make the trip down I-5 for this first-ever collaboration between the two organizations.<\/p>\n

The play centers on the fast-paced kitchen of a Chinese restaurant, and calls for five actors rotating at breakneck pace between parts that vary wildly in age, ethnicity, and gender. \u201cThe humane thing that\u2019s happening is that the guy who\u2019s playing the 65-year-old small business owner is the same guy playing the cook in the kitchen.\u201d By having the same actor play characters of different backgrounds in a play about ethnic and cultural tension, Schimmelpfennig amplifies his message.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a communication to any audience that has new immigrants coming into their communities,\u201d Wikler-Luker argues. \u201cAre you going to exploit them and prey on them in their vulnerable moments? Or are you going to do something that helps us all to evolve?\u201d<\/p>\n

In some ways, it\u2019s surprising Boom hasn\u2019t produced The Golden Dragon<\/em> sooner. In the US, where few translated works reach the stage, it\u2019s one of the few plays in translation that other theater producers will even consider. \u201cThis is Brecht for the 21st century,\u201d says Wikler-Luker. \u201c[Schimmelpfennig] is brilliant and has a very strong hand in [The Golden Dragon]<\/em>. He\u2019s communicating with the audience through the formal aspects of the play.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even the reading\u2019s venue betrays the holistic commitment with which Wikler-Luker throws herself into Boom\u2019s projects. \u201cI consider site selection to be part of the curatorial role,\u201d she says. \u201cIn this case, we\u2019re talking about an urban underbelly theme, and the theater is under the Hawthorne Bridge in that industrial area.\u201d<\/p>\n

A special edition of Know Your City\u2019s walking tour of Chinatown and Old Town<\/strong>, presented in conjunction with The Golden Dragon<\/em> and focusing on Portland\u2019s own history of immigration, rounds out the experience.<\/p>\n

The rest of Boom\u2019s 2014 season is equally promising:<\/p>\n