WEAVING WOMEN TOGETHER
In her own words
I spend a lot of time thinking about the end of my life. I am certain this is because I lost my mother suddenly at the age of 10. So over the years, many women have helped raise me into the woman I am today. Many of them I know deeply, and some are strangers to me, but women; nonetheless that I admire from afar.

This piece began its conception from my couch with a glass of wine in hand in October 2015 when I paused to consider the women who have made me.What I envisioned was a magic skirt; I had no idea where the stories would carry me.

I expected some fabric to arrive, what I was rundown by were the stories. Stories of love, heartache, loss, tragedy, success, and history. Some stories were told to me aloud, others scrawled on the back of old receipts, and so my own story began to come pouring out.

In November 2015, I locked myself in a trailer on the Oregon coast for three nights and wrote some 20 something pages of what became the base for where this play began. In the meantime, I also began writing music and have created seven songs (that I sing and play on the piano) for this project.

The story is still an unknown to me, this is just the beginning. As any idea you begin to wrestle with, I'm equally as terrified as I am excited to share what I have dug up. This piece will evolve over time, and at current, plans to have another life; touring to Coffee Creek Correctional Center, a female prison, in February 2018. My mother was a teacher in Los Angeles for a men's lock up prison, Camp Holton, so somehow, without planning to, I am being called back to her.

-Nikki Weaver

Weaving Women Together
Created and performed by Nikki Weaver
Directed by Gretchen Corbett
January 17-28, Hampton Opera Center
January 19, 20, 21 - SOLD OUT

In October 2015, Nikki Weaver sent a letter to 60 women - some she knew and some she didn’t - requesting a piece of fabric and an explanation of its sentimental value. The result is  Weaving Women Together , an entirely female-driven piece about the loss of Weaver’s mother and how she has collected her in other women, and a magic skirt made entirely of the tales - and fabric - shared by these women.
We are talking about...
This week, talk around the Portland Playhouse office has been about two fellow staff members who are doing amazing things in the Portland theatre scene. Front of House Manager La'Tevin Alexander (eft) and Audience Services Associate Charles Grant (right) are taking on some powerful roles this spring.

Charles takes the lead in our first ever touring show for children based on the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. This one man show comes to us from Chicago and has been performed in Chicago, Boston, and New York. The Portland Playhouse production will be directed by Nikki Weaver and will travel to elementary schools in the region. Watch for more information about this exciting addition to our education program soon!

First up, Charles stars in James Webb's The Contract directed by Andrea Vernae . This work is presented by La'Tevin's Confrontation Theatre company from January 21-23 as part of the Fertile Ground Festival.

And both Charles and La'Tevin start rehearsals on January 24 for Idris Goodwin's And in This Corner: Cassius Clay. Oregon Children's Theatre presents this origin story of Muhammed Ali at the Winningstad Theare from March 3 -24.

Starting May 2, La'Tevin will star as Corey in our production of Fences, directed by Obie Award winner Lou Bellamy. You can also catch him on the small screen in Portlandia. Check him out as "Mike" in this sketch from Season 8.
THANK YOU  
The 2017-2018 season is presented by Harold Goldstein & Carol Streeter and Ronni Lacroute 

Our work is made possible by Mary & Don Blair, Ellyn Bye, Colas Construction, The Collins Foundation, Joel Hamberg Painting, Greg Hinckley & Mary Chomenko, Kinsman Foundation, Lagunitas Brewing Company, ME Fitness, James F. and Marion L. Miller Foundation, M. J. Murdock Charitable Trust, Oregon Community Foundation, Roy & Diane Marvin Fund of The Oregon Community Foundation, James B Wiley Fund of The Oregon Community Foundation, Raymond Family Foundation, SERA Architects, Judy Shih & Joel Axelrod, State of Oregon, In Memory of Phyllis L. Weaver, Steve & Elsie Weaver,
Wrather Family Foundation, Friends of Sandra Zickefoose
 

Our work is supported by Oregon Cultural Trust
Thanks to the Regional Arts & Culture Council, including support from the City of Portland, Multnomah County and the Arts Education & Access Fund.
Portland Playhouse receives support from the Oregon Arts Commission, a state agency funded by the State of Oregon and the National Endowment for the Arts.