Eleven days of Portland-grown performances
The homegrown theatrical production “When ‘We’ Cry” takes a look into the pain of a woman, a black woman and the perils that exist when these truths of pain remain silent. Created by Amber Trimble, Madina Keita, Diewo Keita and Valerie Yvette Peterson, production shows Sunday, Feb. 2 at 5 p.m. at Siren Theater, 315 N.W. Davis, as part of Portland’s Fertile Ground Festival of New Works. Tickets are $10.PHOTO BY ED PETERSON/COURTESY FERTILE GROUND
The Portland-grown Fertile Ground City-Wide Festival of New Works kicks off Thursday, Jan. 30 and continues through Sunday, Feb. 9, brining 75 events and 120 acts of creation to multiple local venues in theater, dance, poetry, circus, music, animation and multidisciplinary acts.
Fertile Ground is an annual celebration of the prolific playwrights, abundant actors, innovative dancers, talented designers and adventuresome producers who live and work right here in the Rose City.
An incubator for new work in all forms and stages of creation, Fertile Ground offers theater and dance, workshops, staged readings and multidisciplinary events for 11 days and at all times of the day and at venues across the city. The festival is an astonishing breadth of creative work with seasoned theater and dance companies alongside new art-creators of every ilk. Since the inaugural festival in 2009 more than 70 Fertile Ground-originated works have gone on to further productions, locally, naturally and in festivals worldwide.
“Each year, I’m like a kid in a candy store as I look through the project listings for the first time, awash with delight at the inventive, thoughtful, diverse array of creative impulses they comprise,” said Nicole Lane, Fertile Ground festival director. “This year is no different and maybe even more exciting than some years.”
For a full list of this year’s offerings, visit fertilegroundpdx.org.