Fertile Ground Fetes Its Biggest Year Yet

For 17 days this spring, Portland will be bursting with new works, courtesy of the Fertile Ground Festival of New Works, a flagship program of the Portland Area Theatre Alliance—which is celebrating its 17th year of programming. Beginning April 10, venues across the city and into the suburbs will feature new full-length plays, short works, and performances that defy categorization.

“Fertile Ground is its most Fertile Groundest when it includes myriad ‘acts of creation’—dance, multimedia, devised, clown, performance art—and when it runs the full spectrum of readings to fully designed world premieres,” festival director Tamara Carroll said in a press release. “Now that we’ve been back for a few years, we’re seeing a lot of the fully produced work audiences have been wanting more of, in addition to the more ‘in-progress’ pieces, which is always the goal.”

In all, the festival will feature nearly 100 new projects, the most Fertile Ground has ever hosted. Tickets are available à la carte to individual shows, or the festival offers passes for five, 10 or unlimited shows. A Portland State University student pass gets students into a show at the Boiler Room Studio, where many of this year’s offerings will be performed. Day-of tickets, when available, can be purchased at the door using a credit card. Among the many options, here are a few plays, readings and programs we’re excited for.

GROW Program

Fertile Ground’s GROW Program, which helps reduce financial barriers to participation for artists from marginalized communities, boasts an expansion this year and the addition of a mentorship component. This year’s recipients include:

• Kristin Tehrani and Alisha Christiansen for a staged reading of When I Was a Mexican: A Bollywood Musical, an autobiographical work based on Tehrani’s experiences.
• Meg Schenk for a staged reading of Severe & Sudden Hunger, a zombie apocalypse dark comedy.
• Karen Romero for Miss Happy, Señorita Feliz, an interactive show for kids ages 3 to 8 with Mr. Rogers, Mary Poppins and Sesame Street vibes.
• Niels Truman for Online Now, a domestic thriller with themes of depression, addiction, online existence, queer life and late-stage capitalism. 
• Jennifer Wright for Taking Liberties, an interactive performance art piece featuring two musicians on an empty stage. The audience is invited to participate by applying masking tape to the performers. 
• Generations Share the Love is a devised show based on intergenerational stories and presented in partnership between Rogue Pack Theatre and Willamette View retirement home. 

LineStorm Playwrights

LineStorm Playwrights is back at Artists Repertory Theatre for six brand-new staged readings. The full-length readings include:

• House of O by Josie Seid, inspired by Shakespeare’s Othello.
• Sofia Molimi’s I Am Here for You, a dark comedy that takes place on Thanksgiving.
• White House Enemies List by Rich Rubin, a tragicomedy (or a comic tragedy) that tackles current events.
• The Compulsory Best Friendship of Limmy and Wags by Sara Jean Accuardi, about mother-daughter relationships.

Also on the docket at ART: E.M. Lewis, whose world premiere Apple Hunters! is playing at ART concurrently (“Them Apples,” WW, April 1), has a staged reading of a new work, The View From Here, which explores mortality. And Small Bites, a new lineup of short plays, features new work by Audrey Block, Susan Faust, Francisco Garcia, Holly Richards, Josie Seid and Lolly Ward. Artists Repertory Theatre, 1515 SW Morrison St., 503-241-1278, fertilegroundpdx.org. Friday–Wednesday, April 10-15. Free.

Animal Farm

This Americanized adaptation of the George Orwell novella of the same name that you undoubtedly read in high school, is a protest, a satire, and a modern take on the classic. PSU students take on this allegory, dramatized by Ian Wooldridge. Actors don handmade masks to embody the animals on Manor Farm. Boiler Room Studio, 1620 SW Park Ave., fertilegroundpdx.org. 6 pm Saturday, April 11. Noon Sunday, April 12. 2:30 pm Sunday, April 19. 3 pm Sunday, April 26. $5–$25.

How on Earth? Live!

How on Earth? Live! is a climate-crisis improv show in the style of Queer Eye. But instead of a hairstylist, there’s a scientist; instead of a chef, there’s a mystic; and instead of a home-makeover expert, there’s a storyteller to help weave the whole thing together. The Fertile Ground iteration is the kickoff to a national tour that ends in Atlanta, where creator Amber Peoples hopes to cast a group of experts for an actual reality show. Alberta Alley, 126 NE Alberta St., fertilegroundpdx.org. 7 pm Tuesday, April 14. $5–$25.

The Mask I Wear

Writer and actor Jonathan Hernandez brings back this expanded version of The Mask I Wear after a successful run at last year’s Fertile Ground. This solo show about identity and community blends humor and honesty about the challenges of belonging in an industry and society that isn’t always accepting of what it actually means to be American. Boiler Room Studio, Portland State University Lincoln Hall, 1620 SW Park Ave., fertilegroundpdx.org. 5:30 pm Friday, 3 pm Saturday, 5 pm Sunday, April 10–12. $5–$20.

SEE IT: The Fertile Ground Festival of New Works, fertilegroundpdx.org. April 10-28. See website for venues, showtimes and tickets.