Digital Playbill: How Can I Keep From Singing

The first reading of How Can I Keep From Singing

Eny'ssence Blair as Val, McKenzie West as Jenny, Am Blank as Jamie, Archie Sajdak as Asher, and Shane Ruyle as Aidan

Amber Beeks as Shannon, Henry Hazzard as Liam, and Casey James as Brendan

Leah Reed as Mary Margaret Donovan

Branna Sundy reads the Stage Directions

 

Artistic Team

Playwright: Claire Willett

Dramaturgy and Staging: Lezlie Cross

Acting Facilitator: Andy Christensen

Stage Manager: Hannah Kelly

Lighting Design: Larry Larsen

Costume Coordination: Sue Bonde

Music Coach: Lauren Cline

Assistant Director: Hayley DeArmond

 

Cast

Aidan O’Connor: Shane Ruyle

Jaime Rider: Am Blank

Asher Green: Archie Sajdak

Jenny Ward: McKenzie West

Val Corelli: Eny'ssence Blair

Shannon O’Connor: Amber Beeks 

Brendan O’Connor: Casey James

Liam O’Connor: Henry Hazzard

Mary Margaret Donovan : Leah Reed

Stage Directions: Branna Sundy

 

Patrick O’Connor: Henry Hazzard

Brigid O’Connor: Amber Beeks

 

Members of the St. Julian’s LGBTQ Group

Aidan: Shane Ruyle

Jaime: Am Blank

Asher: Archie Sajdak

Jenny: McKenzie West

Val: Eny'ssence Blair

Haley: Amber Beeks 

Tyler: Casey James

Eli: Henry Hazzard

 

Members of the St. Cecilia’s Parish Men’s Group

Ryan: Henry Hazzard

Roy: Eny'ssence Blair

Dave: McKenzie West

Brendan: Casey James

Mike: Am Blank

Charlie: Leah Reed

Andy: Archie Sajdak

Matt: Amber Beeks 

 

Production Crew

Assistant Stage Manager: Bennett Buchholz

Light Board Operator: Makenzie Binsacca

Sound Board Operator: Nick Hailer

Wardrobe: Olivia Sloss 

 

Theater Program Production Staff

Production Manager: Andy Christensen

Scene Shop Supervisor: Eric Lyness

Costume Shop Supervisor: Sue Bonde

Props Coordinator: Aria Hroma 

Primary Electrician: Carter Wolff

Scene Shop Technicians and Electricians: Ben Evans, Casey James, Julia Moran, Colin Moriarty, Natalie Pycz, Brendan Rath, Jacqulynne Sample, Finn Sanders, Joe Stefanich, Audrey Stineman

Costume Construction: Taylor Andreas, Alexa Bayliff, Alaina Cruson, Nick Hailer, Chase Johnson, Lilly Grey Rudge, Lexi Rudolph

Costume Shop Volunteer: Janet Reynolds Bemis

Marketing Director: Lezlie Cross

Marketing Assistant: Natalie Davis

Box Office Manager: Yoshimi Lin

Ushers: Rosabelle Barrozo, Belle Hansen, Isabelle Long, Shae McCarty

Theater Therapy Dog: Archie

 

Content notice: This play contains profanity and discussions of immigration/deportation, racism, sexism, miscarriage, queerphobia, islamophobia, and conversion therapy

 

Special Thanks

Dr. David DeLyser, Mead Hunter, Alice Smith, Heidi Hunter

 

 

From the Playwright

In setting out to explore the intersection of queerness and Catholicism - two powerful forces that shape my own life - I knew from the outset what I didn’t want to write. Our media is already full of stories centering queer trauma, specifically in relation to the experience of coming out. I wanted to tell a story where we know that the queer characters are going to be okay in the end. They go through hard things, but they go through them together. The question of the play isn’t what they will have to sacrifice in order to experience wholeness; it’s whether the rest of the world will make space for them. Will the characters who demand that Aidan change who he is in order to belong ultimately choose judgment over love, or are they capable of growth and transformation?

That isn’t to say that the queer characters in this play don’t face difficult choices. Music is very important to Aidan; it’s his passion, it’s where he finds God, it’s his deepest connection to his late father, and it’s the way he contributes to his parish community. That’s a lot to ask a person to give up. What do you do, when walking away from the church feels like you’re losing your home, but staying means you’ll never be allowed to be yourself?

Jamie tells Aidan that no institution can ever get better if all the good people leave. I believe that deeply. I also believe that no marginalized person should be forced to stay in a place they don’t feel whole or safe. For those of us who live at the intersection of identities that often feel at war with each other, we must make those individual decisions for ourselves. There’s no one right answer, and as you'll see, every character wrestles with that question differently.

Over the course of the year, as I’ve been writing, it feels as though this play has only become more timely; people really want to talk about that intersection of faith and identity, and theater is a powerful art form for tackling big, messy issues in a way that generates empathy. My hope for this play is that, if we get it right, it can be a way to serve the queer community, particularly young people: making audiences feel seen, giving actors the chance to play their own identities onstage, and offering people from families who don’t accept them some new language to navigate those conversations. But I also see it as a way to serve the Catholic Church, by inviting everyone to think in new ways about how the presence of queer people is actually a gift that makes communities stronger and more beautiful.

Watch a video interview with playwright Claire Willett HERE 

Theater Faculty and Staff

Susan Bonde, Costume Shop Manager

Sue Bonde is the costume shop manager for the University of Portland. She worked in Chicago as a freelance costume designer and technician for the Goodman Theater and Light Opera Works prior to moving to Portland. She has designed for A.R.T., New Rose Theatre, and Portland Repertory Theatre, and the Wee Sing children’s videos before joining Michael Curry Design and working on The Lion King on Broadway. Bonde has designed costumes for Portland Opera’s The Return of Ulysses, Albert Herring, La Calisto, Il Ballo delle Ingrate/Il Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda/Trouble in Tahiti, Galileo, Postcards from Morocco, L’heure Espanogle / L’enfant et les Sortileges, and La Cenerentola. She is the recipient of two Willamette Week Excellence in Theater Awards and two Portland Drammy Awards. Mock’s Crest Opera costume design credits include Iolanthe, Ruddigore, The Pirates of Penzance, Light in the Piazza, and Yeoman of the Guard. Past designs for UP include Tartuffe, Pippin, and The Moors. She recently served as costumer for A.R.T.’s production of The Hombres and is looking forward to designing Twelfth Night this spring for the University of Portland.

 

Andy Christensen, Instructor, Directing and Acting

Andy Christensen is a fiercely curious artist-educator who specializes in emergent forms of immersive and site-informed theatre that explore the intersection of place and time. In his practice, he builds egalitarian ensembles that create interdisciplinary, research-driven, and process-shaped performances that put audiences at the center of artistic experiences and contextualize performance within community. After receiving his M.F.A. in theatre directing from the Lir Academy of Trinity College in Dublin and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Andy returned to the United States to invest in emerging artists in the Pacific Northwest. He is a founder of Cascadia Art Project and a member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society. He has mentored artists in many regional high schools, George Fox University, Pacific University, and most recently at Whitworth University where he was recognized for outstanding integration of vocation in the classroom.

 

Lezlie C. Cross, PhD, Assistant Professor, Theatre History and Dramaturgy

Dr. Cross’s directing credits at UP include House of Desires, Where is Home: a Digital Living Newspaper, and As You Like It. At UP, she teaches courses in theatre history, dramaturgy, and playwriting. She is also a professional dramaturg who has worked at regional theatres across America including the Utah Shakespeare Festival, Nevada Conservatory Theatre, Cincinnati Shakespeare, Classic Stage Company, Actor’s Theatre of Louisville, and Oregon Shakespeare Festival where she was the literary assistant for five years. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Washington, her M.A. from the Shakespeare Institute, University of Birmingham, and her B.A. from Whitman College. See more at lezliecross.com

 

Larry Larsen, M.F.A., Professor, Academic Associate Dean, College of Arts and Sciences

Professor Larsen has been involved in theater since the 5^th grade when he played Schroder in You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown and has had a life long association with the theatre ever since. He is in his 29th year at the University, and besides teaching the scenic and lighting design coursework for the Theater Program, he is an Academic Associate Dean for the College of Arts and Sciences. His most recent design work, which is over a 100 shows at the University, includes lighting and scenery designs for House of Desires, Tartuffe, Eurydice, and Jesus Christ Superstar. Larry has worked as a professional designer in Portland for the last 30 years and recent professional work includes lights for Don’t Hug Me, and scenery for Nunsense and Company at Broadway Rose Theatre, the lights for Blithe Spirit at Lakewood Theatre Co., Haddon Hall Revels for Portland Revels where he is the resident set designer, All My Sons and This Random World for Portland Actors Conservatory, and Mr. Kolpert for Third Rail Repertory Theater.  Other theatres designed for include Artists Repertory Theatre, Oregon Children’s Theatre, Northwest Children's Theatre, Portland Repertory Theatre, Tygres Heart Shakespeare Co. , Portland Civic Theatre and Summer Repertory Theatre in Santa Rosa. Prior to his employment at the University, Larry worked as the Design Associate for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, both in Ashland and Portland. He has his MFA in Theatre Design from the University of Washington.  

 

Mindi Logan, M.F.A., Associate Professor, Acting Instructor

Mindi is beginning her 23rd year teaching for the University of Portland. Her artistic work at the University includes acting and dialect coaching for productions. Mindi received her MFA from the Professional Actors Training Program at Rutgers University and then worked professionally as an actor in New York and Los Angeles, appearing off-Broadway, in soap operas, sitcoms, and film. Continuing her professional acting career, Mindi has appeared locally with Artists Repertory Theatre, Theater Vertigo, Willamette Shakespeare, Quintessence Theater, Stark Raving Theatre, in commercials, industrials, and voiceovers. Mindi was awarded the Kennedy Center Gold Medallion for her service as the Regional Chair of the Kennedy Center/American College Theatre Festival. Mindi’s husband Hal is a professional musician and composer who also works locally and teaches at the University of Portland.    

 

Eric Lyness, Scene Shop Manager

Eric Lyness (class of '12) has had the pleasure of working here at his alma mater since 2015. Favorite UP credits include crafting sound designs for Good Kids and A Midsummer Night's Dream, and scenic designs for 1959 Pink Thunderbird.  He has worked as a director, designer, and technician at various theatres across Portland including Third Rail Repertory, Portland Opera, Northwest Theatre Workshop, and Artists Rep.

 

Gregory Pulver, M.F.A., Associate Professor, Costume and Makeup Design

Professor Gregory Pulver teaches courses in The Creative Process in Visual Arts, Intro to the Art of Theater, Beginning Costume Development and Analysis, Advanced Costume Design and Research, Theater Makeup Techniques. He is also a director and choreographer for plays and musicals for the UP Theater season annually. Before becoming Associate Professor and Program Director for the UP Theater Program, Gregory was an Associate Professor of Costume Design at Western Washington University for 12 years and Chair of the WWU Theatre Department for four of those years. Gregory holds an MFA in costume design and choreography from Humboldt State University, CA. He is the 1993 Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (KCACTF) National Costume Design Winner for his work on Three Penny Opera at Humboldt State. His twenty-eight year mentorship of theatre design students has garnered 4 KCACTF national design winners, 14 national design competitors and dozens of regional winners. Gregory started his teaching career at Humboldt State University in 1990 where he was fortunate to complete his MFA, take over the makeup design program and classes, and teach contemporary dance as an adjunct instructor. Gregory is currently a Resident Artist at Artist Repertory Theater in Portland where his favorite of many designs include The Hombres, Broomstick, Cuba Libre, and Foxfinder. He has been a member of the international board of advisors for The Last Frontier Theatre Conference in Valdez, AK for 15 years and participates as a featured artist mentoring new American playwrights by participating on response panels, providing workshops in design and writing, and by individual mentorship during each festival. In Portland, Gregory has designed both sets and costumes for Bag and Baggage Theatre in Hillsboro, and costumes for Broadway Rose Theatre in Portland. Gregory has designed for several short films and TV spots in Washington including a dance for the camera film titled Egg Skin. Gregory is also an accomplished singer and actor, and plans to restart that career once he retires from academia. Or he may just garden. His most tried and true hobbies are dog owner and avid dinner party host.