Media Contact: Nicole Lane
Artists Rep presents
The Quality of Life
Northwest Premiere of award-winning script
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – March 20, 2014. Artists Rep is pleased to present the Northwest Premiere of The Quality of Life by Jane Anderson,from April 8 through May 11. Former Artists Rep Artistic Director Allen Nause will direct this provocative and deeply moving production featuring a stellar cast of some of Portland’s most well-known and talented actors.
It turns out that true love knows no bounds, family roots run true and there are a few things red wine and a bong hit won’t fix. Jeanette and Neil live off the land in a yurt on the site of their Northern California home, recently destroyed by a massive fire. Neil is dying. Jeannette’s long-lost cousin and her husband are coming from the Midwest for a visit after losing their daughter. In a love story and comedic drama that plumbs societal, religious and ethical divides, the couples explore their respective life perspectives with finesse, humor, honesty and respect.
The World Premiere production at Los Angeles’ Geffen Playhouse won the 2007 Ted Schmitt Award for Outstanding New Play. It also won a 2008 Ovation Award for Best New Play after its production at San Francisco’s American Conservatory Theatre.
“I love this play because it is built around death but is ultimately about what it means to live, and our responsibility to the loved ones we leave behind” said Allen Nause, the production’s director. He continues, “This is a tricky play, full of surprises and landmine issues – but they are treated so delicately that it is hard to stick to side, you may walk in with notions, but be prepared to shift.”
“I am so happy to welcome Allen Nause back to direct at Artists Rep in my first season as Artistic Director,” said Dámaso Rodriguez. “I and the entire The Quality of Life company is filled with artists who share decades of history creating great theatre together in Portland. It’s the perfect team for Jane Anderson’s deeply meaningful and universally resonant play.”
The Quality of Life – Northwest Premiere
Written by: Jane Anderson
Directed by: Allen Nause
Featuring: Linda Alper, Michael Fisher-Welsh, Susannah Mars, Michael Mendelson
Performance Dates: April 8 – May 11
Wednesday through Sunday at 7:30pm, Sunday at 2pm
Opening Night is Saturday, April 12
Venue: Artists Repertory Theatre – Alder Stage (16th and Alder St.)
Tickets: $25-$55
Box Office: 503.241.1278 or www.artistsrep.org
>> PHOTOS AVAILABLE: April 9
ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT:
Jane Anderson is a multi-award winning writer and director who has created some of the most thought-provoking theatre, film and television in the last two decades. Her plays have been produced Off-Broadway and in theatres around the country, including Actors Theater of Louisville, Williamstown, The McCarter Theater, Long Wharf and The Pasadena Playhouse. Her published plays: Looking for Normal, The Baby Dance, Defying Gravity, Food & Shelter, Smart Choices for the New Century, Lynette at 3 a.m. and The Last Time We Saw Her. Other works include The Pink Studio and Hotel Oubliette. Her most recent play, The Quality of Life, premiered at the Geffen Playhouse and produced at A.C.T. and was directed by Ms. Anderson. She wrote and directed The Prizewinner of Defiance, Ohio. She wrote and directed Normal for HBO which garnered six Emmy nominations (including best writing, directing and best made-for-TV film), three Golden Globe nominations, and Director’s Guild and Writer’s Guild nominations for best directing and writing. She wrote HBO’s groundbreaking The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom for which she received an Emmy, a Penn Award and Writers Guild Award for best teleplay. Her other television films include When Billie Beat Bobby and The Baby Dance for which she received a Peabody Award, a Golden Globe nomination and three Emmy nominations for best writing and made-for-TV film. She wrote and directed the first segment of If These Walls Could Talk II, which starred Vanessa Redgrave and earned Ms. Anderson an Emmy nomination for best writing. Her other screenwriting credits include: How to Make an American Quilt and It Could Happen to You. Ms. Anderson resides in Los Angeles with her spouse Tess Ayers and their son, Raphael.
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR:
Allen Nause served as Artists Rep’s Artistic Director from 1988 until 2013 and has directed many of its most popular productions including Killer Joe, Bug, Circle Mirror Transformation, Superior Donuts, The Crucible, Seafarer, The Clean House and Three Days Of Rain. He directed Our Town with Mahesh Dattani in Bangalore, India and led two international tours to Africa and the Near and Middle East, representing American regional theatre for U.S.I.A. Arts America. In 2000, Nause traveled to Vietnam and co-directed a bilingual, bicultural production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and a Vietnamese production of A Glass Menagerie as part of the Vietnam/America Theatre Exchange. In May 2007, he directed All My Sons with the Palestinian National Theatre in Jerusalem. In 2010, Nause directed The Odd Couple in Islamabad, Pakistan. As an actor, he has performed in numerous plays at Artists Rep including Frankie and Johnny in the Claire De Lune, Breaking The Code, Art, The Drawer Boy, Death Of A Salesman, Blackbird, Vanya, No Man’s Land and most recently The Big Meal. Allen will also perform later this season in J.M. Synge’s The Playboy of the Western World, which opens May 20. For the 2014/15 season, Allen will direct Ayad Akhtar’s The Invisible Hand next Spring. He has appeared at many other Northwest theatres including Imago Theatre, Portland Center Stage, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Seattle Repertory Theatre, The Empty Space, A.C.T. Seattle and Intiman Theatre. Allen is a Resident Artist at Artists Rep.
ART GALLERY
For each stage production, Artists Rep partners with local artists, galleries and curators to offer patrons a lobby exhibit that reflects the themes of the play in the form of visual art. For The Quality of Life The Geezer Gallerywill present an installation called INTERNAL WORLDS – Three Women Artists from April 4 through May 11.
INTERNAL WORLDS brings together the art of three accomplished artists who, in the shadow of trauma, loss, and sickness, turned to their creative practice for strength, restoration and transformation. Represented is the maker’s interior space—the courage and will to see life differently through their creative process. Facing circumstances beyond their control, the artists chose not to represent the world, but to reflect the world as created, alive with hope. The results offer understanding and appreciation for art’s contribution to healing in the aftermath of their experience.
Inspired by Artists Repertory Theatre’s production, The Quality of Life, INTERNAL WORLDS features paintings and acrylic monotypes by Janet Holt, mixed-media collage by Haifa Al-Habeeb, and mixed-media monotypes by the late Madeline Janovec. The exhibitionis organized by curator, Deborah Gangwer for The Geezer Gallery and is presented with support from Artists Repertory Theatre, Pearl Gallery and Framing, Pearl Printing, Gangwer Design, and The Geezer Gallery member contributions.
Artists Repertory Theatre
The 2013/14 Artists Repertory Theatre season is presented by the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation. Premiere season sponsors are Ronni Lacroute/WillaKenzie Estate and The Oregonian. Season hotel sponsors are The Mark Spencer Hotel and Hotel deLuxe. The 2013/14 radio sponsor is KINK.FM. Other support comes from Regional Arts Culture Council, Work for Art, Oregon Arts Commission, Oregon Cultural Trust, Oregon Community Foundation, Harold and Arlene Schnitzer CARE Foundation, Meyer Memorial Trust, The James F. and Marion L. Miller Foundation and Poster Garden.
Founded in 1982, Artists Repertory Theatre is the longest-running professional theatre company in Portland. Artists Rep is committed to world-class acting, directing, design and stagecraft that support new playwriting and aspires to embody great literature, moving audiences to truly feel — to experience — storytelling in a way that only the best live theatre can.
Portland’s premiere mid-size regional theatre company is led by Artistic Director Dámaso Rodriguez and Managing Director Sarah Horton. For the 2013/14 season Artists Rep will offer nine bold and entertaining new plays written by internationally acclaimed playwrights, and guided by esteemed directors. Artists Rep productions will feature the work of a core group of accomplished Resident Artists, each with a shared history and a shorthand for collaboration, working alongside guest artists from Portland and beyond.
Our Mission: Artists Repertory Theatre challenges artists and audiences with adventurous and provocative plays staged in an intimate environment. Artists Rep feeds our community’s artistic soul with premieres, re-imagined classics, new play development and educational outreach.
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Nicole A. Lane
Marketing & Public Relations Director
Artists Repertory Theatre
503.241.9807 x102 (office)
1515 SW Morrison St.
Portland, OR 97205
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