Categories: EventsFeaturesUncategorized

Portland Shakespeare Project Educates and Enriches with Vibrant Offerings

(R-L) Maureen Porter (Kate), Gary Powell (Baptista), James Farmer (Petruchio), Peter Platt (Lucentio), Foss Curtis (Bianca), David Heath (Gremio), Photo Credit: David Kinder

Portland, July 13, 2013. Audience members are embracing the Portland Shakespeare Project’s The Taming of the Shrew. Artistic Director Michael Mendelson directs the play, “I am excited to explore the lengths a person will go to to transform somebody they love into the person they wish them to be.”

Crystal Munoz (Servant), Maureen Porter (Kate), James Farmer (Petruchio), Sam Dinkowitz (Hortensio), Photo Credit: David Kinder

(R-L) David Heath, James Farmer, Ted Schulz, Nikolas Hoback, Maureen Porter, Nathan Dunkin (front), Joel Patrick Durham (back), Grant Turner, Photo Credit: David Kinder

This summer, Portland Shakespeare Project also offered a unique, one-week advanced, conservatory-style program to train high school students as theatre artists capable of performing both Shakespeare and contemporary texts. Michael Nehring is the director of the second play of the season, “The Tamer Tamed” and was also one of the instructors of the Portland Shakespeare Project’s High School Shakespeare Performance Conservatory.

Michael Nehring taught the Portland students. He’s is Professor of Theatre at Chapman University in Orange, California. He is an accomplished actor, director, choreographer, and teacher. He has been a founding member of several successful theatre companies including Shakespeare Orange County, for which he has played leading roles such as Prospero, Shylock, Benedick, Iago, Malvolio, Polonius, Caliban and all the Shakespearean fools.

Local theatre students were enthusiastic about the intense, one week workshop.

Instructor Luisa Sermol is a classically trained actress and teacher who has been part of the Portland Theater community for the past 25 years. She is a graduate of the Julliard School of Drama, and holds a Masters in Education from Lewis and Clark College and a BA in English Literature from Portland State University.

Portland Shakespeare Project expects to add at least one additional show during the year. It will also be offering a variety of classes for actors and educational programs for audience members.

Elisa Klein

I’ve been a professional journalist and writer since 1987, (and long-time reporter for KOIN-TV.) As a nationally published reporter, with a Master’s Degree in Journalism, I love to report positive news and information. Journalism has also connected me with another non-profit where I served as a leader; the Northwest’s biggest writer’s organization: The Willamette Writers.