Fertile Ground Arts Festival Showcases Depth and Diversity of Portland’s Creative Community

Men Run Amok (or It Takes Balls)_Steve Perkins_3_Jared Mack & Erik Montague_photocreditDavidSanford

Portland, Or. Dozens of Portland-generated new works like Men Run Amok (or It Takes Balls) are captivating local audiences. (Photo credit David Sanford) Fertile Ground, the 11-day arts festival that runs through January 29th, features world premiere projects, staged readings, developing works and a myriad of other arts events from Portland’s creative community. Here’s a look at some of the innovative works, which are sparking imagination this winter.

Diaspora Dance Theater performed at Groovin’ Greenhouse produced by Polaris Dance Theatre.

Uncommon Sense, presented by Echo Theater Company, is a collection of works combining elements of circus arts, dance, narrative and physical theatre to illuminate themes related to social justice. Photo credit Arnista Photography.

Last Dance featured Jaime Lee Christiana & Kat Macmillan. Photo credit Holly Wilmeth.

HOMEBREW 2017 was A PDX Animation Showcase at Artful Raven Studios. Photo credit Yamil Lopez.

Groovin’ Greenhouse featured the Vitality Dance Collective. Photo credit Will Mahoney-Watson.

El Payaso was a world premiere staged at Milagro Theatre and featured Ajai Terrazas Tripathi, Marlon Jimenez Oviedo, Danielle Pecoff & Emile Dultra. Photo credit, Russell J Young.

Do You Believe in Magic is a new solo performance-in-progress from veteran performer, Faith Helma.

Portland’s narrative circus is at it again with its new show, Bunny. Photo credit, Danny Boulet.

The Broken Planetarium presented Atlantis By Laura Christina Dunn. It’s a new folk opera based on the myth of Atlantis. The premise is that after Manhattan is completely under water, New Yorkers grow gills and continue on as usual. At the top of one skyscraper surrounded by ocean, a group of East Village folk singers meet every week to share songs they’ve just written and opinions about the state of the world. Photo credit Laura Hadden.

There were free reading at Artists Repertory Theatre like a reading of Zay Amsbury’s new play, The Thing in Jesse’s Room.

You can still take in several works including Word.Voice. which features new works by PlayWright. Inc. on January 29th 6PM at Portland Center Stage at The Armory

For more information, click here for a link.

From Fertile Ground:

Unlike a typical fringe festival, Fertile Ground features the finest new work of our LOCAL artists, performers and resident theater companies, ensuring that the artistic and financial benefits of the festival stay in Portland. Where other New Works Festivals are curated by one theater company and typically feature a string of staged readings, this festival is collaboratively shaped by variety of aesthetic voices.

Fertile Ground features a full range of artistic experience, giving audiences a greater depth and breadth of work from which to choose in a concentrated time frame. From Portland’s oldest and largest producing institutions to its newest, smallest or self-produced companies, the Fertile Ground Festival offers the breadth of creation. For this reason we feel this festival is nationally unique, providing a new model for creating and sharing new work that will be of substantive value to the national theater and arts.

Fertile Ground was launched by the Portland Area Theatre Alliance (the service organization for Portland theater artists and organizations) in 2009 to provide a platform for Portland theater companies to showcase their commitment to new work; and to invite regional and national artists, artistic leaders and arts aficionados to discover for themselves that Portland truly is fertile ground for creativity, innovation, and daring acts of performance. Fertile Ground has grown its scope of offerings to encompass the open field of arts creation to include dance, comedy and visual arts. Fertile Ground aspires to provide a forum where art lovers near and far will come to appreciate that Portland truly is fertile ground for creativity, innovation, and daring acts of performance.

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.