Dramatic Repertory Company On Stage

 
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Gidion's Knot
GIDION'S KNOT
Performance Times

Thurs. March 5 @7:30pm
Fri. March 6 @7:30pm
Sat. March 7 @7:30pm
Sun. March 8 @2pm

Wed. March 11 @7:30pm**
Thurs. March 12 @7:30pm
Fri. March 13 @7:30pm
Sat. March 14 @7:30pm
Sun. March 15 @7:30pm

** Discount Wednesdays

FREE for 25 & Under with ID


Amanda HuotariAMANDA HUOTARI (Heather) is artistic director of Celebration Barn, Maine's center for physical theater training and performance in South Paris. With a BFA in acting from Emerson College, she's studied physical theater at the Lecoq School in France and trained in Commedia dell'Arte with Antonia Fava in Italy. An adjunct acting teacher at SMCC, she's also been a guest artist at Dartmouth, Bowdoin, and Bates Colleges, and was recently selected for the Maine Arts Commission's juried Teaching Artist Roster. Mandy's worked with many Maine theater companies including Add Verb Productions with whom she spent 9 years touring the one woman show, The Thin Line. Her own solo show, The Soiree, is directed by Avner Eisenberg and has been featured at festivals across the US and beyond. With Celebration Barn, she most recently co-created and toured two ensemble shows: Thumbs Up and The Fabulous Problemas.

Bess WeldenBESS WELDEN (Corryn) has been making theater professionally as an actor, writer, director and educator for over 20 years. She is excited and honored to be working with DRC again after performing in Swimming in the Shallows and A Bright New Boise. Most recently, she directed A Midsummer Night's Dream at Colby College where she is a Teaching Artist and Guest Director in the Theater and Dance Department. Her short play Madeleines premieres March 5th-8th as part of Snowlion Repertory's "The Maine Dish" at the Portland Ballet Studio Theater. Her theater for young audiences script Magic in the Attic will premiere in June in Birmingham, AL. Since its debut in Portland Stage's Studio Rep in February 2013, Bess has been touring her most recent solo show Big Mouth Thunder Thighs to venues around Maine continuing with appearances in Bangor and Monmouth later in 2015 (www.bigmouththundethighs.com). Bess earned an MFA from the National Theater Conservatory, and has performed at the Denver Center Theater Company, Williamstown Theater Festival, Shakespeare Santa Cruz, Hangar Theater, Montana Shakespeare in the Parks, among others. In her adopted home state of Maine she has appeared at Portland Stage (Manifest, A Comedy of Errors, A Christmas Carol), the Opera House at Boothbay (Twelfth Night, Indoor/Outdoor), Mad Horse Theatre (The Cryptogram), Portland Symphony Orchestra (Ellis Island), and Freeport Shakespeare Festival/Freeport Factory Stage (Macbeth). She has toured extensively with her solo comedy, The Passion of the Hausfrau, which was developed through the Little Festival of the Unexpected and premiered at Portland Stage in 2009 (www.thehausfrauplay.com). Bess has co-written and performed four other solo plays and is the librettist of two musical works, A Little Miracle (Lincoln Center premiere) and Eagle Girl, composed by David Stock. She is a proud member of Portland Stage's Affiliate Artists, and performs and teaches regularly for PSC's Theater for Kids program.

JOHNNA ADAMS (Playwright) received a Steinberg/American Theatre Critics Association Citation in April 2013 for Gidion's Knot. She is the 2011 recipient of the Princess Grace Award, and a 2012 Finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Award. Gidion's Knot was published in the December 2012 edition of American Theatre Magazine. The Contemporary American Theatre Festival premiered Gidion's Knot in Shepherdtown, WV, in summer of 2012 and regional productions include InterAct Theatre (Philadelphia), Profiles (Chicago), Kitchen Dog (Dallas), Stages (Houston) and Furious Theatre Company (Los Angeles). Flux Theatre Ensemble (New York) produced her play Sans Merci in spring of 2013 in New York. The script was nominated for a New York Innovative Theatre Award for best play. Her play Skinless was developed at the 2012 MFA Playwrights’ Workshop at the Kennedy Center and read at Rattlestick (New York) in winter of 2012. Her play Lickspittles, Buttonholers, and Damned Pernicious Go-Betweens was produced by Impetuous Theatre in autumn of 2013. Johnna's plays Angel Eaters, Rattlers, 8 Little Antichrists, Sans Merci, Cockfighters and The Sacred Geometry of S&M Porn are published by Original Works Publishing (www.originalworksonline.com) and Gidion's Knot is published by Dramatists Play Service, Inc. Johnna graduated from the DePaul University Theatre School with a BFA in Acting and received a 2012 MFA in Playwriting from Hunter College with Tina Howe.

CAIT ROBINSON (Director) is a director and dramaturg based in the Boston area, where she recently directed productions of The Singularity (Science Fiction Theater Co.), Winesburg, Ohio, and Carrie (Stoneham Theatre Winter Festival), as well as short play series at Boston Playwrights' Theatre and Fort Point Theatre Channel. Maine credits include PINK (PortFringe), The Maids (MadHorse/Lorem Ipsum), 4.48 Psychosis in the Portland Stage Studio, and The Julia Wars (Stonington Opera House). Cait is a graduate of Bowdoin College, Directors Lab West, Portland Stage's internship program, and American Conservatory Theater's fellowship program. Up next: directing The Bacchae at the A.R.T. Institute. Infinite gratitude to DRC and this incredible cast!

STACEY KOLOSKI (Scenic Design). Previously designed the set for Topdog/Underdog at DRC, and completed her second season as company member with The Theatre at Monmouth last summer. Other recent set/scenic painting credits include A View From The Bridge, The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds, Lieutenant of Inishmore, The Late Henry Moss, The Goat (with Adam Gutgsell) - all for Mad Horse Theater Company; Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf and The Birthday Party -- both for Acorn Productions; and The Seafarer for AIRE. Stacey studied production design and playwriting at Susquehanna University, and is a proud co-owner of STAGES: The Performing Arts Academy for Kids, located in South Portland.

MICHAELA WIRTH (Lighting Design). Rarely seen in the full light of day, this designer is delighted to be working once again with DRC. When not in the darkness of the theatre, she can often be found in the darkness of the projection booth of the Nickelodeon... planning the lights for the next DRC show!

Andrew Hesselbart (Stage Manager) is excited to be working with Dramatic Repertory Company for the first time. He has previously stage managed Kimberly Akimbo (Mad Horse Theatre Company), The Terrible False Deception and Stop Kiss (Ellipsis Productions) as well as Blood Wedding (Lorem Ipsum). He recently directed Sexual Perversity in Chicago for last summer's PortFringe (Ellipsis Productions). Andrew attended the University of Southern Maine. He is a co-founder of Portland's Ellipsis Productions.

March 5 - 15, 2015



“HARROWING & VERY TAUT!
A devastating slow burn...rich with suspense and sustained tension...beautifully executed by the exceptional Welden and Huotari.”

- Portland Phoenix, March 12, 2015
(read more >>)



“VERY INTENSE and MOVING!
Welden is strong in traversing the ground
between grieving and anger. Huotari is very effective at conveying the struggle in
protecting her students.”

- Maine Sunday Telegram, March 8, 2015
(read more >>)




Maine Premiere
GIDION'S KNOT
by Johnna Adams
directed by Cait Robinson

with Amanda Huotari and Bess Welden


An unusual and charged parent/teacher conference unfolds as a mystery. A strong-willed mother faces off against her son Gidion's fifth-grade teacher to understand why he was suspended from school. The unforeseen repercussions of their choices develop rapidly into a dramatic collision of ideas and ideals including freedom of expression, the strictures of our school system, bullying and personal responsibility. As the story reveals itself, the "truth" becomes increasingly complex and alarming.

GIDION'S KNOT is a wrenching and powerful drama by Princess Grace Award winner, Johnna Adams. In productions across the country it has been called "heart-stopping," "genuinely provocative" and "a powerful experience." A finalist for the Harold and Mimi Steinberg/American Theatre Critics Association New Play Award, GIDION'S KNOT is a visceral theatre experience you will not soon forget.



at the
PSC STUDIO THEATER
25A Forest Avenue, Portland, Maine

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“...resonant...[a] particularly eloquent study of people caught between the competing demands of reason, morality and family... harrowing... a narrative that is as elegant as it is chilling.”
- Washington Post

“...heart-stopping... the show has pathos and suspense in bucketloads... the show raises profound questions about parenting and education and documents the gut-wrenching force of maternal loyalty.”
- Washingtonian





PREMIUM SEATING – Get a reserved Front & Center seat without having to arrive early! Select Premium Seating and we will reserve your seat up until 5 minutes prior to the printed curtain time. If you arrive after that time, your reserved seat may be released, but you will still be able to see the show. There will be no refunds for late arrivals. $15 of your Premium Seat purchase counts as a tax-deductible donation to Dramatic Repertory Company.

DISCOUNT WEDNESDAYS – All seats to Wednesday Evening performances are $10!

FuturePatrons – if you are age 25 or under, see DRC shows for FREE!! FuturePatron tickets are available day-of only, and require government-issued photo ID as proof of age. Seating is first-come, first-served and subject to availability.

The FuturePatrons program
is underwritten, in part, by
Allagash Brewing Company

Allagash Brewing Company




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