"Inside a former house of worship for Portland's Black community, Portland Playhouse consistently offers cultural and spiritual riches to audiences, pitched at a level of quality and intention that just doesn't happen without practice and devotion. Its current offering - a rich production of Pearl Cleage's play, Angry, Raucous, and Shamelessly Gorgeous - is faithful to that tradition. True to its name, the production is indeed gorgeous."
"The story involves four Black women artists of different generations, colliding at an intersection where their different conceptions of art and activism and female power jockey for primacy. Their common experience has been that Black women often aren't in a position to dictate what stories get told, under what conditions and with what resources; their differences manifest in how they assert their agency."
"Anna is a successful actress in her 60s and has been in self-imposed exile for three decades in the Netherlands since she staged a work - dubbed Naked Wilson - in which she performed major male monologues from the work of the great African American playwright August Wilson, in the nude. It was a sort of protest regarding how women characters are underdeveloped in Wilson's work,"
Portland Playhouse stages Pearl Cleage's Angry, Raucous, and Shamelessly Gorgeous in a former house of worship that amplifies cultural and spiritual resonance. The production offers high-quality, intentional performances shaped by practice and devotion. The narrative focuses on four Black women artists from different generations whose conflicting views on art, activism, and female power collide. Anna, an actress in her 60s, lives in self-imposed exile after staging Naked Wilson, performing August Wilson's male monologues nude as protest about underdeveloped female roles. Betty serves as Anna's manager and companion and reveals Anna's significance and flaws. Kate, in her 40s, returns to produce a festival and enlists 25-year-old Precious ("Pete") to assume Anna's role.
Read at Oregon ArtsWatch * Arts & Culture News
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