"I am not prepared to say that all the Black artists in Portland have opportunities to offer all they have to give. But in this predominantly white city whose Black community has faced so many challenges of displacement and harm, Black artists - both local and folks with whom our local artists have built relationships - demonstrate the resourcefulness and tenacity and brilliance required to continue to offer this community great theatrical work illuminating the experience of the Black diaspora."
"The latest example of this at Portland Playhouse - coming off its remarkable production of August Wilson's Joe Turner's Come and Gone this past spring - is a new production of Dominique Morisseau's play Paradise Blue. Part of a cycle of three plays set in her native Detroit, this one is set in 1949 in the neighborhood of Black Bottom, once a predominantly Black neighborhood that was demolished for redevelopment in the late 1950s and early 1960s."
Portland theater currently offers rich work by Black artists, with Portland Playhouse serving as a prominent presenter. The Playhouse followed a production of August Wilson's Joe Turner's Come and Gone with a staging of Dominique Morisseau's Paradise Blue. Paradise Blue is set in 1949 Detroit in the Black Bottom neighborhood, a once-thriving, predominantly Black community later demolished for redevelopment. Black Bottom hosted a nationally famous music scene and numerous businesses serving the community. The neighborhood was crowded after the Great Migration and suffered from limited housing options due to discriminatory laws. Urban renewal targeted Black Bottom, which was replaced by the Chrysler Freeway and redevelopment.
Read at Oregon ArtsWatch * Arts & Culture News
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