From a Hole in the Ground
by Ken Yoshikawa
Apr 26-May 19, 2024
Thu – Sat @ 7:30pm, Sun @ 2pm
A co-production with Alberta House
5131 NE 23rd Ave
Season Sponsor: Ronni Lacroute
Production Sponsored by:
Charlotte Rubin
and
Oregon Cultural Trust
Actor performances supported by a gift from Pancho Savery
Dialect Coaching supported by a gift from Jessie Jonas
Something stirs on the Other Side and comes knocking…
Commissioned by Corrib Theatre, From a Hole in the Ground is an original work by Portland-based playwright, poet, and actor Ken Yoshikawa, inspired by Irish folklore. Corrib will collaborate with Alberta House to develop the play, which will include mythic figures like ghosts, fairies, and even the Púca, a morally ambiguous trickster creature from Celtic lore.
Someone, some thing, has returned from the grave hell bent on a long due confrontation, upsetting the world of the good folk, and set to bring chaos to mortals too. An exploration of fairytale, time, and connection.
Recommended for ages 9 and up.
‘From a Hole in the Ground’ is a fairytale. While it is stylistically and thematically suitable for children, the script does contain brief moments of mild adult language.
April 25th at 7:30
Pay-What-You-Will Preview
(tickets available at the door only)
May 16 at 7:30
ASL interpreted performance
Run Time
80 min, no intermission
About the Playwright
Ken Yoshikawa is a playwright, poet, actor, and from Portland, Oregon. He’s appeared onstage with Artists Repertory Theatre, Portland Center Stage, Corrib Theatre, Oregon Children’s Theatre, NW Children’s Theatre, and Oregon Adventure Theatre. He performed his solo show The Art of Fly Swatting in town and at the Pan Asian Repertory off-broadway in NYC. His plays Medusa! Rapture! Party! and Through Bonavia, or The Simple Truth are being produced as readings in collaboration with The Historic Alberta House. His poems have appeared in Nailed Magazine, Letters from the Void, Hapa Mag, and Discover Nikkei. His first full length poetry book Monster Colored Glasses is out now on Lightship Press, and available to purchase at yoshikawaken.com! He is a Reed College graduate and an alumn of PETE’s Institute of Contemporary Performance, which he highly recommends. In his free time he enjoys video games, hanging with trees, and working as an astrologer.
“In general it’s a huge honor to be asked to write a play, an honor in proportion to the responsibility of entering into a whole cultural universe. It seems Irish is as delicate as it is hearty and these fairy tales reflect that. What feels right to me for this process is, rather than taking and adapting an established fairy tale with all its deep nuance and beauty, to process the interweaving qualities of the mythos into a new story. I myself am curious about my own Irish heritage, as disconnected as I may be from it as a biracial American.
From a Hole in the Ground is for me an opportunity to learn and do, to enter in, have a sense of being a guest, and accepting an opportunity to play and experiment. Discovering and getting to know characters is a sweet and tender process, and the research is a curious dive into a winding river. I’m sopping wet already and honestly going with the flow. I hope to please folks and I’ll be sure to cry out my warning when I toss the water out the window. Please don’t haunt me.”
CAST
Ensemble
Ensemble
Ensemble & Music
CREATIVE TEAM
DIRECTOR
STAGE MANAGER
SCENIC DESIGN
LIGHTING DESIGN
COSTUME DESIGN
DIALECT COACH
Cultural Consultant
Rehearsal Photos by Owen Carey
Claire Aldridge
Claire Aldridge (they/she) is a queer interdisciplinary artist based in Portland Or. You will find her on any given midnight at the crossroads of dance, theater, poetry, and sculpture. Committed to collaboratively driven works that push the boundaries of form she has trained with the Portland Experimental Theater Ensemble’s ICP, Dell Arte International School of Physical Theater and The American Conservatory Theater. You may have just seen her as the chalk-wielding grape in Shaking The Tree’s, Forbbiden Fruit or around town at Hand2Mouth (24hr Devising Festival) Shaking The Tree (Forbbiden Fruit, Short Flix, Caucasian Chalk Circle, Head Hands Feet, Orpheus and Eurydice), Oregon Children’s Theater (Charlotte’s Web), Enso Theater Ensemble (Romeo and Juliet). She is creator of Anatomy of A Rabbit, an experimental dance film and art instillation in partnership with the Sexual Assault Resource Center. She would like to take a moment to thank her family, friends, mentors, Corrib and The Good Neighbors for all their support.
Olivia Mathews
Olivia Mathews (she/they) is a performer, director, deviser, teacher based in Portland, OR. Their work is process focused, rigorous, expressive and devoted to collaboration as a means of practicing community and self-advocacy. Currently, Olivia is a resident artist at CoHo Theatre, where she is developing ENDURANCE, an original piece in collaboration with other artists. Most recent performance credits include Blood Wedding and Forbidden Fruit (Shaking the Tree Theatre) and How Did I Let You Grow Up To Be So Melodramatic? (Alberta House). Directing credits include Precipice(Vanport Mosaic) and The Americans (PETE). She also holds a certification from Portland Experimental Theatre Ensemble's Institute for Contemporary Performance. Olivia is delighted to be making her Corrib debut and is so grateful to the From a Hole in the Ground team for their spirit and sense of adventure.
Joellen Sweeney
Joellen Sweeney is thrilled to be making her Corrib Theatre debut with the incredible team of From a Hole in the Ground! Joellen is an actor, vocalist, and teaching artist. Her recent Portland credits include Hibernate (Ensemble/Writer) with Bedrock Theatre, Blood Wedding and Forbidden Fruit (Music Director/Composer) with Shaking the Tree Theatre and Bird Songs of Opera (Director) with Renegade Opera. Other regional credits includeThe Revolutionists (Artists Repertory Theatre), Much Ado About Nothing (Seattle Shakespeare Company) and Uncle Vanta (Portland Experimental Theatre Ensemble). Joellen's creative research focuses on immersive and site-specific performance; as a company member of Bedrock Theatre, and an advisory board member at The Verdancy Project, she creates and supports events that build connectedness between people and their environment. MFA: University of Washington. www.joellensweeney.com
Cynthia Shur Petts
Cynthia Shur Petts (she/her) is an actor, writer, comedian, and teaching artist. She is happy to return to Corrib Theatre, where she previously played Rusty in Hurl. Other Portland credits include A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Anonymous Theatre) and a reading of Lisa Kron’s solo piece 101 Humiliating Stories (Profile Theatre). She worked for many years in Chicago storefront theatres, and has performed as a comedian and storyteller at clubs and bars all over Chicago, and at festivals around the country. Cynthia has taught workshops in writing and performing at local companies including Portland Center Stage, From the Ground UP, and PlayWrite, Inc. She is a staff member and company member with Third Rail Repertory Theatre.
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Holly Griffith
Holly (she/her) has worked as a director, actor, administrator, and educator for over a decade. Since being appointed Artistic Director of Corrib Theatre, she has directed Metaverse and Woman and Scarecrow. In Ireland, Holly directed Sophie Treadwell's Machinal for her final MFA project at The Lir Academy, and assistant directed with Jason Byrne on Walls and Windows at The Abbey Theatre. She also produced and directed an original outdoor play called Krabat: The Magic of Disobedience with Common Crow Theatre for an arts festival in County Meath. Holly's career began in Tucson Arizona where she was a resident actor at The Rogue Theatre and an Artistic Associate at the Scoundrel and Scamp Theatre. In her role as Artistic Director at Corrib, Holly hopes to enrich Corrib’s connections to communities both locally and globally whose stories are represented on our stages, and to examine the intersectionality of Irish identity.
Abbie Northrop
Kyra Sanford
Kyra Sanford is a freelance scenic designer, props master, carpenter, and painter in the Portland area, working for theatres such as Milagro, PassinArt, Theatre Vertigo, Defunkt Theatre, Profile Theatre, Portland State University, Clark College, Lincoln High School, Third Rail Rep, and various others. She received her BFA in scenic design from The Conservatory of Theatre Arts at Webster University.
sanfordscenic.com
Kelly Terry
Kelly Terry is a Portland-based lighting designer and lead electrician for theatre, dance, and events. After graduating from Florida State University, she launched a career that has included designing everything from modern and original theatre (Welcome to Arroyo's, James X, Jesus Hopped the A-Train), and elaborate ballet productions (Snow White, Cinderella, A Midsummer Night's Dream), to innovative classics (The Romeo and Juliet Project, The Oldest Profession). Her designs could be seen most recently in Corrib Theatre's production of Woman and Scarecrow under the direction of Holly Griffith. Most days she works with Greenlight Creative, slinging a wrench and lighting everything from small weddings to massive corporate events. She would like to thank her ever-patient partner for their support, genius, and tech week snack runs.
Jo Pierce
Jo is delighted to be working with Corrib Theatre, after a long absence from theatre. Past credits include three seasons of costuming and wardrobe management for the Country Dinner Playhouse of Denver. She also worked several years as Assistant Costume Designer for Emmy Award winner Garland Riddle in Los Angeles for both television and live theatre projects. She holds an MFA in Theatre with a minor in costuming from the University of Arizona in Tucson.
Karl Hanover
Originally from Ireland, Karl moved to the U.S. in 1994 to pursue acting, and received his MFA degree from the National Theatre Conservatory in Denver. Theatres at which he has appeared include Cal Shakes, the Philadelphia Shakespeare Festival, Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Magic Theatre, Profile Theatre, and Portland Center Stage. In addition, he has voiced characters for the gaming industry, including those of Atlas and Fontaine in Bioshock, Biochock 2 and Bioshock Infinite: Burial as Sea. As a theatre administrator he has worked in various capacities at Portland Playhouse, Profile Theatre, and Artists’ Repertory Theatre.
Brian Ó hAirt
Brian is an accomplished singer, dancer, and musician, holding advanced degrees from the universities of Limerick and Galway. Their current research topics include the Irish language, cultural practice, coloniality, and traditional music. Brian is also an avid community organizer and public educator, working as the Public Relations Officer for the Mícheál Ó Domhnaill Branch of Oregon and offering Irish Gaelic and cultural courses through Portland Community College. He is currently working to establish a community focused on the curach, a traditional Irish watercraft, to draw folks into outdoor spaces to build awareness and engagement with the Portland region's many waterways.
Sophina Flores
Sophina Flores holds a BA in Theatre and Dance from Amherst College. She is the founder of local dance theatre company Roots & All Theatre Ensemble, centering marginalized identities and breaking the boundaries of realism, who you may know from productions such as Liminal and The Between Spaces. She has stage managed for shows such as Sweeney Todd, Urinetown, Big Love, Peer Gynt, and The Importance of Being Earnest. Most recently she stage managed Milagro’s Duende de Lorca. As a theatre maker, playwright, director, deviser, and choreographer, her work centers the intersectionality of identities as a bisexual Puerto Rican woman, and prominently features themes of mental illness and trauma, with surrealist or magical realist motifs.
