Calendar

IMAGE: “Shylock and Jessica” by Maurice Gottlieb (1876). A Maiden of Venice will be performed Aug. 6.

Portland Shakespeare Project and Proscenium Journal, in association with Artists Repertory Theatre, present the third annual Proscenium Live Festival of New Work. All performances are free and begin at 7:30pm on Artists Rep’s Alder Stage.

The 2017 festival will offer new plays each night featuring five outstanding playwrights. Full-length plays will be presented on Friday, Aug. 4 and Saturday, Aug. 5; three short plays commissioned by Portland Shakes and Proscenium Journal will be offered on Sunday, Aug. 6.

The Sunday performance will begin with “A Maiden of Venice,” an adaptation of Shakespeare’s most controversial play, told from the point of view of the Shylock’s daughter, Jessica.

The three-night festival features new plays written by award-winning playwrights Steve Rathje, C.S. Whitcomb, Aleks Merilo, Susan Mach and Patrick Wohlmut and are performed in a staged reading format featuring more than a dozen of Portland’s most talented actors on Artists Rep’s Alder Stage.

SCHEDULE

Aug. 4, 7:30pm: Artists Repertory Theatre’s Table|Room|Stage Oregon Play Prize Winner “Signs” by Steve Rathje; Directed by Michael Mendelson.

“Signs” is a surrealistic comedy about love, purpose and the little things that seem to matter so much to us. April reads horoscopes. Lydia writes horoscopes. April reads them devoutly, using them to guide her life choices. Lydia just makes them up, using the money she makes from them to support herself while she completes her novel. When April comes in contact with Lydia, the all-too-familiar force who has been transcribing April’s fate through her horoscopes all along, the story turns upside down.

Steve’s recent play Signs is winner of the $10,000 Oregon New Play Prize and is being developed and produced at Artists Repertory Theatre. ”Signs” was also a finalist for the National Eugene O’Neill Playwrights Conference.

Aug. 5, 7:30 pm: “Santos” by C.S. Whitcomb; Directed by Michael Mendelson

“Santos” is a new play set in Pasadena, California, circa 1968.  Rafael Santos, in his heart, is Don Quixote, but in the real world is just trying to get cast as a bandito bit player while teaching high school drama and keeping his family together.  A comedy with a side of tango.

Aug. 6, 7:30 pm: Three new plays, commissioned by Portland Shakes and Proscenium Journal.

“A Maiden of Venice” by Aleks Merilo, directed by Josh Rippy: In the walled Jewish Ghetto of Venice, a girl comes of age with only her money-lender father to guide her. When her father lashes back at men who have persecuted him, she is forced to choose between love, faith, and the debts we owe to family. An adaptation of Shakespeare’s most controversial play, it is told from the point of view of the Shylock’s daughter, Jessica.

“Coyote Play” by Susan Mach, Directed by Josh Rippy: “Coyote Play” (working title) is a contemporary re-imagining of the French-Romanian playwright Eugene Ionesco’s “Rhinoceros,” an absurdist piece which examines the normalization of Fascism.

“Patchwork Dreams” by Patrick Wohlmut, Directed by Brenda Hubbard: Penny is a Patchwork: an automated, obedient servant created from the bodies of deceased people. But when an accident results in the development of consciousness, Penny becomes something much more complex, problematic and potentially terrifying – not just to others, but to herself.

The festival is supported in part by an Ozy Genius Award, awarded to Steve Rathje by Ozy Media, and by Portland Shakespeare Project.

Portland Shakes is a nonprofit theatre company in residence at Artists Repertory Theatre dedicated to educating, enriching and entertaining audiences by producing classical works and contemporary works associated with classical material. Since its founding in 2010 by Michael Mendelson and Karen Rathje, more than 4,500 people have enjoyed the company’s productions of William Shakespeare’s As You Like It, King Lear, The Taming of the Shrew, The Tempest, Twelfth Night and The Turn of the Screw, as well as a many audience enrichment and education events. More information at portlandshakes.org.

Proscenium is the first free literary journal dedicated to publishing plays. Proscenium publications are free of charge and readily accessible online, allowing playwrights to share their work with a large, web-based audience. Proscenium Journal‘s mission is to support emerging playwrights, make new plays easier to discover, and make theatre easily accessible to new and wider audiences. Proscenium Journal: Supporting playwrights. Encouraging discovery. Making theatre accessible. More information at prosceniumjournal.com.

What: “History of Antisemitism” 2 Credit Mini-Course featuring guest professor John Efron (UC Berkeley).
When: Sunday 4/15/18 9:00am to 5:00pm and Sunday 4/22/18 9:00am to 5:00pm
Where: Karl Miller Center Room 350 (KMC 350)
Cost: Tuition for 2 credits or suggested donation of $100.
Contact: Stacey M. Johnston | judaicst@pdx.edu | 503-725-8449

The Harold Schnitzer Family Program in Judaic Studies invites John Efron to PSU to offer a mini-course on the History of Antisemitism for class credit. This course will take place over two Sundays – April 15 and 22. Tuition costs to receive course credit. Students are also required to attend this year’s Cogan Lecture featuring Timothy Snyder.

Course Description:

This intensive mini-course, held over two Sundays, will chart the development of hostility towards Jews from antiquity to our day. In lectures and discussion, students will gain an understanding of how anti-Jewish hostility has persisted over millennia even as it has adapted to individual historical and geographic contexts. Topics include: anti-Jewish bias in the ancient world and foundational Christian sources; social and economic marginalization and expulsions in medieval Europe; the emergence of political and racial antisemitism in the nineteenth century; Nazi antisemitism; and contemporary expressions of anti-Jewish sentiment, including left- and right-wing antisemitism.

Instructor: Prof. John Efron, Koret Professor of Jewish History, University of California, Berkeley. Prof. Efron is the author of Medicine and the German Jews: A History and Defenders of the Race: Jewish Doctors and Race Science in Fin-de-Siècle Europe.

This program is made possible thanks to a grant by the Oregon Jewish Community Youth Foundation.

Registration Information for Senior Auditors and Community Members

Registration priority is determined by the university. Our goal is to admit everyone interested in participating. If you are a senior auditor or community member interested in participating in the course, please email your name and phone number to judaicst@pdx.edu to be added to the waitlist. You will be notified of your waitlist status on April 1.

Undergraduate students will be paying $329 in tuition for this course. The suggested donation for non-students is $100 ($50/day). Please consider making a donation to the Judaic Studies Program so we can continue to open these courses to the public.

Registration Dates
2/19/18 – Priority Registration begins for Graduates and Newly Admitted Students
2/21/18 – Priority Registration begins for Continuing Seniors
2/26/18 – Priority Registration begins for New & Continuing Postbacs
2/28/18 – Priority Registration begins for Continuing Juniors
3/05/18 – Priority Registration begins for Sophomores
3/07/18 – Priority Registration begins for Freshmen
3/19/18 – Priority Registration begins for Non-Degree Students*
4/01/18 – All interested auditors notified of their registration status

*For more information about registering for credit as a non-degree student, visit https://www.pdx.edu/undergraduate-admissions/other-applicants

For more information about the Senior Adult Learning Center, visit https://sites.google.com/a/pdx.edu/salc

What: “History of Antisemitism” 2 Credit Mini-Course featuring guest professor John Efron (UC Berkeley).
When: Sunday 4/15/18 9:00am to 5:00pm and Sunday 4/22/18 9:00am to 5:00pm
Where: Karl Miller Center Room 350 (KMC 350)
Cost: Tuition for 2 credits or suggested donation of $100.
Contact: Stacey M. Johnston | judaicst@pdx.edu | 503-725-8449

The Harold Schnitzer Family Program in Judaic Studies invites John Efron to PSU to offer a mini-course on the History of Antisemitism for class credit. This course will take place over two Sundays – April 15 and 22. Tuition costs to receive course credit. Students are also required to attend this year’s Cogan Lecture featuring Timothy Snyder.

Course Description:

This intensive mini-course, held over two Sundays, will chart the development of hostility towards Jews from antiquity to our day. In lectures and discussion, students will gain an understanding of how anti-Jewish hostility has persisted over millennia even as it has adapted to individual historical and geographic contexts. Topics include: anti-Jewish bias in the ancient world and foundational Christian sources; social and economic marginalization and expulsions in medieval Europe; the emergence of political and racial antisemitism in the nineteenth century; Nazi antisemitism; and contemporary expressions of anti-Jewish sentiment, including left- and right-wing antisemitism.

Instructor: Prof. John Efron, Koret Professor of Jewish History, University of California, Berkeley. Prof. Efron is the author of Medicine and the German Jews: A History and Defenders of the Race: Jewish Doctors and Race Science in Fin-de-Siècle Europe.

This program is made possible thanks to a grant by the Oregon Jewish Community Youth Foundation.

Registration Information for Senior Auditors and Community Members

Registration priority is determined by the university. Our goal is to admit everyone interested in participating. If you are a senior auditor or community member interested in participating in the course, please email your name and phone number to judaicst@pdx.edu to be added to the waitlist. You will be notified of your waitlist status on April 1.

Undergraduate students will be paying $329 in tuition for this course. The suggested donation for non-students is $100 ($50/day). Please consider making a donation to the Judaic Studies Program so we can continue to open these courses to the public.

Registration Dates
2/19/18 – Priority Registration begins for Graduates and Newly Admitted Students
2/21/18 – Priority Registration begins for Continuing Seniors
2/26/18 – Priority Registration begins for New & Continuing Postbacs
2/28/18 – Priority Registration begins for Continuing Juniors
3/05/18 – Priority Registration begins for Sophomores
3/07/18 – Priority Registration begins for Freshmen
3/19/18 – Priority Registration begins for Non-Degree Students*
4/01/18 – All interested auditors notified of their registration status

*For more information about registering for credit as a non-degree student, visit https://www.pdx.edu/undergraduate-admissions/other-applicants

For more information about the Senior Adult Learning Center, visit https://sites.google.com/a/pdx.edu/salc

Sunday, April 14: Passover Box Assembly

At the Mittleman Jewish Community Center

Event schedule (shifts):
8:00 – 9:00 am: Setup and build boxes
9:00 – 11:00 am: Pack boxes
10:30 – 11:30 am: Send off drivers to deliver boxes

RSVP by emailing jonperrin@gmail.com with the following information:

• Do you want to build boxes/help with setup, pack boxes, or deliver boxes?
• How many people will be helping, including total number of adults and children.
• If you choose to deliver, how many boxes can you take in your vehicle? (boxes are approximately a 2 ft cube)

Check out all of our opportunities to participate in Good Deeds Month: HERE

Please note that this will now be a virtual event. More details as we get closer, please register for information! Join Rabbi Eve and the women of CNS to explore the central themes of Passover from a personal perspective. Through art, written word, and conversation we’ll use our own experiences to delve into the themes of liberation, freedom and progress. We hope you’ll lend your (virtual) presence to a gathering of women of all ages and stages for a wonderful evening. Please click here to register.