ENTERTAINMENT • EDUCATION • INSPIRATION
During his 26 years with PassinArt: A Theatre Company, Kenneth Dembo has worn pretty much all the hats: actor, director, board member, stage manager, production manager. He’s bringing these last two talents to PassinArt’s current production of Seven Guitars by August Wilson. “I love watching people excel at what they do best,” he says of […]
Some people are born singing. They make making music look easy. Shoushane Ray, PassinArt’s Music Director for Seven Guitars, is one of those people. “When you’re given a gift, you’re blessed,” the multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and vocalist says. “It’s your job, then, to bless other people with your gift.” The gifts Ray brings to this […]
Imagine taking a black sheet of paper and using white chalk to draw something. This is Kristeen Willis’ basic perception when she’s designing theater lights. “It starts with seeing,” she says. “We tend to see shadows. It’s important to reverse that. You have to see light as a character.” Willis is designing the sets and […]
James Dixon’s portrayal of Canewell in PassinArt’s forthcoming production of Seven Guitars, will be his third role with Oregon’s longest producing Black theater company. And it will be his second written by August Wilson. His first, playing Sterling in Two Trains Running, ” was life-changing for me,” Dixon says. “A rite of passage.” Two Trains […]
The story has it that August Wilson wrote the early versions of Seven Guitars for an all-male cast. Then, Vera arose in his creative consciousness to tell her part of the story. That August Wilson carefully wrote Vera’s story down inspires Taylore Mahogany Scott as she plays Vera in PassinArt’s production of Seven Guitars. “It’s […]
Read More… from Seven Guitars Profile: Taylore Mahogany Scott
Telvin Griffin is channeling David Ruffin as he plays Floyd “Schoolboy” Barton in PassinArt’s production of Seven Guitars by August Wilson. Ruffin, one of the Temptations’ classic five, had such a captivating, charismatic style. “We call it swag now,” Griffin says. “It’s what makes people want to take that ride with you. Floyd wants you […]
William “Bill” Earl Ray has the challenging task of playing Hedley in August Wilson’s Seven Guitars, a mystery and mediation on seven Black lives in Pittsburgh in 1948. Unlike the other characters, Hedley isn’t recently arrived from the Deep South. He’s from Haiti, roots that result in a different perspective from the others. “If all […]
Read More… from Seven Guitars Profile: William “Bill” Earl Ray
Assistant director and choreographer Jill Giedt contributes a unique set of focused skills to PassinArt’s coming production of Seven Guitars by August Wilson. Along with a directing degree from Roosevelt University in Chicago, she brings 13 years of experience teaching musical theater – and yoga! – to teens at Park Academy in Lake Oswego. Giedt’s […]
directed by William (Bill) Earl Ray Previews: March 15 & 16Runs: March 17 – April 9, 2023 Seven Guitars is the sixth of 10 plays in August Wilson’s Pittsburgh Cycle, a decade-by-decade representation of African Americans’ experiences through the 20th century. Set in 1948 in Pittsburgh’s Hill District, Seven Guitars opens just after a funeral. […]
When the lights go up on PassinArt’s forthcoming production of August Wilson’s Seven Guitars, Josie Seid enters singing an old Fats Waller song. “Anybody here wanna try my cabbage just step this way. Anybody here like to try my cabbage just holler hey.” Although it might seem that Seid’s character, Louise, is singing to us […]