CoHo Summerfest features five weekends of innovative, inspiring, irreverent performances by artists with attitude from June 15 – July 16, 2017.
If CoHo Summerfest doesn’t make you laugh, the joke’s on you. Bring your happy hour buzz to Slabtown to see some theatre – it’s like Netflix but in 3D! Pro tip: get an extra Summerfest pass for $75 (includes all 5 shows), then invite one special date (or 5 Tindr dates). Locals, Transplants & Tourists all welcome – if you thought this town wasn’t weird anymore, Summerfest will prove you wrong. Stop pretending, start participating.
This CoHo Summerfest 2017 lineup promises doubters, debtors, nervous wrecks, reckless newbs, queen Bs, big Ds, juicy fruits, bastards, buffoons, cheaters, losers & liars – all live on stage (and in the seats)! #CoHoSummerfest
Get your CoHo Summerfest Pass to see 5, 4, 3 or 2 shows
Mad & A Goat by Diana Lynn Small June 15 -18
Student Loan Debt. Goat Farm Cult. Beer & Biscuits.
How to Do a One Person Show by Kelly Kinsella June 22 – 25
NYC Comedian. Panic Attack. Beautiful Realization.
Come to the Table, Mike Pence by Shaking the Tree June 29 – July 2
Politicians. Pomegranates. Dinner is served.
Red Bastard: Lie With Me by Eric Davis July 6 – 9, 2017
Despicable. Embarrassing. No Happy Ending.
Deception Unit by PETE July 13 – 16, 2017
Unreliable Narrator. Suffocating Subtext. Lies, all lies.
#CoHoSummerfest
Mad & A Goat
June 15 – 18, 2017
Written and Directed by Diana Lynn Small
Performances by Heather Johnson and Paige Tautz
Design by Rachel Alulis, Madison Blaize-Russ and Diana Lynn Small
MAD & A GOAT is a two-women show about one woman who, to free herself from college debt, joins a Wyoming goat farm she inherits from her occult-leader birth parents. There is seduction. There is beer. There are biscuits. And let’s not forget about the goats.
Watch the Video Trailer
“brutally funny… commanding, utterly in-sync performances…told in equal parts narration and movement…Exciting and raw…” – Santa Barbara Independent
“witheringly ironic humor and bizarre accumulation of incident… at every split second in this hour-long yarn they are coordinated, calibrated, meticulous and entirely in sync.” –CTX Live Theatre
How to Do a One Person Show
June 22 – 25, 2017
Written and Performed by Kelly Kinsella
Co-written and Directed by Padraic Lillis
Image credit Mark Bennington
The New York Times has called solo performer Kelly Kinsella “terrific and zany” and so she has been invited to a theatre near you to do a one person show about anything she wants! In her “slinky and smart” way (BackstageNY), Kelly shares her panic about not actually having a show by creating one in front of us. It’s a Ted Talk gone wild. Through the journey of learning how to create a show she comes to the beautiful realization of why do a one person show. Oh just come, there will be cake.
Watch the VIDEO TRAILER
“There’s no question that Kelly Kinsella knows how to do a one person show.”-Theatre is Easy
“The funniest class you may ever take.”- Electronic Link
Come to the Table Mike Pence – A Visual and Aural Feast
June 29 – July 2, 2017
Devised and directed by Samantha Van Der Merwe of Shaking the Tree Theatre
with Matthew Kerrigan, Anya Pearson and Rebecca Foster
Image credit Sophie Van Der Merwe
*All profits will be donated to Planned Parenthood.
Three of history’s most influential woman Eve, Salome, and Queen Elizabeth I, try to get Mike Pence to come and join them at a large table, laden with fruit, but he never shows up. Why won’t he dine with them? Should he be afraid? Come to the table and join the conversation. We dare you.
“Among Portland’s best theatre companies, putting on a wonderful mix of classic and contemporary with an emphasis on the visual.” – Oregonian
“[Van Der Merwe] creates lush, often dark and fantastical, environments that bring home the hard issues we need to face but are often unwilling to do on a daily basis..”
Red Bastard: Lie With Me
July 6 – 9, 2017
Written and Performed by Eric Davis
Co-Written and Directed by Aitor Basauri
Image credit Steve Ullathorne
What kind of monster would have an affair? You’re about to find out… Every-single-one-of-you. Beware! Red Bastard is coming to Portland to expose the lies we tell our lovers and those Bastards who made us lie in the first place!
Watch the VIDEO TRAILER
“a provocative comedy phenomenon who – by using outrageous party games and encouraging audiences to confess their darkest secrets to the room – promises that something interesting must happen every 10 seconds.” -TELEGRAPH
“Invoking beautifully modulated chaos” THE INDEPENDENT
Deception Unit
July 13 – 16, 2017
Created by Portland Experimental Theatre Ensemble (PETE)
Directed by Jacob Coleman; Text by Robert Quillen Camp; Performed by Rebecca Lingafelter, Cristi Miles, Amber Whitehall, and Jim Vadala; Sound design by Mark Valadez, Scenic design by Peter Ksander, Lighting design by Miranda K Hardy, Costume design by Jenny Ampersand
Kitchen sink realism is slowly suffocated with a pillow of subtext, and the narrative goes into witness protection. A fake Polish punk band takes over as the protagonist, but whoever’s been translating their lyrics is deeply unreliable. A celebration of false narratives and radical fraudulence, Deception Unit revels in the ways we’ve been fooling ourselves all along.
Watch the VIDEO TRAILER
“…a stark, stunning, riveting theatrical experience…” – The Oregonian
“…unapologetically experimental, technically sophisticated, and engaged with questions about what role theater can play in contemporary culture.” – Portland Mercury