CoHo Productions with Mariel Sierra, McKenna Twedt, Lauren Bloom Hanover & Katie Watkins present
THE TAMING by Lauren Gunderson
October 26 – November 17, 2018
SPARKLE VIXENS.
PANDASHREWS.
PATRIOTS.
Directed by Mariel Sierra
In this hilarious, farcical, all-female power-play by award-winning playwright Lauren Gunderson, all beauty queen Katherine needs to revolutionize the American government is the help of one ultra-conservative senator’s aide on the cusp of a career breakthrough, and one bleeding-heart liberal blogger who will do anything for her cause. Well, that and a semi-historically-accurate ether trip. Here’s lookin’ at you, America.
Join us for post-show discussions with special guests following each Sunday matinee!
October 28: League of Women Voters
November 4: TBA
November 11: Cast & Director of The Taming
ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT
Lauren M. Gunderson is the most produced playwright in America of 2017, the winner of the Lanford Wilson Award, the Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award and the Otis Guernsey New Voices Award, she is also a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and John Gassner Award for Playwriting, and a recipient of the Mellon Foundation’s 3-Year Residency with Marin Theatre Company. She studied Southern Literature and Drama at Emory University, and Dramatic Writing at NYU’s Tisch School where she was a Reynolds Fellow in Social Entrepreneurship. Her work has been commissioned, produced and developed at companies across the US including South Cost Rep (Emilie, Silent Sky), The Kennedy Center (The Amazing Adventures of Dr. Wonderful And Her Dog!), Oregon Shakespeare Festival, The O’Neill, The Denver Center, San Francisco Playhouse, Marin Theatre, Synchronicity, Berkeley Rep, Shotgun Players, TheatreWorks, Crowded Fire and more. She co-authored Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley with Margot Melcon, which was one of the most produced plays in America in 2017. Her work is published at Playscripts (I and You, Exit Pursued By A Bear, The Taming, and Toil And Trouble), Dramatists (The Revolutionists, The Book of Will, Silent Sky, Bauer, Miss Bennet) and Samuel French (Emilie). Her picture book Dr Wonderful: Blast Off to the Moon was released from Two Lions / Amazon in May 2017. Learn more at LaurenGunderson.com and follow her on Twitter @LalaTellsAStory
ABOUT THE CO-PRODUCERS
Mariel Sierra is an actor, producer, director, educator, and a graduate of the Portland Actors Conservatory, Class of 2013. She is a Former Founding Company Member of Post5 Theatre and served as the Producing Assistant for the In Dialogue programming at Profile Theatre during the Quiara Alegria Hudes season. Mariel has toured and taught bilingual programs with Oregon Children’s Theatre and Teatro Milagro, as well as appearing onstage with Salt and Sage Productions. Mariel directed a staged reading of The Taming in January 2017 as a part of the Inauguration Project, raising money for Planned Parenthood, and she is thrilled to help bring a full production to the stage in CoHo Season 23.
Katie Watkins has been living and working in Portland since 2011 as a creator, producer, performer, curator and marketer of new works. Most recently, she traveled to Edinburgh for the Festival Fringe with CoHo Productions’ The Gun Show as Touring Producer. Katie is Festival Director of the Risk/Reward Festival of New Performance, and has served as Touring Associate for AccelART, LLC, Program Director at August Wilson Red Door Project, Venue Manager at Fusebox Festival, curator of the Surprise & Delight performance series at Portland Center Stage during Stupid F***ing Bird, and in various marketing positions for Shaking the Tree Theatre, Portland Playhouse, Portland Center Stage, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts, and other companies in Portland and beyond. Acting credits include Head.Hands.Feet and The Masque of the Red Death (Shaking the Tree – Drammy Award: Best Devised Play), A Christmas Carol (Portland Playhouse – Drammy Awards: Outstanding Play, Outstanding Ensemble), …And the Great Refraction! (String House Theatre), and in her devised solo performance, SCHIZO.
Lauren Bloom Hanover is an actor, educator, producer and activist who moved to Portland four years ago to join the staff at Profile Theatre. Currently, she is an adjunct professor in the theatre department at Portland State University, and teaches workshops and master classes around town both independently and for educational institutions. She received her BA from Wesleyan University and MFA in Acting from the Alabama Shakespeare Festival. As an actor, Lauren has worked with a number of companies around the country, including Berkeley Repertory Theatre, the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Capital Stage, The Actors Company Theatre, Columbia Stages and Profile Theatre.
McKenna Twedt is an actor, costume designer, and producer working in Portland and the surrounding areas. A graduate of Western Oregon University with BFAs in acting and costume design, McKenna is committed to producing rarely seen or heard works created by artists of gender, identity and racial diversity. She has worked with several local companies including Third Rail Repertory Theatre (Mentee program), CoHo Productions (actor and co-producer for Season 21’s Playhouse Creatures), Northwest Classical Theatre Company, and out of town with Salem Repertory and the Ashland New Plays Festival. McKenna is a current producing Ensemble Member of Theatre Vertigo.
SHOW AND BUSINESS SPONSORS
SUPPORTERS
Audrey Zavell & Michael Bloom, Leon Aliski, Harold Goldstein & Carol Streeter, Ellyn Bye, Leslie Johnson
