{"id":5223,"date":"2016-09-19T12:04:57","date_gmt":"2016-09-19T19:04:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cohoproductions.org\/old\/?p=5223"},"modified":"2016-12-20T16:20:04","modified_gmt":"2016-12-21T00:20:04","slug":"the-gun-show","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cohoproductions.org\/old\/archives\/the-gun-show\/","title":{"rendered":"The Gun Show"},"content":{"rendered":"

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CoHo Season 21<\/strong><\/p>\n

September 9 – October 1, 2016<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/i>CoHo Productions with\u00a0Shawn Lee & Vin Shambry present<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Gun Show<\/strong><\/p>\n

by E.M. Lewis<\/strong><\/p>\n

Directed by Shawn Lee<\/strong><\/p>\n

Featuring Vin Shambry<\/strong><\/p>\n

with E.M. Lewis<\/strong><\/p>\n

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ABOUT THE PRODUCTION<\/b><\/h4>\n

Playwright E.M. Lewis\u00a0sits with the audience while Performer Vin Shambry shares her stories – just five gun stories in a country full of gun stories. Her words. His voice. Our story.<\/strong><\/p>\n

She\u00a0grew up in rural Oregon, where everyone has guns. She learned to shoot on a date. She worked at Jackson’s Bookstore during an armed robbery, and once encountered a threatening cop in New York. And then there’s the fifth story: the one that doesn’t let go, the story\u00a0that triggered this show.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The Gun Show<\/span><\/i> takes aim at America’s most dangerous past-time with brutal honesty and poignant humor. Leaning neither right nor left<\/strong>, it jumps into the middle of the gun control debate and asks “Can we have a conversation about this?”<\/span><\/p>\n

Gun Talks will follow each\u00a0performance.<\/strong>\u00a0Audience members may share their own gun stories together with the artists and community members in a moderated conversation (not a debate) about issues raised in the production, including safety,\u00a0violence, control and personal gun stories.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

PRESS COVERAGE <\/b>(All Photo Credits to Owen Carey)<\/em><\/p>\n

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American Theatre Magazine<\/a>\u00a0– 19 Political Shows to See This Fall<\/b><\/p>\n

Oregon Public Broadcasting, State of Wonder<\/a> – Interview with E.M. Lewis and Vin Shambry<\/b><\/p>\n

KBOO Radio, Stage & Studio <\/a>– Interview with E.M. Lewis and Vin Shambry<\/b><\/p>\n

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Adventures in Artslandia<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/a>– \u00a0Podcast Interview with E.M. Lewis, Vin Shambry & Susannah Mars\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t want more shouting with fingers in ears. What seemed to happen in the room, is that after the performer told the story, people were willing toshare their own personal stories. We didn\u2019t validate one story over another…But both people\u2019s willingness to share their own stories, even more importantly people\u2019s willingness to listen to each other\u2019s stories in the wake of seeing the play, made me feel for our ability to get somewhere on this difficult subject.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

-E.M. LEWIS<\/span><\/p>\n

Portland Monthly<\/a>,\u00a0What Can This Playwright’s Story Say about Guns in America? – Preview by Rebecca Jacobson<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201clike a lot of people, I\u2019ve had a variety of experiences with guns and am conflicted about guns. This is not a far right or a far left play. This is a grappling with guns in American society, and trying to figure out if there\u2019s some way to come to terms with their presence, or some way in which we can make them a little bit more safe for us. It\u2019s not an all-or-nothing proposition.\u201d -E.M. Lewis<\/p>\n

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Oregon Arts Watch,\u00a0<\/strong><\/a>Under The Gun in Ory-Gun –\u00a0Preview by A.L. Adams<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

“Either despite or because of the fact that her script\u2019s stories are that personal, Lewis has chosen to always cast a male actor who\u2019s by her own admission \u201ctougher\u201d than she to narrate the tales. \u201cI\u2019m too much of a Betty Crocker type,\u201d she says. \u201cThe voice I was writing in sounded very masculine to me.\u201d With even the term \u201cgun show\u201d becoming evermore synonymous with men showing off muscles, Lewis\u2019s creative choice certainly jibes with the prevailing expectation, yet it presents interesting challenges in delivery, as evidenced while Shambry rehearses the show.”<\/p>\n

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Oregon Arts Watch<\/a>, The Great American Gun Divide – Review by Marty Hughley\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201c…galvanic performance by Shambry. He\u2019s charming, warm, funny, vehement, volcanic, tender, precise \u2026 he serves admirably as mouthpiece for the white, middle-aged playwright, allowing us to see <\/span>her <\/span><\/i>in these stories, yet he doesn\u2019t banish his own presence, that of a leonine young black man, with a different upbringing but a similar care and concern about the issue…<\/span>It\u2019s a remarkably committed and affecting performance, intense yet with a quality like a set of shifting transparencies, a convincing illusion pulled off even as he explains the trick to you.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"160904-gunshow_1012r6xss\"<\/a>Portland Mercury – Preview<\/a>\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018No way to prevent this,\u2019 says only nation where this regularly happens.\u201d It seems nearly every day, someone posts that <\/span>Onion<\/span><\/i> article in the wake of a mass shooting, and yet America remains a country in thrall to the political power of the NRA, despite clear support for common sense gun control. E.M. Lewis\u2019 <\/span>The Gun Show<\/span><\/i> takes on our gun obsession, recounting experiences like growing up in a rural, gun-crazy culture and surviving an armed robbery. It\u2019s about as timely as you can get. And given that Lewis\u2019 solo show will be performed by Vin Shambry, one of the city\u2019s best actors, it\u2019s downright essential.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Broadway World<\/a>, The Gun Show Challenges Us to have a Reasonable Conversation about a Divisive Issue – Review by Krista Garver<\/b><\/p>\n

“These are personal stories of a woman who has a lot of experience with guns, who understands both their appeal and their danger, and who, because she sees both sides, feels stuck in the middle. She doesn’t ask us to support one side or the other. She simply asks to think about both of them and realize that there is a lot of room in the chasm between open carry laws and banning guns entirely.”<\/p>\n

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Portland Mercury – Review<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post-play discussion portion (\u201cGun Talks\u201d) is a bold move and won\u2019t be a hit with everyone. At the performance I went to, a few people squirmed, and a few others appeared annoyed, but the crowd largely seemed engaged and curious. Audience members spoke up about using guns in the armed forces, having lost loved ones to gun violence and suicide, and having loved ones who were still alive because they had guns for protection. Gun Talks was uncomfortable, but it would be hard to argue that it didn\u2019t enhance the play. Seeing the range of relationships to guns in one small theater changed the effect of what just happened onstage, and required everyone to consider it from a different angle.<\/p>\n

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PRODUCTION HISTORY<\/b><\/p>\n

The Gun Show<\/span><\/i> premiered in July 2014 in Chicago at the 16th Street Theatre. This critically acclaimed production was extended and eventually received a Jeff Award Nomination for Best Solo Show. <\/span>The Gun Show <\/span><\/i>subsequently became a critical hit in Los Angeles in the fall of 2014 and was nominated for 2015 Stage Raw Los Angeles Theatre Award Best Solo Show. It received an East Coast Premiere in Trenton, New Jersey at Passage Theatre. The most recent productions have been in Berkeley, California at Impact Theatre and Santa Barbara at Center Stage Theatre. This Coho co-production will be the Pacific Northwest premiere, and more significantly, a “coming home\u201d show for local playwright, EM Lewis.<\/span><\/p>\n

ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT<\/b><\/p>\n

\"EM<\/a>
EM Lewis. Credit Tom Sanders Photography.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

E.M. Lewis is an award-winning playwright, librettist, and teacher of playwriting. \u00a0She was a finalist for the 2014 Shakespeare\u2019s Sister Fellowship. \u00a0She received the Hodder Fellowship from Princeton University in 2010-2011, and a fellowship from the New Jersey State Arts Commission in 2012. \u00a0She won the ATCA\/Steinberg Award for her play \u201cSong of Extinction,\u201d which also received the Ted Schmitt Award for Outstanding Writing of a World Premiere Play from the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle. \u00a0She won the Primus Prize for her play \u201cHeads.\u201d \u00a0Her work has been produced around the world, and is published by Samuel French. <\/span>http:\/\/emlewisplaywright.com\/<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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ABOUT THE CO-PRODUCERS<\/b><\/p>\n

\"Shawn<\/a>Shawn Lee<\/strong> (Co-Producer, Director) has 20 years of experience producing theatre, including 25 productions as co-founder and co-artistic director with Furious Theatre in LA. Recently he relocated to Portland to become the Artistic Producer at Artists Repertory Theatre, producing 11 shows to date, as well as coordinating and producing shows for Profile Theatre, Portland Shakespeare Project, Risk\/Reward, Hand2Mouth, Tiempo Libre concerts, Corrib Theatre, Phame, and many other solo projects.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI was given the script for<\/span> The Gun Show <\/span>in its developmental phase before moving to Portland and have never stopped thinking about it. Lewis\u2019 play speaks to me as an artist and as a human being. I feel compelled to tell her story. EM Lewis and I have similar backgrounds growing up with guns: her in rural Oregon and me in rural Missouri, where guns were an everyday part of our lives. Since leaving Missouri and meeting my wife and having a family, my relationship with guns has become more complex. I do not understand what is happening in our society when my son has \u201cbad guy\u201d drills at his elementary school and is instructed to hide and be quiet by his teacher. Shootings have become so commonplace in our society that these have become standard school safety procedures. Yet, I do not know what to say to my son. My hope is that <\/span>The Gun Show <\/span>will start the discussion.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/em>-Shawn Lee<\/span><\/p>\n

\"912A4224\"<\/a>Vin Shambry<\/strong>\u00a0(Co-Producer, Performer) is honored to be part of this important and powerful show, as well as to work with CoHo for the first time. \u00a0As a local Portlander himself, it is especially meaningful to tell this story of rural Oregon, particularly during this time in our nation, and as a black man. \u00a0Vin is a resident artist at Artist Repertory Theater and has performed in numerous local shows at Portland Center Stage, Portland Playhouse, Oregon Children\u2019s Theater, Staged, Portland Opera, and Artists Repertory Theater. \u00a0Before returning home to Portland, Vin performed on Broadway as Tom Collins in Rent<\/em> and John in Miss Saigon<\/em>, and\u00a0toured nationally with\u00a0Rent, Miss Saigon, Honk\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0Big River<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Vin was recently voted Portland\u2019s Best Actor by Willamette Weekly reader\u2019s poll (2016), has won three Portland Drammys (2011), and an Audelco Award for Best Actor in a Play for Black Man Rising (2006)<\/em>.\u00a0\u00a0Vin has a BFA in Musical Theatre from the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in NYC (2005).\u00a0\u00a0Vin also moonlights as a live storyteller at the Moth, Back Fence PDX and Entertainment for People, and is working on a collection of short stories about his childhood.\u00a0\u00a0In his day jobs, Vin directs and choreographs youth performances in local schools.<\/p>\n

“Having the opportunity to step into E.M. Lewis\u2019 s words is truly breathtaking. She so eloquently captures her own truth, while simultaneously leading us to confront our own.”<\/em>\u00a0-Vin Shambry<\/p>\n

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