Artslandia at the Performance: Portland Playhouse Nov/Dec 2014 | Page 22

GOOD DEEDS

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ast fall, as Sekai Edwards prepared to
file a homework assignment, the Jefferson High student wrote the date on
her paper and felt the tug of a vague memory.
“November fourth,” she pondered. “There’s
something about that date.” Then she remembered that her uncle had told her that summer
about the August Wilson Monologue Competition, a national program that uses the words
of the late, great playwright to engage high
school students in the social and emotional
power of theater. The whole thing had slipped
her mind for months — until the last day to
apply.
Meanwhile, folks around fellow Jefferson student Lauren Steele — friends, teachers, mentors — wouldn’t let her forget. “After about
five people let me know, I thought, ‘Wow.
Guess I’d better get into this.’ ”
Good thing, for both of them.
Steele went on to win first place in the Portland region. Edwards finished third. And
in May, the longtime friends — along with
second-place Portland finisher Taylor Salter
of Metropolitan Learning Center — went to
New York City to match performance chops
with top students from around the country at
Broadway’s August Wilson Theatre.
Edwards made such an impression in the Big
Apple that a modeling agency approached
her after her performance, and Circle in the
Square Theatre School offered a scholarship
to its summer intensive. And the monologue competition experience helped both of
them land roles in high-profile professional
productions this fall: Edwards in the hightension political/family drama Exiles at Artists Repertory Theatre, and Steele in the
Staged! production of Parade, an emotionally
rich musical about prejudice and justice.
Both the young women view themselves as
artists and aspire to arts careers, and the competition proved its value as a booster rocket
for such talents.

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ast year, Portland joined Atlanta, Boston,
Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Pittsburgh and Seattle as participating cities in
the competition, created in 2007 by Atlanta’s
True Colors Theatre Company. Locally, the
program is organized by the August Wilson
Red Door Project, which began in 2012 with
a mission “to use the arts as a catalyst for creating a lasting positive change in the racial
ecology of Portland.”
The organization has sparked discussion of
racial issues with community forums and
other events, but the monologue competition
appears to be its most notable success so far.
“When we talk about changing the racial ecology, there’s the activist aspect of that, trying
to effect policies and that sort of thing,” says

ARTSLANDIA AT THE PERFORMANCE NOVEMBER | DECEMBER

Kevin Jones, an actor, director and communications consultant who founded the Red
Door Project with his consulting partner
Lesli Mones. “But then there’s just what you
could call a biological aspect — bringing more
young people of color into the mainstream
culture.”
“Theatre is great in the sense that yo H