Artslandia at the Performance: Portland Playhouse Nov/Dec 2014 | Page 37

shooting. The age limit is 15 and up, our
highest yet. The phenomenon of school
shootings is new and perplexing. How does
someone go unnoticed and then suddenly
emerge as a shooter? I want us to be proactive, to talk about the bad stuff before it
happens [again].

hat are some
misconceptions about
“children’s theatre?”
That it’s somehow “less
than,” that it’s just clowns
tying balloons onstage.
If that was ever true, it’s not anymore.
Writers whose work has been on Broadway
also write for child audiences. We believe
good acting is good acting, and a good play
is a good play. Our audiences are ready to
suspend their disbelief, and they deserve
high-caliber productions.
That it’s [necessarily] fairytales or old
stories. We think kids want to see their stories; that’s why we have more of a contemporary literature bent than a classic one.
That it’s for younger kids. Internationally,
“youth theatre” spans from age 4 all the
way up to 25. Children’s theatre is so new
in the U.S. It’s only really been widespread
for about the last 50 years.

Tell us about the upcoming shows.
Ramona Quimby, I see as a great Portland
story. Of course Beverly Cleary is an Oregon writer, so the setting already feels appropriate ... but more than that, Ramona’s
a person, an individual. She’s mischievous,
and she reacts to things in her own way.
That’s why little girls like her. I personally
sympathize with her sister Beezus, who is
a reasonable human being trying to cope
with a sibling who takes up her whole
family’s mental energy.
Schoolhouse Rock! spans so many generations! I’m 62 and I know it, but so do
people in their 30s ... 20s ... on down to
kids still in school. It’s just a part of pop
culture that’s survived like crazy! Songs
like I’m Just a Bill, Conjunction Junction,
Three Is a Magic Number — they’re classic
rock now. [In 2013] CBS did a 40-year
anniversary special on it. They think it still
has an audience, and I do too!
Columbinus [the spring project of the
Young Professionals company] is, of
course, about the Columbine High School

The first act is just a normal day, and it
doesn’t identify the shooters; you have
to guess. Then th