Portland Center Stage Debut! Broadway: Clyde’s (u/s, Second Stage), Regional: Party People (Actor’s Theatre of Louisville), I and You (Portland Stage Company), others. Television: Blue Bloods, Awkwafina is Nora from Queens, Lioness. IG: @pascal_arquimedes

Orion is a Storyteller, Licensed Teacher, Equity Facilitator, and Social Justice Advocate; he is a proud member of the Actors’ Equity, the National Education, and the Oregon Education Associations. Orion spent six seasons altogether as an Actor and Teacher at the renowned Oregon Shakespeare Festival, relocating to his beloved Portland in 2011 to co-found Post5 Theatre. He then earned his Master of Arts in Teaching degree from his alma mater, Southern Oregon University, in 2019, while also training with the Racial Equity Coalition, among others. Orion has been a professional Performer and Teacher for 17 years and currently serves as a licensed Substitute Teacher for Portland area schools, as well as a Facilitator with Matthew Reynolds Consulting, LLC. He humbly hopes that this awesome story sparks deep emotion, thought, and dialogue within you and your community.

May our Learning never cease!

mrrconsulting.org | facebook.com/thebardparty

Lauren is a multidisciplinary artist from Portland, Oregon, with a B.F.A. in theatre from Southern Methodist University. She is excited to be returning to Portland Center Stage after appearing in HAIR, Tick… Tick… BOOM! and the ripple, the wave, that carried me home. You may have also seen her in Passing Strange, What I Learned in Paris and Bella: An American Tall Tale at Portland Playhouse. Lauren recently released her first full-length album, Happy Girl, under her musical stage name “Lo Steele”, and was named one of Willamette Week’s “Best New Bands” of 2022. Check out her music on all streaming platforms and social media @losteele.

Thank you to Portland Center Stage for welcoming me back with an open heart into their beautiful and vibrant theater and community. Thank you to Chip Miller and Kamilah Bush for their wisdom, generosity, and support throughout this immense process. Thank you to the beautiful cast for their joy and brilliance. Thank you deeply to all the folks who still come to watch and support live theater. Your presence is an integral part of the power of theater as we endeavor to experience, for a brief time together, our shared humanity through storytelling. I'd love to dedicate my offering of “Montrellous” to the formerly and currently incarcerated members of our families and communities. As well as the Essential Workers across America, especially those in the service and restaurant industry who work tirelessly for our nourishment. Thank you. Yale Drama M.F.A.

Andrea is ecstatic and incredibly grateful to be telling this story with this amazing cast and creative team. Some of her favorite credits include Passing Strange, August Wilson’s Gem of the Ocean, Redwood, The Wolves, and Pen/Man/Ship. She would like to thank her family for their love and support. This performance is dedicated to formerly incarcerated black women navigating this world, may you feel seen, and may your story feel uplifted.

Lynn is a playwright and a screenwriter and the first woman in history to win two Pulitzer Prizes for Drama. Her plays have been produced widely in the United States and throughout the world. Recent work includes the book for MJ the Musical (Broadway), the libretto for the Intimate Apparel Opera (LCT), and Clyde’s (Broadway, 2ST, Goodman Theater), and co-curating the performance installation The Watering Hole (Signature Theater). Past work includes Sweat, Ruined, the book for The Secret Life of Bees; Mlima’s Tale; By the Way, Meet Vera Stark; Intimate Apparel; Fabulation, or the Re-Education of Undine; Crumbs from the Table of Joy; Las Meninas; Mud, River, Stone; Por’knockers; and POOF!. She has also developed This is Reading, a performance installation in Reading, Pennsylvania. Nottage is a member of the Theater Hall of Fame, and the recipient of a MacArthur “Genius Grant” Fellowship (among other awards). She is also an Associate Professor at Columbia University School of the Arts and is a member of the Dramatists Guild.

Chip is a director and producer, currently in the role of Associate Artistic Director at Portland Center Stage at the Armory. They were previously the Artistic Associate/Resident Director at Kansas City Repertory Theatre. Directing: Choir Boy, It’s A Wonderful Life, Rent, August Wilson’s Gem of the Ocean, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, the world premiere of Redwood (Portland Center Stage at the Armory), Clyde’s (Syracuse Stage, PCS), Larry Owens’ Sondhemia (Carnegie Hall), Journeys to Justice (Portland Opera), the world premiere of American Fast (Artists Repertory Theatre), School Girls; or, The African Mean Girls Play, Welcome to Fear City, Sex with Strangers, A Raisin in the Sun (KCRep); the world premiere of Becoming Martin by Kevin Willmott (The Coterie); dwb: driving while black (Lawrence Arts Center, Des Moines Metro Opera, Greensboro Opera); and 4:48 Psychosis (The Buffalo Room). Chip has developed work with playwrights, including Kevin Wilmott, Kara Lee Corthron, Brittany K. Allen, Catherine Trieschmann, Darren Canady, Andrew Rosendorf, Susan Kander & Roberta Gumbel, Michelle T. Johnson, and Michael Finke. They have developed work at The William Inge Theatre Festival, NYU’s New Plays for Young Audiences, La Jolla Playhouse’s DNA Series, Portland Center Stage’s JAW New Play Festival, The Midwest Dramatists Center, KCRep’s OriginKC New Works Festival, The Living Room Theatre, and Musical Theatre Heritage.

Britton has scenic designed for regional theatres Syracuse Stage (co-pro of Clyde’s), Portland Center Stage (Hedwig and the Angry Inch and Rent), Long Wharf Theatre (I am My Own Wife), Resident Ensemble Players (In the Heat of the Night), Constellation Stage, (Fun Home) Gulfshore Playhouse, and Mixed Blood. Closer to his home in Pittsburgh, he has designed for City Theatre, Pittsburgh Public Theatre, Pittsburgh Playhouse, Front Porch Theatricals, CLO Cabaret, and Quantum Theatre. Britton is a member of the USITT IDEAS Committee and is the co-coordinator for the USITT Gateway Program. Britton is an assistant teaching professor at the University of Pittsburgh. Upcoming designs include The Color Purple and Tornado Tastes Like Aluminum Sting. For more visit brittonmaukdesign.com

Dominique designs include world premieres of plays and musicals produced at venues such as Portland Center Stage, The Public Theatre, Playwrights Horizons, and The Geffen Playhouse. Her theatre credits include the Broadway production of Fat Ham (Tony Award-nomination) and Off-Broadway productions of Tambo & Bones (Lucille Lortel nomination, Playwrights Horizons), Fat Ham (Obie Award), Where the Mountain Meets the Sea (MTC), The Dark Girl Chronicles (The Shed),125th & FREEdom (National Black Theatre), and The Ants (Geffen Playhouse). Her regional theatre credits include Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Choir Boy, and Rent for (Portland Center Stage). Dominique is currently designing across the nation while being an adjunct professor at The University of California, Berkeley.

Marika is a Brooklyn-based lighting designer. Also at PCS: Choir Boy; August Wilson’s Gem of the Ocean; and School Girls, or the African Mean Girls Play. Recent/upcoming: Fences (Trinity Rep), POTUS (Arena Stage), Ulysses; Seagull (Elevator Repair Service), Amani (National Black Theater), Bernarda’s Daughters (The New Group/NBT), Catch as Catch Can (Playwrights Horizons), Measure for Measure (Shakespeare & Company). Marika teaches design at NYU’s Playwrights Horizons Theater School and is a proud member of USA Local 829. www.marikakent.com

Phil is a theatrical producer and artist based in the Pacific Northwest. He currently serves as the Program Director for Coho Theatre in Portland, OR. Some of his favorite recent productions include Fat Ham (Seattle Rep) Clyde’s (Syracuse Stage); Gem of the Ocean and Redwood (Portland Center Stage); Pipeline (Confrontation Theater); Hands Up (Red Door Project); American Fast, An Octoroon, and The Humans (Artists Repertory Theatre). Phil has a B.F.A. and M.A. from Ohio University. philjohnsondesignstheworld.com, @philjohnsonlive

Janine has been a stage manager and production manager for more than 20 years on Broadway, Off-Broadway, regionally, and on tour with shows such as The Graduate, Cats, The Vagina Monologues, Jekyll & Hyde, Show Boat, and many more. She is the Production Stage Manager for Frida… A Self Portrait and recently had the pleasure to return to The Lion King on tour (she was an original company member on Broadway). In her eighth season at Portland Center Stage, some of her favorites include Liberace & Liza Holiday at the Mansion (A Tribute), tick, tick ... BOOM!, RENT, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Macbeth, A Christmas Memory/Winter Song, Wild & Reckless. TV work includes The Daily Show with Jon Stewart “Democalypse 2012 Republican National Convention.” Proud AEA member.

A graduate of Western Oregon University with a B.F.A. in technical production, Amanda is a freelance stage manager in the Portland theater scene. She works as a production and stage manager for the likes of Oregon Children’s Theatre, CoHo Productions, and Artists Repertory Theatre. This is her third season on the stage management team at Portland Center Stage and is grateful to continue to work on impactful stories. Along with stage managing, she is an intimacy coordinator in the Portland area, having worked on various pieces, including several productions at PCS and at Bag & Baggage. She wants to thank her partner for putting up with her late hours and constant busyness.