*02/27/15 PORTLAND STAGE

The Rotary Club of Portland will be "on the road" this Friday, February 27, 2015. We will be meeting at the Portland Stage Company, 25A Forest Avenue. The Portland Stage Company was founded as the Profile Theater in 1974 as a touring company. They made Portland their permanent home in 1976 and changed their name to Portland Stage Company in 1978. One of the first productions of the Profile Theater was "Hair."  

We will first hear from Anita Stewart, Artistic and Executive Director and from Carmen-Marie Mandley, Literary and Education Manager. Following their presentations we will be led on a back stage tour by General Manager, Megan Doane.

Following the tour we will finish in their main stage area where we will have the business part of our meeting.

Carmen is an education artist, actor, playwright, producer, and artisan. She is a long-time company member with Shakespeare & Company in Massachusetts,the founder and artistic director of the Nickel Shakespeare Girls (National award-winning female Shakespeare troupe), founding Artistic Director of Bare Theatre in Raleigh, North Carolina, (where she also served as education director for the Raleigh Little Theatre), as well as being a produced playwright and published poet. She is grateful and thrilled to begin her journey as Education and Literary Manager at Portland Stage

Anita Stewart is one of the few professional theater designers in the United States serving in a leadership role at a regional theater. As Executive & Artistic Director, Stewart is responsible for keeping Portland Stage’s mission and vision in focus, both onstage and off. During her tenure at Portland Stage, Stewart has made a commitment to combining the best local talent with exceptional artists from around the country to create productions of the highest quality. Stewart’s passion and commitment for education is evidenced by Portland Stage’s ever expanding K-12 Education and Artistic Development & Dialogue programs. She uses the process of theater to create K-12 age-appropriate education programs that support the Common Core Standards and help to create our critical thinkers of the next generation.

Portland Stage’s Artistic Development & Dialogue programs, created under Stewart’s tenure, are specifically designed programs to nurture developing young artists and cultivate the skills of seasoned artists. Stewart remains keenly interested in promoting and cultivating audience involvement in the theatrical process and the artist connection to community programs. As an integral member of the national arts community, Stewart also finds time to participate in granting panels for organizations across the country including: Maine Arts Commission, National Endowment for the Arts, Massachusetts Cultural Council, Theater Communications Group and Alpert Awards.

Starting this week, the current production will be "The Whipping Man". In the last days of the Civil War, a wounded Confederate soldier returns to find only two former slaves in the shambles of the mansion they all called home. As the three men cautiously begin celebrating Passover, secrets come to light that batter their trust and force them to come to terms with their past, present, and future. 

L to R- Brooks Brantley (John), Ray Anthony Thomas (Simon), and Tom White (Caleb).