2015-16 Annual Report

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MAINSTAGE SUSAN THOMAS, COSTUME SHOP MANAGER How did you start working at Portland Stage? I first came to Portland Stage as an Intern for the 2001-2002 season after graduating from Smith College. I had spent the last two summers of college working as a stitcher in the costume shop of Shakespeare & Company. Having grown up in Maine, I cannot describe how happy I was to get to be working at Maine’s only LORT theater company that just happened to be only one town over from my family! What do you wish more people knew about Portland Stage? The first thing I’d like people to know is that Portland Stage creates its own productions, we are not a touring house. If there is something truly beautiful on stage we built it here, if there is something ugly on stage we likely made it too. It takes a lot of skill and many long hard hours of work, but we get it done on time and with a very small crew. The other thing people don’t know is that we are a training ground for young theater artists. Every year we have a new crew of interns that almost doubles our staff size. Each of those interns comes in with basic skills and will leave with a wealth of knowledge that they could not get at most other theaters. When I was an intern I came with a decent foundation of sewing skills, but it was at Portland Stage that my sewing horizons truly opened up. “If there is something truly beautiful on stage we built it here, if there is something ugly on stage we likely made it too.” Portland Stage is a small theater where most departments only have one staff member and an intern doing the work of what in other theaters 6-10 people would do. For the first time, I got to work on all the hard projects, doing everything from tailoring to corsetry and even single handedly running wardrobe backstage. The experiences I gained in nine months would have taken years to accumulate working at other theaters, and has greatly shaped me into who I am today. I am happy to now be the one carrying on the tradition and training the next generation of theater artists. What would you tell someone who is thinking about becoming involved with Portland Stage – attending a show or event, subscribing, donating or volunteering? I have several amazing volunteers who work with me in the Costume Shop. Our volunteers have different levels of sewing skills and are all different ages. We have tons of fun and learn a lot from each other as we tackle challenging sewing and craft projects ranging from full Marie Antoinette gowns to making a pair of feather wings for the Wright Brothers. Give us 3 words to describe Portland Stage! Small but mighty.
ARTISTS SALLY WOOD, AFFILIATE ARTIST, DIRECTOR OF PAPERMAKER AND DANCING AT LUGHNASA Tell us about your first experience at Portland Stage. The first time I came to Portland Stage, I was a junior in college. I was dating someone who whose father lived in South Portland, and we ended up taking a crosscountry trip to look at grad schools and see the world. I very much remember sitting in the audience before the play even started and thought to myself, “If I could ever work at a place like this, if that could ever happen, I would know I was successful.” Can you describe a production or program that transformed how you thought or felt? One that leaps out is Veils by Tom Coash. Doing a play about women who choose to be veiled was incredibly eyeopening. I didn’t realize my biases, but they were there, subconsciously. The choice to be veiled and the decision not to are both liberating, and there is room for both viewpoints. Tolerance for a wrong word and generosity of spirit are so nice to have in the room. How have you seen the power of a play or program at Portland Stage impacting someone’s life? At our Open House, I was teaching a workshop in Stage Combat, and this young man, maybe 12 years old, came to the workshop, and at first, he was pretty reluctant to stand up and try things out, but eventually really seemed to enjoy himself - he even came back for a second session! Afterward, his mother thanked me for the workshop. She told me she had been struggling with getting him to engage, that he was in foster care with her, and asked if we did any mentoring because the workshop seemed to open him up in ways in the way she had been searching for. “I thought to myself, ‘If I could ever work at a place like this, if that could ever happen, I would know I was successful.’” What do you wish more people knew about Portland Stage? I think that people would be astounded to know what Ted [Technical Director] and Susan [Costume Shop Manager] do at the theater. I am often astounded by their abilities to take something from a design process to reality. I think they’re like the superheroes of Portland Stage, but they have excellent secret identities. What would you tell someone who is thinking about becoming involved with Portland Stage – attending a show or event, subscribing, donating or volunteering? I would say do it! Jump in! Live Theater needs you! In this day and age, when it’s so easy to get lost on a smartphone or sitting behind a computer, The Human Experience is a great gift.
Page 1 and 2: PORTLANDSTAGE The Theater of Maine
Page 3: Board Photo: Samantha Bowen, Pamela
Page 7 and 8: NEW WORK TOM COASH, PLAYWRIGHT, VEI
Page 9 and 10: EDUCATION HANNAH CORDES, EDUCATION
Page 11 and 12: SUPPORT GEORGE “BUD” & CHERYL H
Page 13 and 14: STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL POSITION FY1
Page 15 and 16: Sandra & Richard Neiman Lenny & Mer
Page 17 and 18: Murial Kenderdine Richard Kimball T
Page 19 and 20: Thank you! STAFF Executive & Artist

2015-16 Annual Report

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