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We are more than proud for today’s exclusive on Last Day Deaf: Portland.Austin artist Red Yarn joins forces with Hand2Mouth (H2M) theatre ensemble for the theatre piece “Dream|Logic“, and the result is an excellent single, ‘Heyo‘. Prepare to be transported for the next three and a half minutes to a fantastic world full of lush harmonies and poignant lyrics, a fine blend of folk, dream-pop and sci-fi.  You could call it space-folk, dream-folk or anything round there, but what’s most important for this difficult-to-classify piece of music, is its flawless melodies and its uplifting vibes (not to mention its initiative!) that will percolate your mind & soul for days. Pure fascination!

Press:

This is the single from the score of upcoming immersive theatre piece, Dream|Logic. The single is an original track written for the piece by Portland/Austin artist, Red Yarn.

The show is running February 23rd-March 11th that I thought you might be interested in.

The show is called Dream|Logic, it’s a new fully immersive theatre piece for youth and families, gathering the language of the main characters from interviews with Portland area teens as part of a new equity focused theatre engagement program. The idea is to bring theatre and the arts to communities that would normally be neglected.

This project seeks to address the need for quality, nationally recognized artists teaching/working with these marginalized teens via a radically new proposal: a immersive interactive piece of theatre that is challenging and accessible to adults and children alike, and is focused on equity in its cast, its creators, and most importantly its audience.

ABOUT Dream|Logic 

Hand2Mouth (H2M) will create a new immersive theatre piece, for children and adults, with a mixed gender, race and aged cast of local performers. ‘Dream|Logic’ will transport audiences on a journey inspired by the most influential fantasy and sci-fi books and films from the ensemble’s own childhoods. The script will be created from interviews conducted with Portland area public school teenagers, enrolled in H2M’s education program Student Voices about their favorite books to create a hybrid tale that bridges the childhood experiences of different generations.

In Portland there is a massive gulf between youth and families that have remarkable access to the breathtaking cultural range of Portland artistry and training, and those who never experience or can afford this present, or envision a life inside it for a future. In response to this we began our Student Voices program in 2017, bringing no-cost theatre creation training to teenagers in the Portland area at under-resourced school.

This project seeks to address the need for quality, nationally recognized artists teaching/working with these marginalized teens via a radically new proposal: a immersive interactive piece of theatre that is challenging and accessible to adults and children alike, and is focused on equity in its cast, its creators, and most importantly its audience.

During the development of DreamILogic performers will work with youth as part of the SUN residencies, conducting interviews and leading discussions about which stories and characters have inspired students most. They will explore questions such as: “What books do you return to again and again? Who are your favorite characters? What fictive worlds would you most like to inhabit and why?” DreamILogic will draw from these interviews for language and story lines.

Dream|Logic opens H2M’s potential to connect directly with their audience by using non-traditional spaces, taking the audience through staged areas in order to be a part of the production, and including a more diverse  group in the creative planning and performing process than we ever have before. This project seeks to unite our city by bringing together the childhood experiences of the performers, Portland’s vibrant teens, very young audiences and their families and our traditional theatre-goers.

ABOUT the music:

For Dream|Logic, Red Yarn is composing an interactive score that encourages audience members to actively participate in the hero’s journey. Through call and response, body percussion, improvised lyrics and more, the audience will become an integral piece of the sonic landscape. This is Red Yarn’s first theatrical score, and he is drawing on influences as diverse as Edvard Grieg’s Peer Gynt suite, ’70s disco and glam rock, and the Muppet movies.

ABOUT Hand2Mouth

MISSION:

Hand2Mouth (H2M) is a theatre ensemble committed to creating original work. Driven by connection and joy, we use evolving methods to create original performance events that are bold and accessible.

BACKGROUND:

Described by The Seattle Times as having “the kind of promise, fearlessness and energy that the American theater needs, and should encourage,” Hand2Mouth has created 22 evening length productions and been presented at performance festivals internationally and nationally. H2M’s work has been recognized with support from the National Endowment for the Arts and Doris Duke Foundation, as well as a number of local and regional funders. H2M is one of 50 or so Portland arts organizations who receive General Operating funding from the Regional Arts and Culture Center. In 2017 they established Student Voices, theatre education for underserved youth at multiple Portland SUN (Schools Uniting Communities) sites.

H2M creates powerful plays whose universal themes create opportunity for dialogue and exchange that strongly impacts audience members, reaching a non-traditional theatre audience. H2M also tours its work to community partners across the state. Engagement is at the core of our work; seeking we seek connections with those whose stories are under-told; using our long-form development process which involves interviewing Oregonians about their lives, to create events and spaces for live encounters. We are unique in Portland theatre in reflecting contemporary life and society through the experiences of current and past citizens.

Socials:

https://www.facebook.com/H2MTheatre/

https://twitter.com/H2MTheatre?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ct

https://www.instagram.com/h2mtheatre/

http://www.hand2mouththeatre.org/