portland playhouse

Your Players (Willow Jade)

Lorraine Bahr (Director)	Lorraine Bahr is a two-time Drammy Award-winning actress (Lion in the Streets, Theatre Vertigo; The Treatment, Sowelu Theatre), an award-winning playwright (The Great Escape of Charlie Stone), and critically acclaimed director (Fen, Count Time Count Time, Rumi). She has been acting, directing, writing and teaching, primarily in Oregon and Minnesota, since 1981.  She is co-founder and company member of Sowelu Ensemble Theater, and recently became a company member of Portland Playhouse. She is coordinator for Well Arts' Elder Writing Program, teaches playwriting with WITS of Literary Arts, Inc. and teaches acting at Portland State University. Her monologue Eight Break-ups from LIVE NUDE FEAR! is published in the latest issue of Poetry Northwest. She is proud to be directing Portland Playhouse's upcoming production of Willow Jade.
Cristi Miles (Assistant Director)	Cristi was last seen on the stage as Lulu in Miracle Theatre's El Grito Del Bronx. Prior to that, while in Boston she served as Producer for Orfeo Group's Elliot Norton Award winning production of Look Back in Anger, and played the title role in their inaugural production of Marisol. She has directed and taught at the Berkshire Theatre Festival and with numerous regional theatres including the Stoneham theatre and New Repertory Theatre. She also was a faculty member of The Boston Conservatory. As an actor her credits include:Celia in As you Like it at San Jose Rep, Matilde in The Clean House at New Rep (Elliot Norton Award –Best Production), A  Streetcar Named Desire (Mexican Woman/ Nurse) also at New Rep, Buried Child with The Nora Theatre ,  The Winter’s Tale (Perdita) with Actors’ Shakespeare Project, A Christmas Carol with New Rep, A Prayer for Owen Meany at Stoneham, Closer (Alice) with The Devanaughn, Hamlet, Our Town, The Glass Menagerie, Macbeth, all with New Rep on Tour. This winter Cristi will be assistant directing Willow Jade with Lorraine Bahr of Portland Playhouse. Cristi holds an MFA from Brandeis University and is a proud member of Portland Playhouse, Orfeo Group and Actors’ Equity.
Aiyana Cunningham (Becky)	Aiyana Cunningham holds a BA in Theatre Arts from UC Santa Cruz. Further training has been in the physical practices of Suzuki, Viewpoints and experimental movement as well as ensemble-created theatre that produces new work.  She continuously seeks to merge her talent for playback with performance technique to create inspiring works of theatre. She was last seen at Portland Playhouse in bobrauschenbergamerica. Local credits include Women of Troy with Lunacy Stageworks and Believers with Fever Theatre. Thank you for supporting live theatre!
Jim Davis (Buckminster)	Last seen in bobrauschenbergamerica at Portland Playhouse.  In Portland he has performed in Vanya, Appalachian Ebeneezer, The Laramie Project, Honey in the Horn, and The Crucible at ART. He also worked at Stark Raving Theatre as a founding company member.  At Stark Raving Jim directed A Life Alone, The Revenger's Tragedy, and The Adding Machine. He acted in numerous productions including Prometheus Bound, Liberation, Detective Story, Stranglehold, Kuka, and The Visit.   Jim also ran the New Wave New Play festival for many years. Trained at PSU, The Art and Work ensemble, and Ensemble Studio Theatre in NY.
Matt Dieckman (Steve)	Matthew Dieckman makes his Portland Playhouse debut with Willow Jade. He was recently seen in Artist Repertory's production of All My Sons as George. His other Portland credit is Papo in El Grito del Bronx at the Miracle Theater, for which he won a Drammy for Outstanding Lead Actor. Before moving to Portland, Matthew lived in Los Angeles performing with A Noise Within (Glendale, CA) and theater-in-education group, L.A. Troupe (Sun Valley, CA). Matthew received his undergrad from Nothern Arizona University in Flagstaff, AZ.
JJ Johnston (Lance)	JJ studied acting for three years as a BFA and MFA student at the University of Idaho where he also trained in clown, mask, dance and stage combat. A former Division I college football player, he particularly enjoys work that involves physicality and movement, such as clown. Willow Jade marks JJ's debut on the Portland stage after moving from California where he studied acting with Sam Anderson. He is excited to be a part of the Portland theatre community and is hoping to be involved with more new works.
Jazzi Mason (Willow)	Jazzi Mason is currently attending Lincoln High School in her senior year. She's been involved in theatre since her freshman year, starting with costume design for Diary of Anne Frank, As You Like It, and her second high school's production of The Breakfast Club. She was a featured playwright in Lincoln's new works festival Blitz, and assistant director Tartuffe. Most recently, she took the stage in the all women cast of 12 Angry Jurors. In addition to acting for Willow Jade, Jazzi is currently the House Manager for Lincoln's upcoming new works festival, Swtich. After graduation, Jazzi is attending Portland State, majoring in Theatre Arts with the hope of one day writing plays as amazing as Willow Jade.
K.B. Mercer (Sondra)	KB Mercer has been in Portland over a year now (wow) and loves it.  Did her first show at Portland Playhouse and fell into a pot of jam!  While running the Traveling Lantern Theatre Company with her husband, Doren Elias, KB is now diving into the Portland Area Theatre scene. She is a graduate of the North Carolina School of the Arts Professional Actor Training program, and has been in acting for over twenty years, the last twelve or so years at various theatres in San Diego. She is delighted to be a Company Member with Portland’s hottest new company!
Patrick Oury (Doug)	Patrick Oury lives in Vancouver and recently graduated from Warner Pacific College, where he played on the basketball team and was in plays including Proof, The Bourgeois Gentlemen, and Plaza Suite. In 2009, he coached basketball at Hockinson High School, and most recently he was seen in The Tempest with Blue Monkey Theatre. He is happy to be working with Portland Playhouse for the first time.
Ben Plont (Clinton)	Ben Plont has been acting in Portland for more than ten years. Favorite roles include Guard #9 in The Wizard of Oz in 4th grade. He was most recently seen in CoHo's production of The Uneasy Chair, in multiple roles. He is happy to work with Lorraine and Hunt and the rest of the cast on this project.
Hunt Holman (author)	Hunt Holman (Playwright): Willow Jade received a staged reading in the JAW Festival at Portland Center Stage in July 2008. Other plays include Spanish Girl, which premiered off-Broadway at Second Stage Theatre in their New Plays Uptown Series, was published by Smith & Kraus books in their anthology New Playwrights: The Best Plays of 2003, and revived in Fall 2007 in Vancouver, BC; Gun Club, which was developed in Cherry Lane Theatre's Obie award-winning Mentor Project in that program's second season, and later premiered at Hypothetical Theater, NYC; The Kidney, which premiered at Broken Watch Theater Company, NYC; and The Dawn Patrol, which recieved a staged reading at Williamstown Theater Festival. His play The First Time I Slept with Rosemary was the second production by the Printer's Devil Theater (Seattle, WA), of which he was also a co-founder. For the past three years he has taught creative writing to public high school students with the WITS program through Literary Arts. He earned an MFA from Columbia University's School of the Arts.