The Theatre Company Presents:
A remount of our first live production
OCT 22 - 29 Every Night At KEX Portland SOLD OUT
100 NE MLK BLVD, Portland OR
Linda can speak to the dead. Hilda wants to.
The Thin Place by Lucas Hnath
Presented in association with Concord Theatricals
Poster by Artist Susan Bein, WIZMOSIS (Click)
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The Thin Place creates an immersive exploration of the fragile boundary between
our world and the one just beyond.
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The limited, one-week engagement offers just 25 seats per performance
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ABOUT THE SPACE
KEX, which means “biscuit” in Icelandic, first started in 2011, when a businessman and a set designer met at an abandoned biscuit factory in a strange corner of Reykjavík while scouting a location for an upcoming film. Today, it is a design-focused space in Portland filled with salvaged materials and pieces from around the world, and a 26-room social hotel where people from anywhere can gather to eat great food, hear music, and be inspired. You are encouraged to stay after the show and enjoy something from Pacific Standard in the lobby restaurant/bar, side patio or rooftop.
Portland stalwarts Diane Kondrat and Jen Rowe lead the small cast as Linda, a veteran medium, and Hilda, a keen listener and observer who’s grappling with loss. This quietly chilling story crackles with spiritual vulnerability while it plays with perceptions of reality and the omnipresence of death.
ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT
Lucas Hnath’s work as a playwright includes A Doll’s House, Part 2; Hillary and Clinton; Red Speedo; The Christians; A Public Reading of an Unproduced Screenplay About the Death of Walt Disney; Isaac’s Eye; and Death Tax. His work has been produced nationally and internationally, including at Playwrights Horizons, New York Theatre Workshop, Soho Rep, Actors Theatre of Louisville/Humana Festival of New Plays, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Mark Taper Forum, Steppenwolf Theatre, South Coast Repertory, Royal Court Theatre, and on Broadway at the John Golden Theater. He is a member of Ensemble Studio Theatre and a resident of New Dramatists. Hnath is a recipient of an Obie, Guggenheim Fellowship, Outer Critics Circle Award for Best New Play, Whiting Award, Kesselring Prize, two Steinberg citations from the American Theatre Critics Association, and a 2017 Tony nomination for Best Play.
IMAGE: JASON ROUSE
Hilda
Jen Rowe
Jen (she/her) is the Artistic Director of The Theatre Company, a freelance actor and director as well as producer through Quick and Dirty. Her work has been seen at multiple venues including Denver Center Theater, Portland Center Stage, Artists Rep, Third Rail, BoomArts, NBC’s Grimm, TNT’s The Librarians, Curious Comedy, The Siren Theater, Livewire Radio. She once went to a palm reader who told her she would have many lovers and take a sabbatical in her 50’s. She’s really looking forward to that. Jen is thrilled to be able to open a live production.
Jerry
Mario Calcagno
Mario (he/him) is thrilled to be returning to the theatre and is very excited to do so in this production of The Thin Place. Mario has been performing on local Portland stages since 2003, he spent 10 years as a company ensemble member and producer with Theatre Vertigo where he worked on over 30 productions. He is a Drammy recipient and graduate of The Actors Conservatory. Mario would personally like to thank Jen and everyone at The Theatre Co. along with all the talented artists on this production for such a great experience, and to his family for all their support!
Linda
Diane Kondrat
Diane (she/her) has been interested in spiritualism since, as a teenager, she was encouraged by a medium to channel her dead friend's spirit. The Thin Place will be her first chance to play a psychic. Kondrat is a company member at Third Rail Repertory Theatre and with sketch comedy troupe, Spectravagasm. She was awarded a Drammy for defunkt's Girl In The Red Corner and was recently seen in Barbeque at Portland Playhouse. Her performance of the solo show Every Brilliant Thing (in person!) Summer 2021 was the pinnacle of her Covid experience. Other credits: TRINKETS, GRIMM, Coho Productions, Oregon Children's Theatre and Profile Theatre. Visit www.dianekondrat.com!
Production Design
Alex Meyer
Alex (she/her) is pleased to work again with The Theatre Company! Previous productions with TTC include Capax Infiniti and The Cut-Up. Other recent scenic design credits include with Oregon Children’s Theatre, Imago Theatre, Broadway Rose, CoHo Productions, Enlightened Theatrics, and Experience Theatre Project. She holds a degree in art and theatre from Augustana University (SD), and is also a painter, printmaker, and blossoming cookie-baker. More at www.designbyalexmeyer.com.
Sylvia
Kerie Darner
Kerie (she/her) is a local actor, singer, and graduate of The Actors Conservatory. She has had the privilege of working with Artists Repertory Theatre, Lakewood theatre, New Century Players, as well as many groups in the San Francisco Bay Area. Some of Kerie’s favorite roles include Marian in the The Music Man, Anna in The King and I and Agnes in I Do! I Do! She is thrilled to be a part of The Theatre Company’s production of The Thin Place and her first post pandemic play! She thanks Jen and everyone involved for including her in this wild ride.
Sound Design
Scott Moore
Scott Moore (he/him) is a musician, sometimes writer, and occasional video artist based in North Portland. When he’s not trying to create dissonant drones or pastoral guitar pieces, Scott spends his time working in progressive politics. He’s thrilled to be part of bringing The Theatre Company’s first live production to the stage.
“The whole purpose of this piece is to kind of see if I can get the audience to put themselves in the position of seeing if the things Linda’s saying have any relationship to them.” He added, “I want to show the audience how to manipulate a person in such a way that I’m almost tempting them—like, ‘You can do this in your life.’ ” Lucas Hnath, The New Yorker
Playwrights Horizons, Inc., New York City, produced the New York Premiere of THE THIN PLACE in 2019. Commissioned by and premiered in the 2019 Humana Festival of New American Plays at Actors Theatre of Louisville. THE THIN PLACE was workshopped as part of the Jerry A. Tishman Playwrights Creativity Fund, a program of New Dramatists. Developed at the Colorado New Play Festival, Steamboat Springs, June 2019.
Special Thanks to Alicia Hueni (Production Assistant for the Remount), Ronni Lacroute, Ellyn Bye with Dream Envision Foundation, Karen & Randy Rowe, Cameron McFee, Jessica Dart, Zidell Yards/Old Moody, Susan Bein/Wizmosis, KEX Portland, to the returning cast and crew listed above, And to the members of the original production listed below.
Dramaturg
Jessica Dart
Jessica (she/her) is a dramaturg, copywriter, arts administrator, marketer, and sometimes stage manager. She’s worked locally with CoHo Productions, Boom Arts, Playwrights West/Teen West, Reed College, the Young Playwrights Festival at Lakewood Center for the Arts, The Big Bridge Theater Consortium, Theatre Vertigo, PHAME, and more. She is a board member for The Theatre Company and has an MFA in Dramaturgy from the University of Iowa’s Playwrights Workshop.
Producing Associate
Aaron Cooper Swor
Aaron (he/him) has been an actor in the Portland area for the past decade and holds a BA in Theatre. He was most recently seen in Profile Theatre's online presentation of By the Way Meet Vera Stark as Max/Peter, Theatre Vertigo's Everything You Touch as Victor, and Bag&Baggage's A Clockwork Orange as Alex. This is Swor's first producing credit and he has had a blast working in a new capacity with The Theatre Company. He will be moving to Chicago this summer and attending DePaul University's MFA Acting program in Fall 2023.
Production Assistant
Abigail St. John
Abigail is hard to perceive, much like a ghost and will appear behind you if you say her name 3 times in the bathroom mirror. Who knows, she might already be hiding under your bed. Just kidding, the rent was too expensive and you kept shoving dirty clothes under there. Rude. Abigail is a performer, clown, and potato lover. She is here to help make the theatre magic happen and can't wait to share this show with you!