Portland Pride Play Festival Unveils Schedule for Second Annual Event

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Performances will take place July 10-12.

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Returning after its triumphant inaugural year, the second annual Portland Pride Play Festival gives queer audiences the opportunity to celebrate their history, hear their stories, and see themselves represented on stage. Produced by Third Eye Theatre, this weekend festival features eight staged readings, from comedies to dramas, covering the breadth of the queer experience.

From Mikki Gillette, author of American Girl, Riot Queens, Mimetic Desire, Tears and Glitter, and others comes The Flowers of Virtue, a psychological trans drama set in Idaho. A collection of trans and non-binary individuals navigate the tenuous atmosphere in and around a queer bar in a “purplish” town in Idaho … and their own community's expectations, history, shifting relationships, and individual foibles. Will the denizens of this community get what they want? Or what they need? The Flowers of Virtue is directed by Ravyn Jazper-Hawke.

A poignant montage of what it looks like when there is no home to run back to, Downward Facing by Mishelle Apalategui is directed by Shareen Jacobs. Alternating between two women — Jenna and Janna — in a complicated relationship, and the home where yoga teacher Lily-Anne is trying to build her fledgling studio in the place where Flex has squatted for years, Downward Facing shows the families people build when they are required to start out with nothing.

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Nothing is Nothing is Nothing by Tim Krause, directed by Ravyn Jazper-Hawke, is a saucy comedy of royal proportions. When the King mysteriously dies, it's open season for the throne in this twisted household: where all the men are gay, and all the women are straight. The lonely Queen orders a Farewell Cotillion for her late husband, but already has her eyes set on the Publican. Lance the Knight and his Maiden try to find love against the law while the dirty Cook loses her prize winning fish, a foolish Jester plays tricks, and the androgynous Bishop strives to turn the inheritance over to his "Church." Searching for the King's last will and testament, this bawdy bunch will eventually all learn a lesson in tolerance ... more or less.

From playwright Jeremy Cole comes The Women's Ward, directed by Ed Lyons. The Women's Ward imagines a state mental health facility where patients from many eras — from the 1920s to the 1980s — inhabit the same space at the same time. Time is an abstract in this piece. No real attempt at historical accuracy has been made. Each patient has a personal demon that the system struggles to “exorcize” — with varying results. Cole's play Encounters won the inaugural Portland Pride Play Festival and was presented at Fertile Ground in April.

In Boo! by Deanna Strasse, paranormal investigators The Boo-lievers are attempting to refute the common view of ghost-hunting as pseudoscience at best and outright hoax at worst. The team behind this (marginally) successful Internet ghost-hunting show will use any means necessary to get the evidence, and prove once and for all that we are not alone. But while investigating The Omni Parker House Hotel in Boston, suspicions and friendships will be tested, ultimately examining the big question of “What do you believe?” Boo! is directed by Jamie Adams.

The ten-minute short play Challah if You Queer Me by Allison Fradkin, directed by Jamie Adams, is a comedic blast from the past — if 1950s sitcoms involved Jewish characters and queer themes. When a young woman comes out to her family on the first night of Hanukkah, will her parents plotz or will they be justifiably Jewbilant?

In Every Guy by Rhett Goldman, Jasper is going to kill himself ... but not right now. This explicit, two-person, coming-of-age, semi-verbatim dramedy explores the sexual experiences of a young, southern gay guy and his relationship with his childhood Best Friend , who develops schizophrenia. Narrated in clear-eyed, borderline-uninterested language, short bouts of omniscience and future-telling reveal the protagonist's private values and inner life. In an age where sexual truth-telling is ubiquitous, Every Guy still manages to startle, capturing adolescence and early adulthood in all its confusion, self-hatred, and excitement. Every Guy is directed by Gina Lou.

Finally, Queerly Departed is a touching family comedy by Ian Trutt, directed by Alacias Enger. Three siblings (and their partners) reunite at their grandfather's funeral, with all the usual tensions and shared history between them (not to mention a Tarot reading, a pending marriage proposal, and Uncle Marty's memorial PowerPoint with bullet points). But after someone urinates on the grave, the family unearths secrets about each other and their beloved Pop-Pop.

Friday July 10 7:00 PM Challah If You Queer Me by Allison Fradkin Directed by Jamie Adams

Friday July 10 7:30 PM Queerly Departed by Ian Trutt Directed by Alacias Enger

Saturday July 11 1:00 PM Downward Facing by Mishelle Apalategui Directed by Shareen Jacobs

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_Originally reported by [BroadwayWorld](https://www.broadwayworld.com/portland/article/Second-AnnualPortland-Pride-Play-Festival-Sets-Schedule-20260524)._