By Nathaniel Dunaway
Entertainment Editor
“Portal. noun: a door, gate or entrance. A way in. Any entrance or access to a place.”
This is the definition provided by Portal Theatre’s website, and it helps to paint an accurate portrait
of the mission statement this small, Portland-based theatre company strives to uphold.
Portal Theatre wants to take you somewhere.
Created by Western associate professor of theatre Michael Phillips, Portal Theatre is a devised theatre company, meaning that their scripts are not the work of a playwright, but instead are created through the collaboration and experimentation of its members.
Last summer, the company took their very first show “No Belles” to Scotland to perform at the world-renowned Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
“It’s daunting to take your first show to the biggest festival in the world,” said Phillips, “where
you’re competing with 3,200 other shows for audience and press.
But, we were in a great venue … [and] we managed to get five press reviews. To put that in perspective, many shows go the entire festival without a single review.”
All of the reviews for “No Belles” were positive, earning raves from “The Scotsman,” “The Cult Den,” “Broadway Baby,”
“Arts Award Voice” and “The Public Review.”
One reviewer said, “I know it’s early in the month but this is my show of the Fringe this year and
anything else will have to be truly great to beat it.”
The focus of “No Belles” is women in science, and how they’ve gone undervalued and virtually unrecognized by the Nobel Prize committee for decades.
The statistics are dismal: of the 566 winners of the Nobel Prize for Science, only 15 of them have been women. Some of these women — as well as some who didn’t win, but whose contributions
to science were nonetheless paramount — are portrayed in the show.
Using song, storytelling, poetry, reenactments, and one delightful scene featuring sock-puppets, “No Belles” captures the audience’s attention from the word go.
The cast of “No Belles” is made up of Western theatre graduate Kimberly Wilson, as well as actors Jade Hobbs and Melissa Schenter. Western alum Jenessa Raabe serves as production manager.
After their success overseas, Portal will be performing “No Belles” at three separate fringe festivals in Canada this summer.
“We’ll make three stops,” Phillips said. “Winnipeg, Saskatoon and Edmonton. There are advantages to trading off between Edinburgh and Canada, in that Canada doesn’t cost the company near as much, and has the potential to actually make us a bit of money, which would then go to support the next trip to Edinburgh.
“So, the tentative plan is do that: switching off between Edinburgh and Canada every other year. And, of course, that means making new work,” Phillips said. “We figure that each show will have a life cycle of about two years, and during that time we’ll be putting a new show together. We’ll be starting on our next show soon.”
Phillips has some experience with devised theatre. In 2013, he directed the Western theatre department production “Half a Block from Home,” a play which dealt with themes of social injustice and discrimination, and was written by a company of Western students.
Another devised play, once again led by Phillips, is currently in development, slated for spring 2015. Just as the body of students collaborating on the Western shows has changed, the members of Portal Theatre will evolve as well.
“Not everyone involved in the company will work on each show, but the idea is to gather a small group of people who we can draw from for various projects.” Phillips said. “And, ideally, I would begin to use a few current [Western] students from time to time. I’ve already brought on a student intern, who will be helping with the nuts and bolts of the company in the coming year. It would be good to include a student actor in the near future also.”
Phillips added that there isn’t an idea yet for what Portal Theatre’s next project will be, but he’s enthusiastic for the company to begin work on their sophomore show.
“What matters most is that we really care about what we’re working on, and that it makes a personal connection with the audience. It’s an adventure, and we don’t know exactly where it will lead, but
finding out should be a lot of fun.”
