PORTLAND, ORE.: Profile Theatre, which produces work from a single playwright each season, has announced Pulitzer Prize winner Quiara Alegría Hudes as its featured playwright for the 2017 season. Four of Hudes’s plays will be staged by the company.
“The long arc of a body of work is vital to a thriving American theatre, and I’m both honored by and enthusiastic about Profile’s unique focus,” Hudes said in a statement. “Here’s to a season of reflection and looking forward!”
The season will begin with Elliot, A Soldier’s Fugue (Feb. 2-19, 2017). The 2007 Pulitzer Prize-nominated play centers around a nineteen-year-old marine, Elliot Ortize, who returns home from the Iraq War and has to decided whether or not to return to service. It is the first part of the Elliot Trilogy.
Next will be 26 Miles (June 15-July 2, 2017), which follows a teen and her estranged mother as they embark on an impromptu roadtrip, forcing them back together again.
Hudes’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Water By the Spoonful (Nov. 1-19, 2017) will follow. The second part in the Elliot Trilogy, Water by the Spoonful follows ex-marine Elliot as he readjusts to civilian life. It also focuses on an Internet chat room for recovering addicts, blending the real and virtual worlds.
Water by the Spoonful will run in repertory with The Happiest Song Plays Last (Nov. 1-19, 2017). The final play in the Elliot Trilogy, The Happiest Song Plays Last follows both war vet Elliot as he embarks on a career as a movie star, as well as his cousin Yaz as she struggles to support her Philadelphia community. The play features traditional Puerto Rican folk music.
In addition to the main season, Profile Theatre will present staged readings of contemporary plays in conversation with Hudes’s body of work, as well as readings of Hudes plays not included in the main season. These staged readings will be announced throughout the season.
Founded in 1997, Profile Theatre produces seasons devoted to a single playwright, exploring both the writers themselves as well as their influence on both the theatrical world and the world at large.
