How to Catch Creation
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How to Catch Creation

By Christina Anderson Directed by Nataki Garrett West Coast Premiere
July 23 – October 26, 2019 Thomas Theatre

The birth of a legacy

Playwright Christina Anderson and director Nataki Garrett—OSF’s incoming artistic director—explore life’s connections and reverberations, sometimes decades in the making, in this contemporary play about legacy, life and love.

Four artists in the Bay Area find their lives unexpectedly intertwined — with each other’s and with the life of a black queer feminist writer from the 1960s — in this story that challenges our definitions of love, family and what it means to create.

In a recent interview with Booklist, Anderson explains why she wrote this play: “I feel Black women, specifically, have a history of being erased in terms of their literary contributions in America’s literature. In a lot of ways that’s true for women of color in general, so I think the most important part is to keep these women’s voices alive and active and circulating.”

Length: Approximately 2 hours, 31 minutes, including one intermission

#HowToCatchCreationOSF

Sponsors

  • PARTNERS
  • Sid and Karen DeBoer
  • The Teel Family Foundation
  • The Kinsman Foundation

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Suitability Suggestions

How to Catch Creation explores sophisticated themes of betrayal, redemption and choices about child bearing and raising in a complex way. There is profanity, but much meaning is also conveyed quietly in the silences between the lines. Best for high school students able to handle the subtleties and complexities of this moving adult story.

Accessibility

The Thomas Theatre is outfitted with an elevator to the theatre level.

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival is committed to accessibility. We recognize the needs of persons with disabilities and strive to make our facilities and productions accessible to all. OSF offers a variety of accommodations, outlined here.

 

Creative Team

* Member of Actors' Equity Association (AEA)
** AEA Professional Theatre Intern

Cast

Ensemble: Chris Butler*, Christiana Clark*, Taylor Fagins, Safiya Fredericks*, William Thomas Hodgson*, Kimberly Monks*, Greta Oglesby*

* Member of Actors' Equity Association (AEA)
** AEA Professional Theatre Intern

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Image of Thomas Theatre in Arena

As a result of the generous donation of $4.5 million from a group of donors, comprising of The Goatie Foundation, Roberta and David Elliott, and Helen and Peter Bing, in 2013 the New Theatre was renamed the Thomas Theatre in recognition of longtime OSF Development Director Peter D. Thomas, who died in March 2010.

The gift answered a challenge issued in 1993 when Jo Lynn Allen of the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, the lead donor for the construction of OSF’s New Theatre, passed on the opportunity to name the theatre, issuing the requirement for other donors to make a significant contribution to secure the naming rights. The combined gift from the above group of donors meets the Allen’s threshold, and gives them the naming rights.

The New Theatre opened in 2002 and it carries on the pioneering spirit of its predecessor, the Black Swan. Here, on this intimate and extremely versatile stage, we present new works and explore familiar plays in ways designed to challenge, excite and illuminate. Depending on the flexible seating configuration (thrust, arena, avenue) in use, the theatre seats from 270-360 audience members.

Our 2019 Season