FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 19, 2006
Contact: Nicole Lane 360-601-4298
nicolealane@comcast.net

LENI
Written & Directed by
SARAH GREENMAN

Can a Single Piece of Art Really Be So Dangerous?
Portland Artists Converge Talent for this Production Powerhouse

Portland, Oregon – Insight Out Theatre Collective is proud to open LENI this Friday night, October 20, a play that showcases some of Portland’s best artists. The play features Portland actors JoAnn Johnson and Cecily Overman both of whom play Leni Riefenstahl. LENI will be directed by playwright and Insight Out Company Member Sarah Greenman. Original music for LENI is composed by Insight Out Company Member Eric Nordin. Company Member Kate Kauffman’s set design art is inspired by Franz Marc, a German Impressionist painter whose work was showcased at Hitler’s 1937 Degenerate Art Exhibit in Munich. Additional Portland designers involved in LENI are Insight Out Company Member Sam Kusnetz (Sound), Glenn Fujimura (Light), Lori Sue Hoffman (Costume), Lauren Brenneman (Props). The Stage Manager is Craig Annsa, the Production Manger is Samantha Swaim, Board Op is Dan Ruiz.

Insight Out will be the first theatre company to produce a full production of this acclaimed new work. This production of LENI will integrate multimedia aspects of Riefenstahl’s notorious films, Triumph of the Will and Olympia. An abbreviated and low-tech version of LENI was recently presented in May 2006 at the Mae West Fest in Seattle, where it played to completely sold out houses.

LENI is about the German filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl, whose two most known films, Triumph of the Will and Olympia, were funded by the Nazi Party. Riefenstahl's legacy is extremely contentious. She was both cinematic pioneer and propagandist. Triumph of the Will, is considered the most effective piece of propaganda ever made and is currently under lock and key in Germany. Riefenstahl claimed until her death in 2003 that her obsession with creating perfect art left her blind to the fascist propaganda machine that used her film to hypnotize a nation. LENI investigates Riefenstahl’s claim and the complex ramifications of her choices. LENI, set in the context of Riefenstahl directing her own autobiographical film, explores themes of artistic responsibility, modern media, and personal and social myth-making.

LENI runs for four weeks: Thursdays-Saturdays at 8:30 p.m., October 20 – November 11, 2006; with a Sunday matinee October 29 at 1 p.m. Opening Night is Friday, October 20. Performances will be held at The Academy Theater, a historic and newly renovated movie house, located at 7818 SE Stark Street, Portland, Oregon. Tickets are $15; Thursday performances are sliding scale $5-$15. Tickets are available at www.insightouttheatre.org or by calling 503.493.8070. Patrons are encouraged to arrive early to catch a unique multimedia segment beginning 20 minutes prior to the play. Guided Talk Backs will be held every night following the performance. LENI is sponsored by Parametric Marketing, eROI and the Jupiter Hotel.

Insight Out Theatre Collective
is a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization, dedicated to giving a voice to unheard stories and to celebrating cultural awakening. Through honoring the integrity of theatrical traditions and encouraging innovative technique,
our mission is to explore contrast and harmony through theatre, music and dance.
Insight Out Theatre Collective was founded in 2003 by Julianna Jaffe, Lindsay J. Lucas and Wade McCollum.
The organization has produced 10 theatrical productions.
The 2006-2007 season titled “destruction: creation” includes two mainstage productions in addition to staged readings in the spring.
LENI, written and directed by Sarah Greenman
The Yellow Boat, by David Saar and directed by Andrés Alcalá
www.insightouttheatre.org.
###

PLAYWRIGHT’S NOTES

What is an artist? And what exactly do they make? What rules are they bound by and what are their responsibilities? LENI began as a means to answer these and many other questions I had about artists and the nature of art. Now, three years after LENI’s inception, I have no answers and even more questions.

Leni Riefenstahl was a German filmmaker who worked for the Third Reich. Her 1934 film, Triumph of the Will supplied Hitler with a valiant, embattled epic. Fascism was mythic politics and Riefenstahl became its myth-maker. She was a child of the century and embodied some of its most troubling contradictions. She is still one of the most controversial image-makers of our time. Until her death in 2003, she adamantly claimed that her art was not political and her association with the National Socialists was merely circumstantial. Riefenstahl said “If an artist dedicates himself wholly to his work, he cannot think politically.”

LENI is about artistic responsibility. Its about an artist so obsessed with the need to create something perfect and transcendent that she allowed herself to ignore, if not be complicit with cataclysmic historical forces. LENI addresses issues surrounding personal and social myth-making, ambition, perfectionism and our own modern media. What cataclysmic forces are we ignoring? What known and unknown things will we be held accountable for? What kind of leader will guide us into the future with compassion, honor and true reverence?

Thank you for believing in the power of theater, the power of art and the power of story. Join us as we journey deep inside the mind and media of Leni Riefenstahl to discover why art can be a dangerous business.

-Sarah Greenman

“It is your work in life that is the ultimate seduction.”
-Pablo Picasso

“All true artists deeply love and revere the Führer. He is their friend and, when necessary, a generous protector. Never was there a royal patron who was so open-minded about the arts. His sense of what is beautiful has none of that unpleasant, pseudo-aesthetic quality of hedonistic selfishness. His is a sense of what is simultaneously useful and what is universal. Where art is great and promising, he reaches out to it with his patronage. He opens his heart and wallet—especially when it is a matter of bringing art to the people and the people to art.”
-Joseph Goebbels

“Leni Riefenstahl’s triptych of fascist visuals centers on the orgiastic transactions between mighty forces and their puppets. Its choreography alternates between ceaseless motion and a congealed, static, virile posing.”
-Susan Sontag

“Reality doesn’t interest me.”
-Leni Riefenstahl

More Information about Sarah Greenman: www.sarahgreenman.com

More Information about Leni Riefenstahl:
http://www.leni-riefenstahl.de/eng/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leni_Riefenstahl

Director: Sarah Greenman
Actors: JoAnn Johnson & Cecily Overman
Production Manger: Samantha Swaim
Stage Manager: Craig Annsa
Costume Design: Lori Sue Hoffman
Light Design: Glenn Fujimura
Set Design: Kate Kauffman
Sound Design: Sam Kusnetz
Props: Lauren Brenneman
Composer: Eric Nordin
Tech Crew/Board Op: Dan Ruiz

BIOGRAPHIES

Sarah Greenman (Director) is an actor, director, playwright and educator. Portland audiences may remember her as Lisa in IOTC’s 2005 production of ONE – The Musical. Other acting credits include Sure Thing for Paper Trail Productions (Seattle, WA), the Nurse in Romeo and Juliet, Mama Rose in Gypsy, Quilters, A Servant of Two Masters, Songs for a New World, Stop Kiss, 42nd Street, Taming of the Shrew, Fiddler on the Roof, Scrooge, The Nightingale, A Thousand Cranes, Little Women, Macbeth, and Cinderella for PCPA Theaterfest (Santa Maria, CA). Northwest directing credits include Twelfth Night for Paper Trail Productions, Leni for Mae West Fest 2006. Sarah holds a BA in creative writing from Mills College where she was awarded the Gertrude Hung Chan Playwrighting Prize for her original play Leni, based on the life of German filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl. Sarah is also a graduate of the Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts in Santa Maria, CA where she most recently served as Director of Outreach and Education. Sarah lives with her husband Jack and splits her time between Seattle and Portland

JoAnn Johnson (Actor) is a professional actor, director and choreographer. Her roles include Vivian Bearing in Wit and Flora in Humble Boy (Artists Repertory Theatre), Big Mama in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Portland Center Stage), Kate in All My Sons and Alice in Retreat From Moscow (Arkansas Repertory Theatre), Judith Bliss in Hay Fever and Madam Arcati in Blithe Spirit (Tacoma Actors Guild), Sarah Bernhardt in Memoir and Anna in Boston Marriage (Coho Productions) and Nancy in Seascape and Meg in The Birthday Party (Profile Theatre Project). Other theatres include The Old Globe, The Empty Space, Pioneer Theatre, Utah Shakespearean Festival, Sacramento Theatre Company and many seasons with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Directing projects in Portland include Crumbs from the Table of Joy (Artists Repertory Theatre), Macbeth (Quintessence), Masterpieces (Theatre Vertigo) and Big Love (University of Portland). JoAnn has toured to Asia, Africa and the Middle East in the role of A in Three Tall Women and taught at the Shilpakala Academy in Dhaka, Bangladesh. JoAnn was educated at Wells College and the University of Oregon. She has a BA in English and an MA in Rhetoric.

Cecily Overman (Actor) is ecstatic to be working with JoAnn, Sarah, and Insight Out on this project. She was last involved with Insight Out during the summer 2003 production of ONE as Evangeline. Other favorite roles in town include: Frogwoman in Frogwoman, Psyche in Cupid and Psyche at Stark Raving Theatre; Witch #1 and Porter in Macbeth and Antonia/Borachio in Much Ado at Quintessence Language and Imagination Theatre; Narrator/Grown Wendy in Peter Pan at Northwest Children's Theatre. Cecily graduated with a BA in Psychology and Theater from Whitman College in Walla Walla, WA. She is also proud to be a very recent addition to the Theatre Vertigo acting ensemble.

Samantha Swaim (Production Manager) is on the Insight Out Board of Directors and owns her own event planning and consulting business. She has a 14-year history of theatre production and management, with an emphasis in producing, directing and stage managing. She was also a production coordinator for the Grammy Awards in Southern California. Samantha has seven years experience in non-profit fundraising and Board of Directors development. Samantha has worked extensively with Insight Out as Development Director, Production Manager for Kindred and Stage Manager for ONE – The Musical. Samantha thanks Insight Out for infusing her life with creative energy.

Craig Annsa (Stage Manager) has been Stage Managing since 2003. In that time he's worked on Sympathetic Magic with Profile Theatre; Les Liasions Dangerous at PSU; Bus Stop, Spring Awakening, An Indian in The Bronx, and Refuge all at Williamstown Theatre Festival; A life in the Theatre and Wonder of the World at Lord Leebrick Theatre; Hot Hot Hamlet with E3 productions; and multiple shows main stage and otherwise at PSU and UO. He's also worked in various technical capacities for Portland Center Stage, Hand 2 Mouth Theatre, fever theatre, PICA, and Stark Raving Theatre. He'd like to thank his wife for her support, his ferret for not dying and his cat for not killing him, yet.

Lori Sue Hoffman (Costume Design) is a mother, co-artistic director, costume designer, artist, stylist, jewelry designer, accountant and actor. She has been involved in several productions in the Portland area as actor, director, costume designer and stylist. In 2006 Lori Sue received a Drammy award for her work on Doctor Faustus Lights the Lights, this is her first work with Insight Out. Lori Sue’s costume designs have been seen in Cloud 9 , A Murder of Crows, Killing Game, The Hyacinth Macaw, Like I Say and Second-hand Smoke.

Glenn Fujimura (Light Design) is a recent graduate of Lewis & Clark College here in Portland, receiving his B.A. in Theatre Arts with an emphasis in Lighting Design. Recently he has designed lights for: An American Daughter (Profile), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Lakewood), By the Bog of Cats (CoHo), and Anna in the Tropics (Lewis & Clark). Glenn’s future plans include figuring out what he would like to do with his life.

Kate Kauffman (Set Design) is an Insight Out company member and resident costume and set designer. Her recent work includes set and sculpture design for A Thought About Raya; set, prop, and costume design for Kindred; costume design for the Classic Greek Theatre’s new play What Mad Pursuit, as well as props and costume design for ONE: The Musical. She has also worked with Oregon Ballet Theatre, Portland Center Stage, and Imago Theatre. She currently works with Michael Curry Design, making large scale puppets of all shapes and sizes, and is enjoying expanding her artistic knowledge.

Sam Kusnetz (Sound Design) is a designer, composer, stage manager, and theatrical problem solver with over 150 productions to his name. He has toured nationally and internationally with Imago Theatre’s Frogz and Biglittlethings as Production Stage Manager and Lighting Director and currently serves as the Production and Stage Manager for Do Jump! Extremely Physical Theatre. His Off-Broadway credits include sound design for Dames at Sea, Doña Rosita, Arms and the Man, and Small Craft Warnings at the Jean Cocteau Repertory. Regional credits include the world premieres of A Girl Called Dusty at the Provincetown Repertory, and ONE: The Musical with the Insight Out Theatre Collective in Portland. He has composed scores for numerous shows at his alma mater, Brown University, including King Lear, Marisol and Macbeth, and designed sound for many others including the world premiere of Kid Simple. He spends his summers as head sound designer and production manager at Buck’s Rock Camp, a visual and performing arts camp in Connecticut, where he has designed sound for Amadeus, The Serpent, The Tempest, Metamorphoses, Urinetown, and many others. He is a founding member of the Anonymous Theatre Company, a teacher at Portland Actors' Conservatory, and a designer-in-residence with Insight Out Theatre Collective. Sam lives in Portland with his lovely wife Kerry. Additionally, Sam is totally excited about cake.

Lauren Brenneman (Props)

Eric Nordin (Composer) has been involved with Insight Out since its conception. He is the co-composer of ONE – The Musical by Wade McCollum. He received his BA in Piano Performance and Music Education from Southern Oregon University, in Ashland, and his MA in Music Composition and Conducting from Chico State University, in California. His interests tap into almost all aspects of the music world. As a pianist and vocalist, he has worked the gamut of musical genres from jazz, to classica,l to rock & roll, to opera and musical theater. He also is a self-published composer, writing for choir, jazz groups, symphonic band and piano. As a conductor, Eric has musical directed over thirty musicals and operas, as well as having been assistant conductor for the North State Symphony, in Northern California under maestro Kyle Wiley-Pickett. Above all, however, teaching has always been the underlying through-line for Eric. Having taught at a number of universities and community colleges, as well as children’s theater camps and musical theater and piano workshops, teaching music is his calling. He is currently Assistant Director of Forte Music School, in West Portland, where he teaches piano and voice.
Dan Ruiz (Tech Crew/Board Op) is an actor, director, and sometime stage manager and techie. Bored with twiddling his thumbs between theatre projects, he jumped at the chance to work on the crew of LENI because of a not-so-secret artistic crush on Insight Out Theatre Collective. He is also in awe of Sarah Greenman and would like to become her first official groupie.
 

INSIGHT OUT THEATRE  COLLECTIVE
Co-Founders: Julianna Jaffe & Lindsay J. Lucas & Wade McCollum

OUR MISSION…
The mission of Insight Out is to give a voice to unheard stories. Insight Out Theatre Collective is passionately devoted to celebrating cultural awakening. We are dedicated to honoring the integrity of theatrical traditions, while encouraging innovative technique. Our mission is to explore contrast and harmony through theatre, music and dance.

OUR VISION…
Insight Out celebrates our common human experience by acting as a cultural bridge. As American theatre artists, it is vital that we move beyond our borders to discover a world rich with diverse traditions. As cultural ambassadors, we will travel in the United States and abroad exchanging ideas and story telling traditions. We also look forward to bringing intercultural ideas and perspectives to local audiences by hosting national and international performance artists. Through these collaborations, we affirm that we are more alike than different.

OUR HISTORY…
Insight Out is a vibrant voice in the Portland theatre community, founded in 2003 by Julianna Jaffe and Lindsay J. Lucas and Wade McCollum. A Board of Directors was formed in April of 2004. The Advisory Council and Company Members were added initially in March 2005, but continue to grow.

Insight Out’s 2004-2005 season was titled “Women in Time.” The season featured CORNERED in the Dark, On The Verge and Live at the Rose Garden. All of Insight Out’s previous 2004-2005 productions were well received by theatre critics and Portland audiences. CORNERED in the Dark earned a Drammy Award for Outstanding Ensemble Acting. Details from past seasons can be seen on our website at www.insightouttheatre.org.

The phenomenal ONE – The Musical by Wade McCollum launched Insight Out’s 2005-2006 season titled “The Door Within.” In February 2006, Insight Out produced the Portland premiere of Kindred, a searing dark comedy by up-and-coming Los Angeles playwright Daniel Keleher. In April, Insight Out produced the brilliant absurdist comedy A Thought About Raya, created and performed by Hannah Bos and Paul Thureen, directed by Oliver Butler of New York’s The Debate Society.

“destruction:creation” is the theme of Insight Out’s 2006-2007 season. LENI, by Sarah Greenman begins the season with a multimedia exploration of art and politics via the life of Leni Riefenstahl. In January, Andrés Alcalá directs The Yellow Boat by David Saar about a boy with AIDS in collaboration with Do Jump! In June, we will produce a staged reading of an original work that is a collaboration between a Portland and a New York playwright on the themes of destruction:creation. Wade McCollum will direct another original work in progress, a multidisciplinary ensemble created production called For:Give, a piece inspired by Shakespeare’s The Tempest planned for next season.

Insight Out believes that the work of our theatre collective has a vital contribution to our community – expanding, confronting and illuminating human paradigms using the innovative integration of theatre, music and dance.
www.insightouttheatre.org


-30-