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

The Yellow Boat
Written by David Saar
Directed by Andrés Alcalá

The Transcendent Art of a Child…

Portland, Oregon – With great honor, Insight Out Theatre Collective in collaboration with CITE Educational Theatre present The Yellow Boat, written by David Saar and directed by Andrés Alcalá. This stunning play tells the true story of the young and gifted visual artist Benjamin Saar, a hemophiliac, who contracts HIV, and then AIDS through a blood-transfusion. Benjamin creates inspired drawings and paintings that transform his pain and express his understanding of life. The play examines how fear and ignorance grip the perspectives of the adults who surround him only to be released by the heart and imagination of this young boy. Under the direction Andrés Alcalá and with the choreography of Robin Lane of Do Jump!, Benjamin’s imagination dances to life in vivid color sharing his powerful, transformational messages full of hope, art and life for ages 8 through 98.

The Yellow Boat runs for four weeks: January 19 – February 11, 2007 at Echo Theatre 1515 SE 37th Street. Portland, Oregon. Friday and Saturday the show begins at 8 p.m.; Sunday at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Opening Night is January 19, 2007. Tickets are $15; Sunday evening performances are sliding scale $5-$15 at the door. 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. Dynamic Talk Backs will be held after every performance.

The Yellow Boat is directed by Andrés Alcalá, a Drammy-Award winner for both directing and acting. He has also earned the Arizoni Award for Best Director in Phoenix, AZ. Alcalá has directed and performed extensively throughout Oregon and Arizona and has envisioned directing The Yellow Boat for many years. The play features Portland actors Matt Caffoni, Kurt Conroyd, Sarah Liane Foster, Julianna Jaffe, Andy Lindberg, Lindsay J. Lucas and Amaya Villazan with choreography from Robin Lane of Do Jump! Original music to accompany scripted lyrics is composed for this production by Wade McCollum. An Art Exhibit will be displayed featuring hospitalized young artists at Emanuel Children's Hospital.

The Yellow Boat is a recipient of the Distinguished Play Award from the American Alliance Theatre and Education. This production of The Yellow Boat gives Insight Out another opportunity to produce a play that addresses challenging themes and social issues with the aim of creating cross-generational and cultural dialogue through interdisciplinary performance art. The Yellow Boat is produced by special arrangement with Anchorage Press PLAYS, Louisville, Kentucky USA. The play is sponsored by Eyes on Broadway, Legacy Emanuel Children’s Hospital, Oregon Children’s Theatre, +alcheme creative, Smith Creative Group, Willamette Week, Metro Parent Magazine, eROI and the Jupiter Hotel.

CAST & CREW
Director: Andrés Alcalá
Actors: Matt Caffoni, Kurt Conroyd , Sarah Liane Foster, Julianna Jaffe, Andy Lindberg, Lindsay J. Lucas, Amaya Villazan
Production Manger: Andrés Alcalá
Choreographer: Robin Lane
Light Designer: Jeff Forbes
Sound Designer: Sam Kusnetz
Costume Designer: Katie Nowacki
Set Designer & Prop Master: Tony Fuemmeler
Composer: Wade McCollum

BIOGRAPHIES

Director

Andrés Alcalá (Director) Over the past year has performed in Metamorphoses at Artists Repertory Theatre, his one-man show Men On The Verge 2 and Clean with Miracle Theatre Company. Andy recently earned a Drammy Award for Best Actor for his craft in Men On The Verge 2. He has also performed with Profile Theatre in the Lisbon Traviata, and in Anonymous Theatre for Theatre Vertigo. He directed Ramona Quimby for the Oregon Children's Theatre in 2005. He has performed in Love! Valour! Compassion!, The Laramie Project, A Question of Mercy, and Touch for Artists Repertory Theatre. He is the artistic and executive director for CITE a Multicultural school-touring troupe that performs shows about Bully Prevention, Diversity, Recycling, Energy and Water conservation. Some favorite roles include Richard III and Iago for Southwest Shakespeare in Phoenix and Sedona, Arizona. For the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, he worked for two seasons as an actor playing The Moon in Blood Wedding, Florizal in A Winters, Curio in Twelfth Night, and Friar John in Romeo and Juliet. Last year, and recently again, he had the honor of performing with Do Jump! as Paolo Lugari in Entusiasmo! He has directed Edward II, Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Mid-Summer Nights Dream, Twelfth Night, and Much Ado About Nothing among others. He has received Arizoni awards for his work as an actor and director in Phoenix, as well as Drammy awards for his work as a director and an actor in Portland. Last Fall, he was seen in ONE - The Musical as John, Sid's father, and in the ensemble.

Actors

Matt Caffoni (Benjamin) most recently performed with Portland Center Stage as Chino in West Side Story. Portland audiences will remember Matt as the music producer, Gene/ensemble, in Insight Out’s 2005 production of ONE - The Musical. Other recent work includes: As You Like It (Hymen), A Christmas Carol (Dick Wilkins, Tailor), Fiddler on the Roof (title role), Hamlet (Osric/Hamlet), Measure for Measure (Lucio/Elbow), Angels In America (Prior Walter), Bent (Rudy), and Twelfth Night (Malvolio). A 2005 graduate of the Pacific Conservatory for the Performing Arts, Matt previously worked as a choreographer, assistant director, and producer.

Kurt Conroyd (Eddy/Ensemble) to come

Sarah Liane Foster (Ensemble) graduated with honors in creative writing from Brown University, after which she studied physical theatre at the Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theatre in northern California. Since then, she has been creating, performing, and teaching theatre in Portland, around the United States, and internationally. She has created four original shows with the Nomadic Theatre Company here in Portland. She enjoys walking on stilts, eating ice cream, and wrestling. She is quite happy to be working on The Yellow Boat, her second show with Insight Out.


Andy Lindberg (Benjamin’s Father) is a native of Portland, Oregon. As a young man he studied at the Portland Civic Theatre. More recently he has been performing with The 3rd Floor, Portland’s longest running sketch comedy troupe. More prominently Andy plays the part of Buckle in the pirate rock band Captain Bogg and Salty, whose second album Peg Leg Tango has been released to rave reviews from seven year-olds everywhere. For more information about this pirate adventure, please visit www.eatalime.com. Some of his favorite roles include Claudio in Death and the Fool, Pish in The Birds, and Costard the Swain from Love’s Labours Lost. He originated the role of Merlyn in the world premier of the musical Arthur and Merlyn: The Marvelous Sword in the Stone at the Northwest Children’s Theater. With Insight Out, Andy has performed as Grover/Nikky Paradise et al in On the Verge and as Dave/ensemble in ONE - The Musical. Mostly he enjoys singing and comfortable chairs. Mostly.

Julianna Jaffe (Joy) is a native of Las Vegas, Nevada. She is a graduate of the Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts, and holds a Bachelors of Fine Arts from Ithaca College. She has been a versatile actor in Portland since 2002.

Julianna's most recent performances include the roles of Yitzhak in Hedwig and The Angry Inch and Dr. Scott and Eddie in The Rocky Horror Show with triangle productions!, and Fatima in Insight Out's September 2005 production of ONE - The Musical. She has performed in many Insight Out productions including: Woman #3 in the Drammy award winning production of CORNERED in the Dark, as Fanny in On the Verge, Taurra Eliot in Live at the Rose Garden and ensemble member in We The People. She has also performed with The Oregon Cabaret Theatre, Oregon Shakespeare Festival (Black Swan Theatre), PCPA Theatrefest, Kitchen Theatre, and Theatre! Theatre! Julianna also has also worked with Tracy Broyles’ Theory 1:dance company, performed in He was Costuming Angels. Currently, Julianna is a Booking Manager and performer with CITE Educational Theatre, a multicultural school-touring troupe that performs shows about Bully Prevention, Diversity, Recycling, Energy and Water conservation.

Lindsay J. Lucas (Benjamin’s Mother) is a proud graduate of Pacific Conservatory of Performing Arts and The Dell'Arte International School of Physical Theatre. The East Coast, Europe and Portland, Oregon are Lindsay's theatrical stomping grounds.

Lindsay has performed in a wide variety of theatrical productions around the world. Some of her favorite roles include Stella in A Streetcar Named Desire, Maria in A Twelfth Night, Johnny Appleseed in Johnny Appleseed, Roxy in Bizarre Bazaar, Aphrodite in Trojan Women, Woman #2/Wind in Insight Out’s Drammy award winning production of CORNERED in the Dark and her ensemble work in 7 Great Loves. Lindsay was seen as Alex in Insight Out’s 2005 production of On the Verge. Lindsay has directed Insight Out’s ensemble-created productions, We The People and Live at the Rose Garden. Lindsay was the Assistant Director for Insight Out's September 2005 production of ONE - The Musical. Lindsay has taught at Northwest Children's Theater, Interlocken Crossroads, and Maui Academy of the Performing Arts. Lindsay teaches theater to at risk children and teenagers with PlayWrite INC. in Portland. She is currently a Booking Manager and Stage Manager with CITE Educational Theatre, a multicultural school-touring troupe that performs shows about Bully Prevention, Diversity, Recycling, Energy and Water conservation.

Amaya Villazan (Ensemble) has been working on the Portland stage since 2003. She moved here from Montreal, QC, where she graduated from Dawson College's Professional Theatre program with honors before deciding to continue her work as an artist here in the Northwest. Some favorite roles include Marguerite Ida/Helena Anabel in Dr. Faustus Lights the Lights (defunkt theatre), Laurencia in Fuente Ovejuna (Miracle Theatre), and Rosalind in As You Like It (PAE). She has also had the pleasure of working with other companies such as CoHo productions, Sojourn and now Insight Out Theatre Collective. Her daytime hours are wonderfully filled with performing theatre for K-12 students about environmental issues and bully prevention with CITE Educational Theatre.

Designers

Jeff Forbes (Light Design) is a Portland based lighting designer working primarily in theatre and dance. He is a 9 time winner of the Willie and Drammy Awards for theatre, for such companies as Artists Repertory Theatre, Imago Theatre, the Musical Theatre Company, Storefront Theatre, and Tygres Heart Shakespeare Co. He has also designed for American Repertory Theatre (Cambridge, Mass), the New Rose Theatre, Portland Repertory Theatre, Portland Center Stage, Portland Actors Conservatory, and many others. This is his first production with Insight Out Theatre Collective. He tours nationally and internationally with Imago's production of Frogz as lighting designer and stage manager, and as technical director/lighting designer for the Deborah Hay Dance Company. His work in Dance and Performance includes frequent collaborations with choreographers such as Linda Austin, Linda K Johnson, Do Jump! Movement Theatre, Monster Squad, Josie Moseley, Mary Oslund, Sally Silvers, and Cydney Wilkes. He is a co-founder, with Linda Austin, of Performance Works NW, for which he also serves as technical director.

Tony Fuemmeler (Set Design & Prop Master) is a mask-maker, performer, designer and educator. Since relocating to Portland, he has been working with Oregon Children's Theatre as a touring Stage Manager as well as with Many Hats Collaboration and Nomadic Theatre Company. His work has also been seen in works by various companies in NYC and Minneapolis. He is a graduate of the Dell'Arte International School of Theatre Professional Actor Training Program and has a BFA in Theatre Design from the University of Kansas. He is thankful to be surrounded by amazing people.

Sam Kusnetz (Sound Design) is a designer, composer, stage manager, and theatrical problem solver with over 160 productions to his name. He is proud to be the Production Manager/Technical Director for Do Jump!, and has toured nationally and internationally with Imago Theatre’s Frogz and Biglittlethings as Production Stage Manager and Lighting Director. 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 here in Portland, as well as Experiment With An Air Pump and The Sweetest Swing in Baseball for Portland Actors' Conservatory. 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. 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.

Katie Nowacki (Costume Design) bio to come