Utilizing contemporary techniques in acoustics and sound design, seven artists have created sound installation pieces meant for a six-speaker array. The speaker array will be located in Cathedral Park, filling the space as well as interacting with its architecture. Attendants are welcome to stay for the duration and enjoy the pieces within the tranquil setting of the park’s landscape.
Projection of B-Format Signal Set Waves into Cathedral Park is supported by a grant from the Precipice Fund, part of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts' Regional Regranting Program, with additional support from the Calligram Foundation / Allie Furlotti.
Ben Glas
https://soundcloud.com/sound-portfolio
Justine Highsmith
http://justinehighsmith.tumblr.com/
Jesse Mejía
http://www.anestheticaudio.com/
CM Schneider
https://soundcloud.com/gummigummi
Anita Spaeth
https://soundcloud.com/sottovocesounds
Visible Cloaks
https://soundcloud.com/visiblecloaks
wndfrm
https://soundcloud.com/wndfrm
Closing reception at Beech Street Parlor
21:00 - 1:00
http://cathedralpark.audio/
Cherry | Lucic
cherryandlucic.com
Emily Goble
the same thing multiple times
8.19.15
6:30-10:00pm
Cherry and Lucic presents the same thing multiple times, an exhibition of new works by Emily Goble, a painter who lives and works in Portland, OR and Lille, France.
More info here.
Michael E. Smith
August 19 - October 8 2016
Opening Recption
Friday, August 19
5-7pm
Michael E. Smith was born in 1977 in Detroit, MI, USA. His objects and pictures as well as his videos seem like physical reconstructions of emotional disfigurement, his exhibitions like an archeology of humanity. He counters the ecological and economic disaster of our era with a materialism of basic needs, displayed as a layout of ruined bodies. Smith studies at the College for Creative Studies (CCS) in Detroit from 2004 until 2006. In 2008 he graduates from Jessica Stockholders' class at the Department for Sculpture at Yale University, New Haven. His latest exhibitions include the Whitney Biennial (2012), Culturgest Lisbon (2012), Les Ateliers de Rennes - Biennale D'Art Contemporain (2012), Ludwig Forum Aachen (2013), CAPC musée d’art contemporain, Bordeaux (2013), The Power Station, Dallas (2014), SculptureCenter, Long Island City (2015), De Appel, Amsterdam (2015) and Kunstverein Hannover (2015). Smith lives and works in Providence, RI
Jack Adams, better known as MUMDANCE, is an artist defined by an appetite to explore and unite music of different tempos, backgrounds and eras - and one who is rightly regarded as one of the UK's most crucial DJ/producers.
After first cutting his teeth working across various strands of more upfront, club-focused output in the mid-00s - including a brief spell under the tutelage of US super-producer Diplo - Mumdance started to embrace the full, widescreen scope of his musical influences, writing records that would span everything from hardcore to techno to grime.
Finding a sparring partner in Logos - a producer with a shared appreciation of dance music in its most abstract forms - Mumdance was soon running with ideas that challenged as much as they intrigued, a sentiment backed up by the release of inadvertent comeback record, 'Springtime' (released by UTTU), in 2012. Sugary, giddy and euphoric, it welcomed him into a buzzing scene of producers intent on treading their own path through club music - and gave Mumdance the perfect place from which to challenge its dynamics as he saw fit.
Releases with Rinse, with whom he has also hosted a monthly radio show since 2013, and most crucially, XL, were soon to follow in 2014 and 2015 respectively, as well as excursions with Pinch's Tectonic label and a new joint venture with Logos - the excellent Different Circles imprint, which birthed the "weightless" subgenre of electronica. It was 2014's 'Take Time' though - a collaboration with fierce young spitter, Novelist - that fully took the UK underground by storm and positioned Mumdance as a key player in the UK's club scene, as well as winning him plenty of fans within grime's blossoming instrumental framework.
A series of further highlights have also punctuated a hectic few years; an inaugural fabriclive CD, the rise of abstract, drone-inspired live act, The Sprawl, which he works on with both Logos and Shapednoise, tours of Europe, North America and Asia, numerous festival appearances and a number of collaborative projects that saw Adams record with local artists across Brazil, Mexico, Egypt and Japan, where he also joined forces with acclaimed video game producer Yuzo Koshiro, Shaangaan Electro prince Nozinja, Cumbia mogul Toy Selectah & Egyptian Maharagant Mc Sadat
Although complex, these various threads to Adams' career are a testament to not only his ear for sound, but hard work - all of which is motivated by a desire to leave a lasting mark on the musical landscape.
21+, $10 advance // $12 day of
Check out the 12th annual program of cinema under the stars. Doors open at 7 pm with food and beverages available for purchase from Gracie’s, Aladdin’s Café, Brass Tacks Sandwiches, and Sierra Nevada Brewing Company. Music begins at 8 pm and films begin around dusk. Entry for advance ticket holders is guaranteed until 8:30 pm. Advance tickets ensure that you will not have to wait in the ticket purchase line but do not guarantee entry after 8:30 pm. A limited number of chairs are available on a first-come, first-served basis, so feel free to bring a chair, pillow, or blanket, along with a light sweater or jacket. Advance ticket holders who arrive after 8:30 pm but are not admitted to the screening (in the case of a sell-out) may exchange their tickets for another Top Down screening. There are no refunds or exchanges for arrivals after the film begins (c. 9 pm) or for entirely missed screenings. Please, no pets or outside food or drink.
Advance tickets are available at nwfilm.org: $10 general; $9 student/senior/PAM member; $7 Silver Screen Club Friend. Tickets at the door are $12 general; $11 student/senior/PAM member; $9 Silver Screen Club Friend.
Download a printable PDF of the Top Down schedule
Want a series pass to Top Down? Join the Silver Screen Club at the Supporter level or above before June 30th and bring along a guest for free! Learn more
Films:
In this lecture/slapdash powerpoint/conversation, Sara Jaffe will discuss examples of “productive ambivalence” in writing, music, and visual art, offering strategies for conveying a sense of both/and in form as well as content. Likely touchstones include George Nakashima, Nina Simone, Thomas Bernhard, more. She will conclude with a short reading of new work. Conversation to follow.
Sara Jaffe is a writer, musician, and teacher living in Portland. Her novel Dryland was published by Tin House Books in 2015.
This event is sponsored by the Regional Arts and Culture Council.
Join Ross Fish of Møffenzeef Mødular for a conversation & workshop about drum sequencing and synthesis in the Eurorack modular synthesizer environment. Topics will include subtractive drum voices, FM drum voices, karplus strong synthesis, granular synthesis, timbre control, dynamic sequencing + clock modulation, etc.
Enrollment for this course is $5 for Synth Library members and $10 for non-members. No musical, audio, or synthesis experience required. If you have any questions please write us at s1synthlibrary@gmail.com. You must be 18+ to attend this course.
http://s1portland.com/workshops/drumsequencing/
A solo snare drum performance by Ryosuke Kiyasu.
Fiasco (8:00PM)
Doug Theriault( 8:45PM)
Uneasy Chairs (9:15PM)
Daniel Menche (9:45PM)
Ryosuke Kiyasu (10:30PM)
Door: $5-15
~~~~~
Ryosuke Kiyasu
http://www.kiyasu.com/
"started solo snare drum performances since 2003. He has played solo performance shows in USA, Canada and Korea. Also he is known as drummer of his leader's band SETE STAR SEPT, Kiyasu Orchestra and Keiji Haino's band FUSHITSUSHA."
Daniel Menche
http://danielmenche.bandcamp.com/
Doug Theriault
http://dougtheriault.bandcamp.com/
Uneasy Chairs
http://uneasychairs.bandcamp.com/
Fiasco
http://fiascopdx.bandcamp.com/
Please join the last opening of the summer at PMOMA w/ performances from Raul De Neives, Jason Fitz, and Keyon Gaskin.
Raúl De Nieves is a multi-media artist, performer and musician based in Brooklyn, New York. Inspired by themes of excess, identity, fantasy and psychological transgression, as well as the decorative art and craft practices of his Mexican heritage, his work includes narrative painting, decadent multimedia performance (often with his band Haribo), large-scale figurative sculptures and ornamented garments.
Jason Fitz is a Los Angeles-based interdisciplinary artist whose work spans performance, installation, objects and film. Building on psychoanalytic theory and metaphysical spirituality, his work is a meditation on the human body’s experience of transformation. Using a variety of materials, Fitz plays with the power and potential that can be revealed from experimentation with identity. His alter ego, "Joy," dons long hair, wide glasses, a necklace and a silent stare. Through the Joy character, which he describes as "an expression of his inner self," Fitz interrogates the realms of self-help, subconscious identity, and the limit-less potential of the body.
Creative collaborators for over a decade, De Nieves and Fitz have summoned the androgynous, multivalent Joy persona for performances in Berlin, San Francisco and New York. Their presentation for PMOMA brings Joy to Portland with an expansive play that imagines this character as the first human being ever to exist on Earth. THE FIRST PERSON invites spectators to reflect on the joy that lives inside each of us, and the unique elation that animates body, mind and spirit when we make contact with our inner fantasies.
THE FIRST PERSON play will be performed by De Nieves and Fitz at the opening night party on August 13th at 8pm, with a complimentary performance from Keyon Gaskin. Their individual works of sculpture, paintings, costumes and silk scarves will be on display from August 13th to October 12th, 2016.
Check out the 12th annual program of cinema under the stars. Doors open at 7 pm with food and beverages available for purchase from Gracie’s, Aladdin’s Café, Brass Tacks Sandwiches, and Sierra Nevada Brewing Company. Music begins at 8 pm and films begin around dusk. Entry for advance ticket holders is guaranteed until 8:30 pm. Advance tickets ensure that you will not have to wait in the ticket purchase line but do not guarantee entry after 8:30 pm. A limited number of chairs are available on a first-come, first-served basis, so feel free to bring a chair, pillow, or blanket, along with a light sweater or jacket. Advance ticket holders who arrive after 8:30 pm but are not admitted to the screening (in the case of a sell-out) may exchange their tickets for another Top Down screening. There are no refunds or exchanges for arrivals after the film begins (c. 9 pm) or for entirely missed screenings. Please, no pets or outside food or drink.
Advance tickets are available at nwfilm.org: $10 general; $9 student/senior/PAM member; $7 Silver Screen Club Friend. Tickets at the door are $12 general; $11 student/senior/PAM member; $9 Silver Screen Club Friend.
Download a printable PDF of the Top Down schedule
Want a series pass to Top Down? Join the Silver Screen Club at the Supporter level or above before June 30th and bring along a guest for free! Learn more
Films:
Breaking A Monster chronicles the break-out year of the band Unlocking The Truth, following 13-year-old members Alec Atkins, Malcolm Brickhouse and Jarad Dawkins as they first encounter stardom and the music industry, transcending childhood to become the heavy metal rock stars they always dreamed of being.
Watch trailer here
Presented by Sonic Cinema
$9
Diagonal 5th Birthday Tour:
LIVE
Powell
Russell Haswell
Not Waving
DJ
Jaime
Siobhan (Women's Beat League)
http://diagonal-records.com/
21+, $10
Cash Bar/Door
ADA Accesible
Free for $10 Members http://s1portland.com/membership
On view: August 8-31 2016
Reception: Wednesday August 10, 6-8 PM
Maddy Inez Leeser & Tony Chrenka | crumbs of paper
"...crumbs of paper which until then are without character or form, but, the moment they become wet, stretch themselves and bend, take on colour and distinctive shape, become flowers or houses or people, permanent and recognizable" - Michel Proust, Swann's Way (1912)
Maddy Inez Leeser is an LA based artist, currently practicing in Portland Oregon. She obtained her BFA at Pacific Northwest College Art with a major in Intermedia Arts and a focus in Printmaking and Sculpture. Her work integrates ideas of neuroscience such as our senses and how they drive us psychologically. She works with concepts that deal with human’s relationships to objects and collections. She is currently working with ideas of pseudoscience, alchemy, memory and smell.
Tony Chrenka (b. 1992, Minneapolis, MN.) is an artist and curator living in Portland, OR. He has shown in one person exhibitions at S1 (Portland, OR.), and through Amur Initiatives. Recently he has been shown along other artists at Reed Art Week (Portland, OR.), Keenan’s Room (Los Angeles, CA), threefourthreefour (New York, NY.), WAKE (New Haven, CT.) and Umi No Hi (Brooklyn, NY.). Tony collaboratively curates shows with Flynn Casey under the gallery name Muscle Beach in Portland, Oregon. Artist website: tonychrenka.com
The Littman and White Galleries are student-run exhibition spaces at Portland State University. Our mission is to provide tools for a critical experience of contemporary art for students and community members through comprehensive programming. We envision the Littman and White Galleries as centers for cultural enrichment where an indispensable art experience is accessible to all perspectives and levels of education.
Gallery site: littmanwhite.tumblr.com
Please Kill Me: The Uncensored History of Punk 20th Anniversary Book Tour at Ace Hotel featuring writers Gillian McCain and Legs McNeil.
"We figured the best way to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of Please Kill Me; The Uncensored Oral History of Punk and the 40th Anniversary of the Ramones playing CBGB's for the first time, would be to take the show on the road, touring the Ace Hotels throughout the summer, reading from the 20th Anniversary Edition, as well as telling stories, playing great tunes as guest DJ's, and partying up a storm!" – Gillian McCain
"The raw humanity and free spirit of artists such as Patti Smith, The Ramones and Iggy Pop have always been an inspiration for Ace. Please Kill Me was one of Alex's favorite books, so to host the 20th anniversary tour with Legs and Gillian is an immense honor." – Kelly Sawdon, Partner and Chief Brand Officer, Ace Hotel.
A Time Out and New York Daily News Best Book of the Year when it came out in 1996, PleaseKill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk has now become a contemporary American classic, giving a complete analysis of the punk phenomenon from its origins in Andy Warhol's New York to its last gasps in the 1980s. The book features reports from famous and infamous punks who lent their voices to chronicle a musical and social revolution, including lggy Pop, Richard Hell, Patti Smith, Dee Dee and Joey Ramone, Malcolm McLaren, Jim Carroll, Debbie Harry, Lou Reed and many more.
As 2016 marks the 20th anniversary of Please Kill Me, Grove Press is issuing a special edition of the book complete with new photos, interviews and an afterword by authors Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain. When Please Kill Me came out in 1996 it was revolutionary, not just because it unabashedly chronicled America's punk movement through first-hand accounts, but because it helped to popularize the oral history style, later perfected in Edie: American Girl by Jean Stein and George Plimpton. McNeil and McCain sum up the beauty of the form: “The narrative oral history is such an incredible format because it draws from every art form,” they write, “the chapters have the rhythm of song, the cuts are cinematic, newspaper headlines can punctuate incidents, slang is celebrated, and first-hand accounts bring the poetry of the spoken word.”
In celebration of the anniversary, Ace Hotel – who cites punk amongst its influences – is honored to host a series of events across six properties, which will combine readings by the authors along with DJ parties and festivities to mark the occasion.
Free, All Ages
Gran Ritmos is a party that seeks to explore new and old sounds of dance music in Latin and Pan-American regions. Hosted by Coast2c & Michael Bruce.
Cumbia, Reggaeton, Dancehall, Ruidoson, Moombahton, Bass, Baile Funk, Tecno Brega, Rasterinha, Tribal Guarachero, Dembow, Club, Utopian and everything in between.
Nicola Cruz
https://soundcloud.com/nicolacruz
Nicola Cruz is a producer, musician and DJ born in France, from an American family. He currently works and lives in Quito, Ecuador, in the heart of the Andes. His career began as a percussionist, which later led him to electronic music. He seeks to include sources of very different nature, in particular the passion for the landscapes of his land, with their cultures, rituals and rhythms. Thus his music radiates an intimate understanding of nature. However, in this mixture always prevails a delicate balance of forces: His music is deeply rhythmic but without neglecting the melody, and despite training in collaboration with artists from different times and places, never stops being intimate.
Through his musical connection between past and present, traditional and modern, he is on a quest to make music with a spiritual component, with consciousness, exploring indigenous cosmology and African region.
Natural Magic
https://soundcloud.com/thenaturalmagic
Natural Magic Holding down the outsider-balearic-psychedelic frequencies Portland chapter, Natural Magic are Pacific Northwest gurus Mike McKinnon and Matthew Quiet. Their infamous Limited Edition parties are intimate, klipschorn powered quarterly affairs featuring one DJ, all night. Curators of sacred moments and emotions, they are irreverent crowd-pleasers with a third ear towards the sunrise.
2Tabs (Coast2c + Michael Bruce)
https://soundcloud.com/granritmos/2tabs-winter-mix-2016
2TABS --> Fierce sounds, guaranteed! Coast2c + Michael Bruce.
21+, $10 advance / $12 day of
Gran Ritmos is a party that seeks to explore new and old sounds of dance music in Latin and Pan-American regions. Hosted by Coast2c & Michael Bruce.
Cumbia, Reggaeton, Dancehall, Ruidoson, Moombahton, Bass, Baile Funk, Tecno Brega, Rasterinha, Tribal Guarachero, Dembow, Club, Utopian and everything in between.
Nicola Cruz
https://soundcloud.com/nicolacruz
Nicola Cruz is a producer, musician and DJ born in France, from an American family. He currently works and lives in Quito, Ecuador, in the heart of the Andes. His career began as a percussionist, which later led him to electronic music. He seeks to include sources of very different nature, in particular the passion for the landscapes of his land, with their cultures, rituals and rhythms. Thus his music radiates an intimate understanding of nature. However, in this mixture always prevails a delicate balance of forces: His music is deeply rhythmic but without neglecting the melody, and despite training in collaboration with artists from different times and places, never stops being intimate.
Through his musical connection between past and present, traditional and modern, he is on a quest to make music with a spiritual component, with consciousness, exploring indigenous cosmology and African region.
Natural Magic
https://soundcloud.com/thenaturalmagic
Natural Magic Holding down the outsider-balearic-psychedelic frequencies Portland chapter, Natural Magic are Pacific Northwest gurus Mike McKinnon and Matthew Quiet. Their infamous Limited Edition parties are intimate, klipschorn powered quarterly affairs featuring one DJ, all night. Curators of sacred moments and emotions, they are irreverent crowd-pleasers with a third ear towards the sunrise.
2Tabs (Coast2c + Michael Bruce)
https://soundcloud.com/granritmos/2tabs-winter-mix-2016
2TABS --> Fierce sounds, guaranteed! Coast2c + Michael Bruce.
21+, $10 advance / $12 day of
One night only with 3 sound sets:
Takahiro Yamamoto + Shin Kawasaki (movement & guitar)
Sad Horse (Geoff Soule & Elizabeth Venable)
Coordination (Lisa Schonberg & Anthony Brisson)
takahiroyamamoto.com
shinkawasaki.com
sadhorse.bandcamp.com
lisaschonberg.com
$5
In the life of Nathan Williams, the year of 2009 will go down as both a highlight reel and a total shit show. Meteorically, feverishly and somewhat improbably, two albums worth of naïve punk rock he recorded behind his parents' San Diego home as Wavves became a sensation in the world of indie music. As a result, passports got filled, capers got pulled off and lots of good things got said about the music in both print and digital ink, plus in actual human voices. At the same time, fights got fought, situations got hairy and people got indignant and mean.
What's important now is that, in the beginning of 2010, Williams made King of the Beach, the new Wavves album. King of the Beach is an adventurous and ambitious record. It cuts deeper into the bleeding throat catharsis and '60s sunshine soul that Wavves is known for. It also unexpectedly flips out with elements of primitive electronics and psychedelic studio experimentation.
"There was a conscious effort going into this that I didn't want to make the same record again. I already made the same record twice, with the same fucking cover art," says Williams. "It wasn't overbearing, but I didn't want to recreate something I'd done. I wanted to make something bigger, something stronger."
Unlike Wavves' previously released material, recorded in haphazard bursts on Williams' laptop, King of the Beach was toiled over for three months at Sweet Tea Recording, a world-renown studio in Oxford, Mississippi. Sweet Tea is also the home of Dennis Herring, producer of the last two Modest Mouse albums, and the man who dismantled and re-assembled the sound on this record.
All the rumors are true: Herring is a studio perfectionist. Williams is not. "There were some definite 'I want to wring you neck'-type moments," Williams says of the sessions, but he also understood that, with the resources he had available to him, he'd be stupid not to make the album sound exactly how he wanted it. "When you're not watering it down with a load of shit and reverb, it's a lot harder to make a record, because you know every part is going to be heard perfectly. You can't half-ass anything," says Williams. "A lot more effort went into this than with previous Wavves records."
Another marked difference in the making of King of the Beach was that Williams wrote and recorded two songs with bassist Stephen Pope and drummer Billy Hayes, the duo who became his touring band at the end of 2009. Pope and Hayes formerly backed recently departed garage rock force of nature Jay Reatard. Williams met the two after his infamously disastrous performance at the Primavera Sound Festival in Spain. "I think we all agree that they squeegeed me up, because I melted down." says Williams.
Though there is a confidence in the scope of the album-from the title track's denim on sand anthem-baiting to the tweaked pop of "Convertable Balloon" to the unabashed prettiness of "When Will You Come"-Williams' usual lyrical themes of self-loathing are still impossible to ignore. "I think everybody feels that way sometimes. I know everybody feels that way sometimes. You're a fucking liar if you don't," says Williams. "It wouldn't make sense if I'm feeling a certain way to not write about it. There are songs about hating myself, but there are also songs about driving in a car with a balloon and playing Nintendo too."
In the end, though, King of the Beach is not an album for the miserable. While the verses of "Take on the World" enumerate the things Williams hates (his writing, his music, his self) the chorus resolves into a simple, bold repeated phrase: "To take on the world would be something."
The album title King of the Beach isn't meant to be ironic or a self-deprecating joke. It's a declaration. "Without sounding cheesy, we all wanted to make something inspiring," says Williams. "It's the type of thing where you have this much, but you could have more, so go get it."
$20.00 advance tix from Cascade Tickets.
$23.00 at the door.
Exhibition dates: July 29 – October 1 , 2016
Opening reception: Friday, August 5, 6-8pm
*The Cascade Stereoscopic Club will offer a short demo, 'Introduction to Stereoscopic (3D) Photography' from 7:00 to 7:30pm.
Check bit.ly/NSupcoming for info on related programs.
Our City in Stereo, a project led by local artist Sharita Towne, combines the old medium of stereo views with stereo interviews to explore the topic of gentrification in Portland. The project relies heavily on community collaboration and site-specific conversation, featuring extensive interviews with local residents—teachers, artists, organizers, and local business owners. In this way, viewers can see in depth, but also hear in depth how gentrification operates and the ways in which people contend with it. This combination brings us to a third depth—a conceptual depth—in a rapidly changing city.
The exhibition at Newspace will invite viewers to engage with stereography in different forms, spanning from early twentieth-century stereoscopic viewers to modern-day stereo technology. Visitors will also have the opportunity to hear stories and testimonials by Portland residents who have witnessed and experienced firsthand the changes to their immediate surroundings, and contribute their own experiences and points of view into an interactive timeline. Our City in Stereo will release a tri-weekly podcast throughout the exhibition that can be found at www.ourcityinstereo.com(URL will be activated in conjunction with exhibition opening).
Schedule of podcast release:
August 20: Episode 1 available online (includes gallery audio + more)
September 10: Episode 2 available online
October 1: Episode 3 available online
About the artist:
Sharita Towne works collaboratively in research, education, print media, video, and socially engaged art projects. She’s pursued work at concentration camp memorials in Germany, at Saharawi Refugee camps in Algeria, in Brazil, Chile, Spain, Palestine, and gentrifying cities like Portland. Her work takes place in museums, schools, print shops, community centers, neighborhoods, and within her own family. Towne works within the collective URe:AD Press (United Re:Public of the African Diaspora) and the postcolonial conceptual karaoke band Weird Allan Kaprow. She currently teaches at Pacific Northwest College of Art and is 2015 Art Matters Grantee.
About the Gentrification in Portland residency program:
In Summer 2015 Newspace announced an open call for projects by local artists employing image-based practices that represent, track, and investigate the issue of gentrification and displacement in Portland, with a requirement of community collaboration in the development and presentation of the project. Towne’s project Our City in Stereo was selected and developed in residence at Newspace and C3:Initiative from January to July 2016 for an exhibition in summer 2016 at Newspace.
It's time for the Stumptown Improv Festival! A full list of performers can be found here.
Lineup
THURSDAY AUG. 4
7:30PM SHOW
BANG + BURN
Bang + Burn is a two-man improvised show that creates an original spy-action thriller on the spot. Caution is thrown to the wind, nobody escapes unscathed, and two guys play a whole cast of wild characters. Read more
SUMMERLAND
Summerland is the feeling of the sun on your face and warmth in your heart, the feeling of freedom when driving a vintage 1962 MG Midget down the Pacific Coast Highway with nothing but possibilities ahead. Also, it’s a premier duo improv group based in Los Angeles. Read more
BRODY THEATER
Brody Theater has over 20 years under its improv belt. With a duel focus on entertainment and experiment, The Brody creates both audience pleasing performances and cutting edge theatrical presentations. Read more
9:30PM SHOW
TEDX RFT
With slides they’ve never seen and topics from the audience, TEDxRFT presents completely improvised TED Talks right before your eyes. Read more
TBD
It’ll be amazing. Trust us.
THE KNOCKOUTS
The Knockouts are a talented trio of improvisers from Portland Oregon. They blend characters, wit, and wonder into a charming and hilarious tapestry. All three are masters of the craft, whose smart and honest play enchants as it entertains. Read more
FRIDAY AUG. 5
7:00PM SHOW
DEATH AND TAXES
Death and Taxes is Chris Allen and Graham Downing, who met at Jet City Improv in Seattle and have been performing together for nearly a decade. Their format is completely open and nothing is pre-set. Read more
Death and Taxes is Chris Allen and Graham Downing, who met at Jet City Improv in Seattle and have been performing together for nearly a decade. Their format is completely open and nothing is pre-set. Read more
BROKE GRAVY
Recipe for Portland-style “Broke Gravy”: One part Leon Anderson, one part Eric Simons, one part Chris Williams, a pinch of chaos, season with audience inspiration to taste. Bring to a boil. Enjoy. Read more
8:30PM SHOW
SUNDAY SERVICE
With over 20 Canadian Comedy Award Nominations, a CCA Best improve Troupe Award in 2012, and international recognition, The Sunday Service present to audiences across North America a fast paced and singular take on traditional long form. Read more
TUNNEL
TUNNEL is an improv six-pack comprised of friends based in Portland, OR. TUNNEL features transplants from the New York, Chicago and Austin comedy scenes, plus some authentic native Portlanders (a rare treat indeed). TUNNEL performs regularly at Kickstand Comedy Space’s Tuesday night improv showcase, The Velodrome. Read more
10:00PM SHOW
MAGNET THEATER
The best and the brightest from The Magnet Theater in NYC come together for an unbelievable showcase of long-form improvisation. Read more
JULIET & JULIET
Juliet & Juliet perform improvised plays in the style of William Shakespeare. Our two Juliets are drawn together by a mutual love of theater, classic literature, and convoluted sentences. Read more
SATURDAY AUG. 6
7:00PM SHOW
VIRGINIA JACK
Inspired by art house cinema and a penchant for the fantastically bizarre, a Virginia Jack show is brash and compelling. Taking place in one location, this narrative long form piece begins with layered, co-created characters shared by two mischievous performers who don’t even know where the beaten path is. Read more
CURIOUS COMEDY THEATER
Curious Comedy Theater presents our main stage team Hood performing their fast paced, super playful, highly entertaining brand of improv. Curious Comedy Theater is located in Portland’s Alberta Arts district and produces improv, sketch and stand up shows every Thursday through Sunday. Read more
8:30PM SHOW
NORTH COAST
North Coast is New York City’s premier hip hop improv comedy team. “If you can’t decide between going to a comedy show and going to a party, these guys have you covered both ways.” –TimeOut NY Read more
J NAMES
If you were to make a top-ten list of the best Improvisors in Portland, coincidentally (or not so coincidentally) most of the names on that list are J Names. Read more
10:00PM SHOW
ORANGE TUXEDO
Two person improv from Los Angeles improvisers and married couple, Carla and Craig Cackowski. Read more
THE LIBERATORS
The Liberators have been dubbed “Portland’s best improv troupe” (Willamette Week), and “improv ninjas” (Portland Theatre Scene) and they have been bringing their signature brand of improv since 2006. Read more
About
“The Stumptown Improv Festival is officially a thing now, and word’s getting out!”
–The Portland Mercury
The Stumptown Improv Festival’s first two years have been bonkers (or, as Jed likes to say, “bonkerz”). We’ve sold out shows and forced audience members to sign up for obscenely long waiting lists. We’ve attracted some of the most well-regarded improv groups performing today from LA, NYC, San Franscisco, Vancouver, BC, Minneapolis, and, of course, Portland. Performers who are vets on the festival scene have raved that “this is one of the best festivals we’ve ever been a part of”. We’ve offered huge gift bags to our comedians and gave people leather coasters embossed with our logo. We are OUT OF CONTROL.
Will we “rock steady” again in 2016? Answer: will will “steady rock all night long”. We’re going to alleviate those aforementioned waiting lists because we’re heading across the river to Artists Repertory Theatre! More seats = more comedy. So if you don’t get in to see a show this year, you’re just plain lazy. We’re already reaching out to some of the best groups around the country to help us christen our new venue. We might even smash a champagne bottle on the side of the building, if they let us! Stay tuned for more exciting news. We. Cannot. Wait. For. Summer.