The Risk/Reward Festival showcases six new works by indie performing artists from across the region. Come celebrate our 11th year blurring the boundaries of theater, music, dance, and performance art in new and surprising ways.
BOUTON VOLONTÉ
Planet Pink | Vogue/Dance/Queer Art (Portland, OR)
ANGEL “MOONYEKA” ALVIAR-LANGLEY
In the White Frame | Dance/Street Styles (Seattle, WA)
CHERYL DELOSTRINOS / AU COLLECTIVE
Bayanihan: A Collection of Physical Tales | Dance (Seattle, WA)
ELI STEFFEN
War | Participatory Performance (Seattle, WA)
BRITT KARHOFF
WONDER FULL | Dance Theatre (Seattle, WA)
JOHN BERENDZEN
Air Objects #3 | Live Sound Installation (Portland, OR)
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Due to the popularity of our Pay-What-You-Will tickets last year — we are making ALL TICKETS PAY-WHAT-YOU-WILL for the entire festival again this year!
Get your Pay-What-You-Will tickets here!
LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR RISK/REWARD ARTISTS ON OUR BLOG
What is the Risk/Reward Festival?
Each day the festival includes the same six new works, performed back-to-back over a 2-hour extravaganza with short breaks and one intermission.
We solicit proposals from regional artists for new works that can be performed in less than 20-minutes. A panel of local artists and tastemakers select a lineup and we challenge the artists to run wild – encouraging creative risks, experimentation and bold investigation. No one really knows what to expect until opening night. Several performances are staged back-to-back nightly in a festive environment. Audiences come to sample a variety of artistic voices and art forms in what the Willamette Week calls, “speed dating for contemporary performance.”
Thanks to our festival sponsors!
The 2018 festival was curated in collaboration with a panel of regional artists and administrators including:
Jerry Tischleder | Producing Artistic Director [Risk/Reward]
Katie Watkins | Festival Director [Risk/Reward]
Erin Boberg Doughton | Artistic Director and Curator of Performance [PICA]
Alicia Jo Rabins | Poet/Musician/Performer
Dani Tirrell | Movement Artist
Aubrey Jessen | Playwright/Actor/Founding Member [Action/Adventure Theatre]
Subashini Ganesan | Creative Laureate of Portland/Founder/ED [New Expressive Works]
Sara Ann Davidson | Operations Manager [On the Boards]
Aiyana Cunningham | Actor/Director/Art Enthusiast/Director of Patron and Donor Relations [Profile Theatre]
Tracy Cameron Francis | Freelance Director
Anne Sorce | Performer/Creator
Kisha Jarrett | Audience Development and Marketing Director [Artists Repertory Theatre]
Toni Tabora-Roberts | Arts Activist/Consultant [Esper House]
The Risk/Reward Festival is dedicated to the presentation of new performance and preference is given to works that are currently in development or that have not been produced fully in the past. Risk/Reward addresses some of the most pressing needs of local artists and audiences by providing a platform for artists to present new work while introducing Portland audiences to artists from across the west coast.
The festival’s major goals are:
Want to participate in the Risk/Reward Festival?
We typically accept applications between December-February annually. You can reference the 2018 application HERE. To stay up-to-date on our next call for submissions, sign up for our mailing list.