Our 15th anniversary Festival of New Performance showcasing and supporting Pacific Northwest performing artists!
The Risk/Reward Festival showcases seven new works by indie performing artists from across the region. Come celebrate our 15th year blurring the boundaries of theater, music, dance, and performance art in new and surprising ways.
ANNOUNCING OUR 2023 FESTIVAL ARTISTS
HANNAH VICTORIA – dance theatre (Eugene, OR)
SLUMBER PARTY – theatre/ritual (Portland, OR)
EMILY JUNE NEWTON – physical comedy/clown/interactive (Portland, OR)
CLAIRE RIGSBY – physical theatre/installation (Portland, OR)
SHANNON STEWART | SCREAMING TRAPS – dance/prose (Detroit, MI)
MARISA & MARIBEL PLASENCIA – movement theatre/dance (Portland, OR/Houston, TX)
JAMES MAPES/FLY PAPER GAMES – interactive lobby installation (Portland, OR)
What happens when a drag performer writes their first play? The Portland Drag Theatre Workshop, curated by Anthony Hudson, in partnership with Risk/Reward, presents two afternoons of readings + previews of theatrical works by Portland drag performers who are best known for cabaret and nightlife, and who have been given time, support, and mentorship to develop and share something new and all their own. Presenting The View from My Back by Valerie DeVille, The Heist by Henry Felton (Kimber Shade), Campgrounds for Castration: An Emasculative Fantasia on Trans Phallicisms by James Michael Joiner (Loretta Lordchild), and Seasonal Delusions by Baby LeStrange, the Portland Drag Theatre Workshop will pair two previews each day at 2pm before the 15th Annual Risk/Reward Festival of New Performance, and is supported in part by the Regional Arts & Culture Council.
This year’s Festival of New Performance panel included:
Jerry Tischleder, Founder, Risk/Reward
Katie Watkins, Producing Artistic Director, Risk/Reward
Pat Moran, Associate Producer, Risk/Reward
Baby LeStrange
Gerrin Delane Mitchell
Oluyinka Akinjiola, Artistic Director, Rejoice! Diaspora Dance Theater & Assistant Professor of Dance, Reed College Jenna Tamimi
Taylor Eggan, Assistant Professor at Pacific Northwest College of Art
Jen Waters Whiteside Theatre, Corvallis, OR
Erin Johnson, Executive Director, Velocity Dance Center
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 20-minutes or less. 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.”
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:
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APPLICATIONS ARE NOW CLOSED FOR THE 2023 FESTIVAL
Email katie@risk-reward.org with any questions about the application form, the process, why you should apply, or to set up a coffee date to learn more about Risk/Reward Festival and all our yearly activities!
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Due to the popularity of our Pay-What-You-Will model —
we are making ALL TICKETS PAY-WHAT-YOU-WILL for the entire festival again this year!
Thanks to our festival sponsors!
