Fertile Ground 2024

APRIL 14 – 21, 2024:
New Works Premiere at Lakewood Theatre Company For Fertile Ground Festival
Single Tickets: $10 CLICK HERE
For the FG Festival Pass CLICK HERE

To download a flyer listing the shows CLICK HERE
Sponsored by: David B. Avison, City Of Lake Oswego, and Lakewood Center Of Associates.

Come to Lakewood Theatre Company to see brand new theatre works premiered through the Fertile Ground Festival. This year Lakewood will premiere new works as staged readings. Fertile Ground, a Portland-wide festival that involves local theatres, artists, and playwrights, “aspires to increase the appreciation for Portland’s lush creative culture, the artists and projects spawned right here in our native soil.” Fertile Ground is put on by the Portland Area Theatre Alliance, a nonprofit volunteer organization in collaboration with local non-profit theatres.

The Mall! The Musical! TICKETS
Book & Lyrics by Rachael Himsel, Music by Lisa Ritchel & Vahan Papakhian
Director Rachael Himsel
Performance Date: Sunday, April 14 @ 2:00pm
Running Time: 90 minutes with an intermission

Description: It’s 1999 at a totally tubular mall, and tensions mount at the food court when rival eateries declare a turf war. While two lonely souls wander through the mall lamenting their destiny of perpetual “Window Shopping,” the women at Sofie’s dress sale show their ugly side at “The Maul.” Will smoothies, friendship, pretzels and puppies be enough to bring this mall community together?

Young Playwrights Festival TICKETS
Featuring gifted young playwrights selected from the Portland Metro area
Director: Matthew Zrebski
Performance Date: Monday, April 15 @ 7pm
Running Time: 70 minutes with talk back to follow

Description: Young Playwrights Festival (YPF) is a collection of one act plays by outstanding High School playwrights selected from the Portland metro area to work with professional directors, actors and playwrights to gain insight, experience and feedback to develop their plays. The culmination of this process is to experience the audience response at this presentation of their work.

This year’s young playwrights are:
Ian Lafrenz*: Wells High School
Aspen Trout: Wells High School
Elena Valdovinos: Lincoln High School
Emilia Cafiso: Lincoln High School
Alyssa Cohen*: Sam Barlow High School
*Returning – participated in 2023

Twista Fate TICKETS
A two act play by Mike Westby
Director: Steve Coker
Cast: Tasha Danner, Dani Neblock, Patti Westby, Illya deTorres, Haddi Meyer.
Performance Date: Wednesday, April 17 @ 7:00pm
Running Time: Two hours with 15 minute intermission.

Description: Twin sisters Lara and Eddie share an apartment and a lifestyle paid for by their stepmother, Margret. All Margret seeks in exchange is that they care for each other and manage a happy life.  It is harder than it seems.  Eddie suffered a lack of oxygen at birth and has behavioral challenges and delays.  The guilt Lara feels grinds against her life as the constant reminder of what Eddie could be and isn’t because of her.  Enter Kevin, Margret’s charming new driver, whom she has set up with Lara.  Kevin hopes for the best but ultimately sees the worst in Lara, and comes to find much more in common with Eddie than anyone might imagine. 

It is a story about coming of age, and about coming home

Heaven and Hollywood  TICKETS
By Thomas Mason
Director: Annie Leonard 
Cast: Adam Roper, Michael Teufel, Connie Kirk
Performance Date: Friday, April 19, 2024 @ 7pm
Running Time: 1:30

Description: Heaven and Hollywood presents two one-act plays looking at icons of the stage and the screen. Act I – Noel Coward visits Oscar Wilde in heaven. They trade bon mots, talk about theater and dish about their loves. They ultimately delve into why Wilde, not Coward, became a gay icon. Adam Roper and Michael Teufel star.  Act II — A true story set in 1944 Los Angeles, Norman, an Army Intelligence agent, is tasked by the FBI to flesh out Hollywood communists. A spirited Katharine Hepburn fights back. Connie Kirk and Jon Bolden star. 

The Golden Thread TICKETS
Playwright:  C.S. Whitcomb
Director: C.S. Whitcomb
Cast: Kelsey Glasser, Tom Walton, Todd Hermanson
Performance Date: Saturday April 20, 2024 @ 2pm
Running Time: 90 minutes

Description: We all know the story of Helen Keller, the little deaf/blind girl in The Miracle Worker.  This is the story of what happened next.  How Helen and her teacher Annie Sullivan, herself uneducated, took on the challenge of an Ivy League education.  While grappling with questions such as was it possible for either of them to find love outside the intense partnership that became world renowned?  Or to find independence, or freedom, or joy? 

Starstruck: a musical journey through time with Judy Garland and Frances Farmer TICKETS
Book, Music, Lyrics by Jeffrey Michael Kauffman
Director/Musical Director JeffreyMichael Kauffman
Cast: Ava Rose, Kerie Darner, Lisa Knox, Barbara Ayars, Dirk Foley, Bobby Jackson, Michael Hammerstrom, Joey Klei, Alicia Green, Karyn O’Bryant, Aly Nordlie, Kenady Conforth
Performance Date: April 21 @ 2pm and 7pm
Running Time: 1hr 20 min with intermission

Description: A musical based on a real-life meeting between Judy Garland and Frances Farmer in Indianapolis in 1967.