Lora Grasshopper Kitty Cat - program notes
Credits
Co-Writers: Ben Moorad and Lora Lafayette
Director: Erin Leddy
Dramaturg & Production Manager: Maesie Speer
Performer/Creators:
Alanna Fagan (Lora) Alanna is a femme-presenting Asian with long black hair in a braid. They're wearing a black crop top and black joggers.
Lily Linz (Lora) Lily is a 23 year old white woman with brown shoulder length hair and green eyes. She's wearing all black and has tattoos of an apple juice box, a coffin and a hand of playing cards.
Mary Rose (Lora) Mary Rose is 44 year old white (pinkish complexioned) female bodied person. She/they have short grey hair with variable-length bangs that stand up a bit and also fall to the right side of her face. She has brown eyes, is 5 ‘4”, and has a smaller frame. She is wearing a black shirt with no sleeves and black leggings.
Ben Moorad (Ben) Ben is a white male with green eyes and short hair that’s brown and gray. He's wearing a black T-shirt, gray pants and black socks.
Lora Lafayette (herself) Lora is sitting in the front row and is wearing cat ears.
Access Coordinator: Becky Emmert
House Access Manager: Ryan-Ashley (Ray) Anderson
Access Consultants: The Curiosity Paradox (Grant Miller and Jonathan Paradox Lee)
ASL/English Interpreters: Lavender Cygnet and Jasmine Smith
Audio Describer: Barb Green
Composer: Wilson Vediner
Lighting Designer: Rikkia Pereira
Stage Manager: Victoria Spelman
House Manager: Alyssa Mathews
Rehearsal Support: Joaquin Lopez and Jenni GreenMiller
Videography: Jesse Locke
Scenes & content notices
Scene 1: Kitty Cat (CN: violence, suicide, death, hearing voices)
Scene 2: Writing and Childhood (CN: mental illness, hearing voices, childhood sexual assault, violence)
Scene 3: Psychiatry (CN: hearing voices, suicide, violence, incarceration/hospitalization, mental illness, psychological distress, suicidal ideation, self-harm)
Scene 4: Youth and Russia (CN: sex work, suicidal ideation, hearing voices, death, incarceration/hospitalization, drug and alcohol use)
INTERMISSION (15 min)
Scene 5: Friendship (CN: death)
Scene 6: Psychotic Break (CN: death, mental illness, hearing voices, psychological and physical distress, self-harm, incarceration/hospitalization, suicide)
Scene 7: Voices (CN: hearing voices, violence, psychological distress, visions, suicidal ideation, mentions of rape and genocide)
Scene 8: Care (CN: hospitalization, suicide, suicidal ideation)
What we mean by a “workshop performance”
This is a stripped-down production of a work in progress. We’ve decided to present this to you first – at this stage – for several reasons. This is our first theatrical production as a creative team, it’s an original script that has undergone many revisions and is still in development, and for many of us, this is our first experience working with access professionals to make a truly access-forward show. We wanted to present this to you now and learn what’s working well and what’s not, so we can change what needs to be changed and improve things before we launch a full production. (We hope to stage that full production in 2024. Stay tuned for details!)
In the interest of keeping this workshop version at about 90 minutes, we’ve had to leave out some parts of the script that we think will feature in the full production. These include:
The grasshopper! (It’s right there in the title, but we had to cut back some scenes that introduce and develop that theme and what it says about the characters’ relationships to death.)
A scene where Lora explores what it was like to be institutionalized in the State Hospital for two years.
A scene where we explore the complex web of medicines Lora’s been given over the years and how they’ve affected her.
The full production will also feature: immersive visual projections; scenic, costume and prop elements; live music and more immersive sound elements. Thank you for being a part of this journey!
Artist bios
Alanna Fagan (any) is not a kitty cat, but is aiming to be one in the next life. She is scared of feet more than hands, and wonders how the screams we cannot stop will feel once they reverberate through the bank to reach us. Recent credits include: In a Different Reality She's Clawing at the Walls, and the JAW New Play Festival. They send so much love to this team, this audience, & all the Loras out there. @avelyesqe
Alyssa Marie Mathews is a puppeteer, theatre-maker, and all-around artist. She has over 15 years of theatre experience across many different areas but nowadays puts a focus on puppetry and management. She currently works with Hand2Mouth Theatre as their Operations Manager and with the touring sci-fi/horror/comedy/rock musical troupe Puppeteers For Fears as Managing Director + Lead Puppeteer.
Becky Emmert is the first Head of Accessibility at Portland Art Museum. She is a proud Disabled, Chronically Ill, Neurodivergent, Spoonie who is a member of the Deaf Community. Becky has coordinated Independent Living and youth transition programs, taught university rehabilitation counseling courses, worked as a mental health counselor and case manager, and served on multiple government committees. She is passionate about using Disability Justice principles to create inclusive spaces where there is opportunity for meaningful engagement with art and each other for all community members.
Ben Moorad (he/him) is the founding Director of New Room Studios and is one of its Artistic Principals. He's a writer, performer and MacDowell Fellow. Ben is the Co-Founder of Write Around Portland (which has provided networks of free writing workshops for underrepresented people since 1999), he’s the Co-Founder of Pass the Mic (a free music education program for immigrant and refugee youth since 2018), and he’s the Founder and Co-Producer of a podcast about contemporary life in Lebanon called "We Are the Ones Who Live Here." (Instagram @benmoorad)
Erin Leddy has been making original theatre in Portland since 2002. Erin was a company member and performer with Hand2Mouth for 19 years, where she participated in the creation of over 20 shows. Her solo performance My Mind Is Like An Open Meadow won 5 Portland Drammy Awards in 2011 (including Outstanding Production). The friendships she has formed and deepened through devised theatre have carried her heart and soul for the past two decades. Erin is a collaborator by nature and loves to play with her friends, her cats, her husband and her beloved daughter Billie.
Lily Alice Linz is an actor-creator, and performance artist from Santa Barbara, California. She is a recent graduate of the Institute of Contemporary Performance at Portland Experimental Theatre Ensemble. She studied Physical Theatre at Dell’arte International, and before that, trained at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago for performance art. Recent credits include OAT: Julius Caesar ICP: Big League Chew (creator/performer), We Who Are About to Die (creator/performer) Dell'arte: Red Light Cabaret. She is a co-collaborator and company member of Proximity Theatre, which is an experimental theatre company dedicated to making new work. She is also a proud member of the queer femme clown “cult,” Magenta Mountain Majesty.
Lora Lafayette’s memoir Possums Run Amok was printed by Mercuria Press (an imprint of Chin Music Press) in 2022, and it was a Finalist for an Oregon Book Award. (An excerpt from Possums ran in The Buckmxn Journal.) She’s also an award-winning poet, whose work has appeared in PLAZM Magazine, Pen & Ink, The Oregonian and other journals. She’s currently working on a volume of poetry and a second memoir called Posthumous Possums.
Maesie Speer (she/they) is a cultural worker from Memphis, TN whose practice bridges performance, dramaturgy, ritual, and creative producing. Maesie is a past company member of Hand2Mouth with whom she created, toured, and formed lifelong friendships for 10 years. They have also collaborated with Unit Souzou, facilitated with Oregon Humanities, and performed with Theatre de la Jeune Lune, Sojourn Theatre, Actors Theatre of Louisville, and Ten Pen Chii Art Labor. Maesie serves as board chair for CultureSeed, a nonprofit accompanying youth in the Columbia Gorge through mental health care and environmental connection. They live with cats and humans in the Roseway neighborhood.
Mary Rose is an actor and improviser as well as a proprietor at Nalu Kava (@nalu_kava on IG)—a cozy, non-alcoholic bar here in Portland. She teaches Action Theater—an embodied improvisation form—through Portland Action Theater (portlandactiontheater.com). She delights in dancing, spending time with her family and friends, exploring plant medicine, singing… She has thoroughly enjoyed working with the fantastic cast and crew of “Lora!” While she’s got your attention, she’d like to remind you to send a message to your reps to demand a ceasefire in Gaza!
Ryan-Ashley (Ray) Anderson is a creative director, artist, writer, and recovered standup comedian who recently transplanted to Portland from North Carolina. They are a PNCA merit scholar, dually enrolled in the Critical Studies and Visual Studies programs, and love promoting and supporting the projects of other artists. Prior to grad school, they spent over a decade in curatorial, artist representation, and arts program development roles. As a neurodivergent creative, Ray’s professional and art practices are guided by their passion for and commitment to accessibility and equity and is committed to making the arts accessible for all.
Victoria Spelman (she/her) is delighted to be working on “Lora Grasshopper Kitty Cat.” She is a Las Vegas native, who moved to Portland mid pandemic. She wears many hats in the theatre world including actor, director, intimacy director, producer, and now stage manager. Her specialty is in physical theatre and loves devised projects. She is a graduate from the Dell’arte School of Physical Theatre as well as the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. She thanks all of her supporters in her life, especially her loving partner Aurora.
Supporters
This project has been made possible through the generous financial support of: Ronni Lacroute, New Expressive Works, the James F. and Marion L. Miller Foundation, the Regional Arts & Culture Council, the Multnomah County Cultural Coalition, the Oregon Arts Commission, and the Oregon Community Foundation.
Thank yous
Ki (Kay) Von Schiller; Pam Ingram; Subashini Ganesan, Rikkia Pereira and New Expressive Works; Street Roots; Joaquin Lopez; Carla Girard and Mercuria Press; Bruce Rutledge and Chin Music Press; Hand2Mouth Theatre; Tom Jackson; Julien Morris; Liza Halley and the Write Around Portland community; and Stephanie Barr.
Writing prompts from the show
We used a lot of freewriting to generate much of the show, and some of the writing prompts we used ended up in the script. You might want to try these prompts yourself and see what comes out. Set a timer for 5 or 10 or 15 minutes, write down one of these phrases and just write whatever comes up for you during that time, and see what you get:
I started writing…
My parents back then…
When I was a child…
I want to be…
Lora’s playlist
The Sex Pistols “Anarchy in the UK”
Suzi Quattro “48 Crash”
Blue Oyster Cult “Don’t Fear the Reaper”
The Damned “Feel the Pain”
Iggy Pop “Turn Blue “
Roy Orbison “In Dreams”
Alice Cooper “The Ballad of Dwight Frye”
Plastique Bertrand “Ca Plane Pour Moi”
Mental health resources
24/7 Crisis Lifeline
Text or call 988 or chat 988lifeline.org
You can reach a specialized LGBTQI+ affirming counselor by texting Q to 988 or pressing 3 when calling.
About 988
People can use 988 for themselves or if they are worried about a loved one who may need crisis support.
988 serves as a universal entry point so that no matter where you live in the United States, you can reach a trained crisis counselor who can help.
988 offers 24/7 access to trained crisis counselors who can help people experiencing mental health-related distress. That could be:
Thoughts of suicide
Mental health or substance use crises
Emotional distress
Learn more at https://988lifeline.org
Portland Urgent Walk-In Clinic
Receive immediate, in-person care for a behavioral health crisis. Serves anyone at no cost.
Cascadia Behavioral Healthcare Urgent Walk-in Clinic
4212 SE Division St, Portland, 503-963-2575
Open Monday-Friday, 7am-9pm | Saturday-Sunday 9am-9pm