Portland Ovations is grateful to add Sayad Moudachirou to the Board of Directors. Originally from the Benin Republic, Sayad is a native French speaker, fluent in English and proficient in Spanish. Sayad is a managing consultant at London Economics International LLC. He works in their energy practice advising utilities, regulatory authorities, developers and other key … Read more
Portland Ovations is grateful to add a new member to the Ovations team: Katelyn Manfre, Director of Ovations Offstage | Community Partnerships. Katelyn will be moving to Maine with her family from New Hampshire. In her role, Katelyn will nurture community partnerships and collaborations around Ovations programming and conceive and direct all Ovations Offstage (O2) … Read more
We just passed the summer solstice, the longest day of the year. It seems fitting that this turning point in the universe, at which the sun is at its maximum declination and then begins slowly to subside for those of us in the northern hemisphere, is also the end of Portland Ovations’ organizational year: a … Read more
What a season, unlike any other, 2020-2021 was. Thank you for joining us virtually, on demand and outdoors this past year. We couldn’t have done it without you. Daniel Bernard Roumain at Performances in Our Parks, Oct. 2020 OCTOBER 2020 We couldn’t gather in our usual spaces but we could gather outside. Our first in another … Read more
Maine media artist Galen Koch enjoys connecting with other artists. Born and raised on Deer Isle, Galen, like most Maine islanders, does a variety of things for work. As her website notes, she makes radio stories. Podcasts. Videos. She writes stories. Sometimes she creates fiber arts. And sometimes she teaches. Galen likes it this way. … Read more
In-person performance is coming back to Ovations in the Fall of 2021. On June 15, we present Screen to Stage, a virtual sneak peek of the artists we will be bringing LIVE to Portland stages in our upcoming season, as we gratefully move off of our screens and back to in-person gatherings together. In 2019, with … Read more
In January, we were in conversation with Starr Kelly to begin to share the partnership that Portland Ovations and the Abbe Museum are building in order to create a performance for young people that centers Wabanaki storytelling and the artists that tell these stories. We see this partnership and the performance as an opportunity for Wabanaki storytellers … Read more
Everyone has a story. The urge to share our story, to connect with others, is at the root of human nature. Taking one’s own story and making the personal universal is the sacred role of artists. Weaving tales of family, personal journey, cultures, folklore and immigration – SoulRoar is the creative endeavor of poet/lyricist Kerem … Read more
“What we’re doing,” playwright and SurvivorSpeakUSA founder dee Clarke said in regard to THE LAST GIRL, her play-in-development, and her advocacy work, “is putting the last girl first. And we’re survivors leading the way.” The Last Girl: the one whose life is unseen by others. The girl who, due to her gender, race and class is … Read more
After nearly a decade on the road touring internationally with the Forsythe Company, dance artist Riley Wattsdecided it was time to come home to Maine. For Riley, moving back to Maine was the right thing to do. It’s meant time and space: to heal, to pursue a different lifestyle for his body and mind and, … Read more