The Orchard

I went to another Fertile Ground reading tonight. I can't stress enough how great I think this festival is. Really, way to go Portland for supporting new works in such a bold way.
I attended The Orchard by Althea Hukari (directed by Olga Sanchez) which was produced by the PlayGroup and Portland Center Stage (PCS). It was a sort of Chekhov in Oregon show. Like Chekhov's play, The Cherry Orchard, The Orchard dealt with a large family clinging to their past existence as represented through their rural home and collected physical life. Also, like Chekhov, this show seemed to hang between comedy and tragedy. There's no doubt that it was heart-breakingly sad, but there was also a sort of hopefulness in seeing a family take the first steps in moving beyond their loss into their future. The Orchard also seemed to allude to other Chekhov plays. I saw hints of The Three Sisters in the way the three surviving sisters of the family in The Orchard interacted following the death of the family patriarch. When I mentioned this observation to Mead Hunter, the literary director at PCS, he laughed and said that throughout the process those who worked on the play had equated the character Nikki from The Orchard with Chekhov's character Natasha.
There were a few elements that really made me love this show. One was the theme of letting go of "stuff," and strengthening the ties between family and friends that really matter. Along with this was a sense that the play was almost giving the characters permission to let go of those who had passed away. I loved how the life of the play seemed to physically lighten when the spirits of the dead past on from the farmhouse. Really beautiful.
Congratulations to David Harrel who played Brian. He and I are in the same theatre program and have worked together and supported each other through all our years there. Now that we are finally seniors, it was wonderful to see him onstage last night and remember the two of us as excited eighteen-year-olds starting college. Good job, buddy. Congrats, also, to Phil Stockton who played Sonny. I've worked with Phil in the past at Readers Theatre Repertory.
It was a very interesting new work. Good job to all those involved!