"Creating Life Inside" @ Sellwood Playhouse

"Creating Life Inside" is a presentation of Rogue Pack, a sister-organization to the sadly now officially defunct Well Arts, producers of "Fierce Love"  Rogue Pack uses a very similar "collage" format, and shares the mission of telling the stories of under-represented groups on stage-in their case-focusing on youth. Their current show collects the writings of juvenile inmates at Donald E. Long Detention Center.  I was amazed by the insightfulness and general quality of the pieces, especially given the chaotic home-lives one would assume most of them endured, and a few of them actually write about, which in itself is an act of exceptional bravery in which many adults would not engage. The show itself is a very brief thirty minutes, and I really wanted more. Particularly from one searingly poetic participant, who managed to find an abundance of hope in his bleak circumstances. Much of his material is syncopated a bit like rap, but slow enough to be easily understood by those not used to the rapid-fire delivery of much of the genre.


I know I count among the readers of this website at least a handful of professionals involved in the larger theatres in the area. I assume that many of them are the kind of people who seek out work on the fringes, and if I can point them here I'd be honored to do so. Perhaps, they might also have ideas about bringing the show to a wider-audience, something the production richly deserves.