Portland Stage Announces 20/21 Season on Facebook Live Tonight at 8:30

Portland Stage announces its 2020-21 season lineup including a segment on the State of the Theater during the times of the pandemic. The discussion will be aired on Facebook Live at 8:30 pm tonight, Saturday, May 23 and later posted to its website: PortlandStage.org. This digital event is moderated by Portland Stage Executive and Artistic Director Anita Stewart along with hosts Literary Manager Todd Brian Backus, and last season's cast of Almost, Maine. The cast includes the playwright and Broadway Tony Award nominated actor, John Cariani, along with fellow 2019-20 cast members Samantha Rosentrater, Raymond MacAnally, and Kathleen McCafferty.

In addition to the co-hosts, Stewart interviews two fellow Maine theater artistic directors Curt Dale Clark from Maine State Music Theatre and Keith Powell Beyland from Dramatic Repertory Company. The guest lineup also includes the playwrighting team, Grammy nominated songwriter, Tor Hyams, and veteran Broadway performer, Lisa St. Lou (The Producers); playwright Willy Holtzman who holds two Pulitzer Prize nominations, a Humanitas Prize, a Writers Guild Award, a Peabody Award, as well as an HBO Award from the National Playwrights Conference; and playwright Callie Kimball, a local writer.

The rest of the lineup is rounded out by Broadway actor and Maine native, Scott Moreau, Vanessa Beyland a member of DRC Board of Directors, and Sally Wood a former artistic director of The Theater at Monmouth.

The event also rolls out Portland Stage's season rebranding with a bold, contemporary palette and images with a vintage nod to the history of the city's architecture and history.

Director of Marketing and Communications Mical Hutson shared, "It was time to refresh our season poster aesthetic. I had some trepidations because I knew
that Jamie Hogan's beloved work was a tough act to follow, but after consulting several other theater marketing directors, including Trish Kirk at the Guthrie Theater who confirmed that a brand refresh is a natural part of the life of a theater, we started the process knowing the limitations of our budget and that we wanted our artist to be local. During the exploratory phase of the rebranding, Anita and I leaned heavily on our new marketing associate, Cody Brackett, to flesh out our ideas. A few weeks into that process, we realized we had identified our new artist and he was sitting in the office down the hall, and then when the pandemic hit - a Zoom call away."

Executive and Artistic Director Anita Stewart says: "As we are entering a phase of our programming that out of necessity contains a larger percentage of content online, Cody's fun, energetic and active responses to the shows felt like the right move."