OPC Arts Outreach: 2026–2027 Theater SeasonOregon Psychoanalytic Center & Artists Repertory TheaterOregon Psychoanalytic Center (ARTS OUTREACH) is delighted to announce our 2026-2027 collaboration with Artists Repertory Theater (1515 SW Morrison in Portland). Our many years of meaningful work together with Artists Repertory Theater aims to encourage and grow community support of our similar endeavors to make sometimes confusing and profound life experiences more front-of-mind, speakable and available for understanding and mindful integration. Post performance conversations with ART audiences-facilitated by OPC members— inspire reflection on what was seen and felt throughout the play as well as psychoanalytic perspectives and insights about the strengths and vulnerabilities inherent in being human. Also, and perhaps especially relevant in our contemporary times, these performances and post play conversations provide a rare space for considering deeply felt values and viewpoints-even when disparate and divergent—and always part of lived experience. Below are descriptions of plays to be performed in the upcoming season. Please stay tuned for the post play discussion dates which are yet to be determined. We hope to whet your appetite! This 2026-2027 season includes three complex stories about the challenges of living in highly uncertain times, the ferocity of the human spirit and the power in re-finding humor as a fairly reliable coping tool. 2026–2027 SeasonMARSHA BLOVOTNIK and THE MARVELOUS MAGICAL CHICKEN SOUPBy Dan Kitrosser The first play is: MARSHA BLOVOTNIK and THE MARVELOUS MAGICAL CHICKEN SOUP by Dan Kitrosser. It runs from October 27-November 22, 2026. Marsha is a Jewish lesbian socialist septuagenarian struggling with anger and a family divided by opposing points of view and fraught with big emotions. This play addresses some of the challenges in navigating such political, psychological, and emotional distance and what might make it possible to sit down together and converse even when holding tight to our anger as a protective shield. SLAYBy Yussef El Guindi The next play is SLAY by Yussef El Guindi which runs from February 2-February 28, 2027. This play is about recently more conflictual and sizzling dynamics within the home of Hossam and Rachel, a loving couple, and their dog, Albert. Hossam is an arts journalist and Rachel is an optometrist. They are deeply politically opposed. Albert seems to be reacting to tensions felt in their home and displays concerning personality changes. A pet therapist is consulted. This is a dark comedy that illuminates the complexities and absurdities of our present world. EULOGY or How to Plan Your Own Funeral (and have fun doing it)By Brendan Healy EULOGY or How to Plan Your Own Funeral (and have fun doing it) by Brendan Healy is the final play of this new season. It runs from April 13-May 9,2027. This is a stunningly heartfelt and thoughtful comedic telling of Brendan Healy’s struggles across time to embrace his ongoing life while having a terminal diagnosis since infancy. While a step by step manual on how to plan one’s own funeral is one effective part of his story, Brendan Healy invites us to witness and consider the scope of complexities and challenges faced when trying to live and love fully while expecting to die. While defying the odds of his prognosis and making his life meaningful in ways that matter to him, Brendan’s extremely heightened awareness of mortality is both liberating and joyful as well as difficult and overwhelming. Again, in this play, we encounter the potential powers of humility and humor when we can summon those precious human capacities. Get InvolvedWe welcome hearing from you if you have interest in possibly leading a post play discussion or/and want to learn more about supporting our efforts to bring psychoanalytic ideas into conversations with the larger community. Reach out to Kelly Reams, LCSW, BCD at [email protected] or Susan Gendein-Marshall, Ph.D. at [email protected] . |
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