The Americans
A co-production with The Alberta House
Directed by Cristi Miles
Shows: January 19 - February 4
Wed - Sun at 7:30 pm
Run Time: approximately 90 minutes
Tickets: $5 - $50
A symphonic confession of America
A nation premised on an idea—not on an alleged shared bloodline or eons of history on common land—must periodically question exactly who and what it is - Jelani Cobb.
I think any solution will first have to start with the real story. We need to sit down around the same table and agree on the diagnostic - Raoul Peck.
Exactly who and what is American? Over half of the US population believes we will see another civil war; it’s even more if you ask young people. We have the most diverse federal political representation, while voter suppression increases. There was an insurrection in the US capitol. And we have been labeled a “backsliding democracy” by International IDEA.
PETE meets an American idea in movement, stand-up and jazz forms. Working site specifically in the historic Alberta House, PETE dances with American realness in high contrast image, sound and video. We are excited to join Alberta house in their on-going work curating place and attention for cultural experiences and community conversations.
We look back to the silent generation, and the counterculture of 1959, in order to better understand our present moment. Anchored by the photographs of Robert Frank in his seminal work, “The Americans”, PETE engages a diverse team of artists to steal from the past, drag it out and dust it off, in order to see ourselves anew.
Led by co-artistic director Cristi Miles, the play will be developed in collaboration with guest artists Christopher Gonzales, Gerrin Delane Mitchell, Rose Proctor, Ezri Reyes, Damaris Webb, Andrew Welsh, and core PETE members Jacob Coleman, Rebecca Lingafelter and Amber Whitehall, as well as PETE’s design team: Jenny Ampersand, Miranda K Hardy, Peter Ksander, Trevor Sargent and Mark Valadez.
Made possible with support from Ronni LaCroute, Pancho Savery, Charlotte Rubin, The Oregon Cultural Trust, the Regional Arts and Culture Council, The Kinsman Foundation and The Mental Insight Foundation.