Something stirs on the Other Side and comes knocking…

By Ken Yoshikawa

Directed by Holly Griffith

Thursday- Saturday at 7:30 pm

Sunday at 2:00 pm

Commissioned by Corrib Theatre, From a Hole in the Ground is an original work by Portland-based playwright, poet, and actor Ken Yoshikawa, inspired by Irish folklore. Corrib will collaborate with Alberta House to develop the play, which will include mythic figures like ghosts, fairies, and even the Púca, a morally ambiguous trickster creature from Celtic lore. 

Someone, some thing, has returned from the grave hell bent on a long due confrontation, upsetting the world of the good folk, and set to bring chaos to mortals too. An exploration of fairytale, time, and connection.

CAST: Claire Aldridge, Olivia Mathews, Joellen Sweeney

Creative team

Director: Holly Griffith

Stage Manager: Abbie Northrop

Scenic Design: Kyra Sanford

lighting design: kelly Terry

Costume Design: Jo pierce

Dialect coach: karl hanover

cultural consultant: brian ó hAirt

About the playwright

Ken Yoshikawa is a playwright, poet, actor, and from Portland, Oregon. He’s appeared onstage with Artists Repertory Theatre, Portland Center Stage, Corrib Theatre, Oregon Children’s Theatre, NW Children’s Theatre, and Oregon Adventure Theatre. He performed his solo show The Art of Fly Swatting in town and at the Pan Asian Repertory off-broadway in NYC. His plays Medusa! Rapture! Party! and Through Bonavia, or The Simple Truth are being produced as readings in collaboration with The Historic Alberta House. His poems have appeared in Nailed Magazine, Letters from the Void, Hapa Mag, and Discover Nikkei. His first full length poetry book Monster Colored Glasses is out now on Lightship Press, and available to purchase at yoshikawaken.com! He is a Reed College graduate and an alumn of PETE’s Institute of Contemporary Performance, which he highly recommends. In his free time he enjoys video games, hanging with trees, and working as an astrologer. 

“In general it’s a huge honor to be asked to write a play, an honor in proportion to the responsibility of entering into a whole cultural universe. It seems Irish is as delicate as it is hearty and these fairy tales reflect that. What feels right to me for this process is, rather than taking and adapting an established fairy tale with all its deep nuance and beauty, to process the interweaving qualities of the mythos into a new story. I myself am curious about my own Irish heritage, as disconnected as I may be from it as a biracial American. 

From a Hole in the Ground is for me an opportunity to learn and do, to enter in, have a sense of being a guest, and accepting an opportunity to play and experiment. Discovering and getting to know characters is a sweet and tender process, and the research is a curious dive into a winding river. I’m sopping wet already and honestly going with the flow. I hope to please folks and I’ll be sure to cry out my warning when I toss the water out the window. Please don’t haunt me.”