You don’t have to belong to the Screen Actors Guild to get a sneak peek at new theater, film or art projects if you live in the Portland metro area. All you have to do is buy a ticket to the ninth annual Fertile Ground Festival schedule for January 18-28.

Celebrating new works, the festival features theater, dance, and animation, enabling audiences to see these creative art forms at different stages of development. Some performances are ready-to-roll and are making their fully staged world premieres. Others are still in-the-works and are presented as readings with opportunity for audience input as the playwright and actors still find their way through the script.

Lake Oswego’s very own Lakewood Theater Company at 368 S. State Street is host to five of these performances.

• My Audience with Angels, Saints and Demons. Talk about talented! Writer, director and actress Cheryl E. Grant brings us vignettes about isolation, the struggle for connection and love. This is a workshop format, meaning it’s not ready to premiere but is looking for the feedback of an audience to further its development. Saturday, January 20 at 2:00 p.m. $10/person.
• A Woman in Washington’s Army. While last year’s Lake Oswego Reads program introduced us to the unsung women heroes behind our country’s early race to the moon, this play introduces us to Deborah Samson, a young woman who disguised herself as a man in order to fight during the Revolutionary Way. This is a reading format with both the playwright and actors sharing the dialogue of the script to give it traction and bring the words to life in front of an audience. Sunday, January 21 at 2:00 p.m. $10/person.
• 1ne Off! Completely Improvised One-Act Plays. If you like your theatre unpredictable, then get yourself a seat to this one. Audience members can help shape what takes place on stage with suggestions. Voice your ideas or just sit back and enjoy unscripted theatre with the award-winning company of Infinite Improv! Workshop format. Tuesday, January 23 and Sunday, January 28 at 7:00 p.m. $10/person.
• Young Playwrights Festival. Enjoy one-act plays written by three high school playwrights in the Portland Metro Area who have had the opportunity to work with theatre professionals to hone their craft. Reading format. Saturday, January 27 at 2:00 p.m. $10/person.
• Parnassus On Wheels. This play, written by local playwright C.S. Whitcomb, is making its world premiere at the Lakewood Theatre Company and so is being included in the Fertile Ground Festival with two performances. It tells the story of a forty-something woman who leaves her life on the family farm to hit the road as a traveling bookseller. Sunday, January 21 at 7:00 p.m. and Wednesday, January 24 at 7:30 p.m. $15/person.

For a complete schedule of events occurring throughout the Portland Metro Area, check the Fertile Ground website.

Tickets may be purchased for individual performances or you can buy a festival pass for $50 which admits one person to each production. Manage your reservations and tickets online.

Lake Oswego is fertile ground for lots of things that residents associate with a good life. If I can help make it a place you can call home, please give me a call at 503.939.9801 or check out my website and email me. I’d love to show you around!