The month-long summer residency at 21ten came to a close on July 27, bringing bittersweet feelings to those who had revelled in a new experimental show each weekend throughout July.
The final performance, Ajai Tripathi’s The Rainbow Passage, resonated deeply with audiences, leaving a lasting impression with its loving and luminous production.
Ted Rooney’s intimate 40-seat Southeast Portland black box theater may be small, yet its impact on the Portland theater community is profound.
In just three seasons, 21ten has established a reputation for showcasing professionally produced shows that match the innovation and stimulation of productions found on larger stages.
Furthermore, the theater has cultivated dynamic performances from notable talents such as Diane Kondrat, Bruce Burkhartsmeier, Ashley Song, and Rocco Weyer.
The resident artist program, now in its second year, has positioned 21ten as a platform for both audiences and artists to explore new stories and daring storytelling methods.
Throughout July, the residency featured four diverse performances: The One, a comedic solo show by dancer Andrea Parson; La Mariposa, a devised ritual performance by Sofia Leonila Marks and Isabel Strongheart McTighe; un/seen, a poignant narrative and sound experience by erin rachel centered on a fictional pandemic; and The Rainbow Passage, Tripathi’s multimedia drama focusing on family dynamics, drug addiction, and consciousness.
In her show The One, Andrea Parson needed ample space for her development process, utilizing her 40 hours of rehearsal time at 21ten with director Jessica Wallenfels to transform what began as a 20-minute piece into a full hour-long production.
“Our process was really one of bringing the script to life and discovering the physicality of it,” Parson shared.
Having worked on elements of her story for two years, Parson was eager for a venue where she could weave everything together.
“I felt supported by my director and how she helped me lean into aspects that made me feel uncertain,” she added.
Murri Lazaroff-Babin, a participant in the 2024 residency, described the program as akin to having “training wheels.”
With an established community and a mailing list of audience members, he found he could devote less time to ticket sales and concentrate on his work, which included his solo show Camp Fire Stories about the devastating 2018 fire in Concow, his hometown.
“The program provided me with two key ingredients for the piece’s development – time and space, or perhaps time in space. And for free! Which is substantial,” he remarked.
Similar to Parson, Lazaroff-Babin found that before his residency, the pieces of Camp Fire hadn’t fully coalesced.
He noted, “It was the first time Camp Fire had a director – Cristi Miles, whom I trust deeply and consider one of the few capable of directing it. She helped shape the piece, discover a through line, and allowed us to focus on pivotal questions we still had about the project.
The residency felt low-stakes enough (in a good way!) for Cristi and me to be satisfied with whatever we managed to develop for the performances.”
AC Campbell, associate producer at 21ten, revealed that Rooney conceived the summer program to support artists requiring funds for staging new shows.
Initially, the first year involved offering a percentage of ticket sales in exchange for rehearsal and performance time at the theater.
With a grant received in 2025 from the Regional Arts & Culture Council and the Arts Access Fund, the program began offering stipends to artists alongside enhanced resources for resident artists overall.
In 2024, 16 artists applied for the residency, and the following year saw that number rise to 28, with all selected works originating from local artists.
21ten’s staff and board members reviewed applications and interviewed the artists to select projects based on their suitability for the intimate space, the stage of development, and how they would contrast with other residency productions.
“We strive to fill our residency with a diverse range of work and artists,” Campbell noted.
The program this year showcased a splendid variety of performances by local artists from various cultural backgrounds, including the all-Asian American Pacific Islander cast of The Rainbow Passage and Marks’ identity as a Mestiza and mixed Hondureña.
Campbell encouraged audience members to continue supporting these artists beyond the performances.
After last year’s residency, Lazaroff-Babin successfully performed an inventive version of Camp Fire at the 2025 Fertile Ground Festival and aims to present the show as widely as possible, particularly in Northern California, where the events unfold.
Parson will also present The One at the San Francisco Fringe Festival from August 8-10, with hopes to return to Portland next year, much to the delight of theater-goers eager for fresh material.
While the residency performances may be concluded, the ongoing work of these dynamic artists is poised to thrive.
The One, led by Andrea Parson and directed by Jessica Wallenfels, features Parson’s imaginative exploration of contemporary singlehood, an intriguing premise presented during her performances from July 3-7.
Part contemporary dance and part clown act, the one-hour performance follows a modern-day 38-year-old woman’s perspective, addressing societal perceptions with genuine humor.
Drawing from the abundance of rom-coms, Parson contextualizes the struggles of the single experience with a unique twist, comparing it to the medieval anchoresses — women who devoted their lives to Christ by living in solitude attached to a church.
The July 5 show I attended began with Parson dressed in a puffy-sleeved white dress and veil, appearing on the stairs amid the audience.
Though she started what felt like a solemn ceremony, Parson’s character clearly showcased comedic discontent, contrasting her bridal attire with knee pads and white sneakers, all while playfully engaging the audience with an expression that seemed to implore, “Get me out of here!”
As the performance unfolded, Parson captivated with her evocative movement, sometimes lying face down on the stage floor, resembling a figure of agony.
She utilized her voice adeptly, mimicking the cartoonishly affectionate tone she adopts when addressing her scruffy cat, Couts.
Her inclusive humor established a rapport with the audience, who happily followed her on this comedic journey.
At one moment, she invited an audience member onstage to partake in a 36 Questions session designed to encourage romance.
Another instance had her asking the audience about their pet-talk, prompting one spectator to adopt a gentle, preschool-parent tone, saying, “Potty, let’s go potty. Good girl!”
Recorded voices interjected throughout the show, representing the loving but slightly oblivious grandparent, who inquires about Parson’s romantic status regardless of her age.
Amid the humor and lightness, Parson’s performance also acknowledged the reality of single life, where many nights can be spent at home with a cat and quinoa — an observation adding depth alongside the laughter.
La Mariposa: A Song from the Borderland, performed by Sofía Leonila Marks and directed by Isabel Strongheart McTighe, demanded the audience engage actively as witnesses to the emotional journey expressed through dance, song, and prayer.
Beginning in 21ten’s narrow lobby, Marks created a powerful visual as she stood in front of the stage entrance, adorned in a full yellow skirt decorated with white lace and red ribbon.
Her appearance resembled a spiritual painting, with her hair tied to the curtains, resembling tree roots stretching out.
Two baskets in her hands encouraged audience members to write prayers and messages, placing them as offerings within the baskets, establishing a connection of shared humanity.
La Mariposa is described as a performance ritual about a girl who has lost her name, where Marks opened the show by singing, “You give me your hand,” guiding the audience into the theater, where the sandy floor represented metaphorical borderlands that divide ‘us’ from ‘them.’
Marks later unleashed a primal howl, conveying the pain stemming from the division, boldly confronting the audience with her sorrow as she crawled toward them, making intimate eye contact and calling for recognition of her anguish.
Providing an additional bridge between performer and audience was ASL interpretation by Ophelia McQuain Jenkins, whose expressive movements danced with the narrative, enhancing its delivery.
Although much of the performance was in Spanish, Marks effectively repeated many lines in English, such as, “My fingertips became roots … I was everything and nothing all at once.”
As she lifted her face, tears flowed freely, underscoring the vulnerability of the moment, inviting the audience to experience her transformation of pain into joy through her expressive twirls and dance.
Marks poignantly reminds us through her performance, “This is not the end.”
In un/seen, created and performed by erin rachel, the stage transformed into a gentle atmosphere reminiscent of candlelight with warmly lit lamps and soft furnishings.
Inviting the audience to settle onto the cushions, rachel communicated with a nurturing tone akin to a kindergarten teacher calling her students for storytime.
The show revolves around a fictional pandemic that tragically claims the lives of healthy individuals in their 30s and 40s during their sleep, presenting scary statistics in a compelling narrative.
As the story unfolds, viewers learn of 1,596 deaths discovered as the number continues to rise.
However, rachel cleverly infuses humanity into the chilling account, grounding it through vivid details.
One character reminisces about her mother’s squash and coriander dish, while another, engulfed in grief over her sister, lies beneath a blanket crocheted by her grandmother, creating powerful emotional links.
Parallel to the narrative is a soundscape that shifts from relaxing bird songs to somber organ tones, complementing the detailing of 59,125 deaths globally.
Despite the expansive timeframe covering three generations of women affected by the illness, the precision of language and sound gives the characters life, creating intimacy within their losses.
As a captivating storyteller, rachel has crafted a narrative that some might find triggering, considering the recent struggles stemming from the actual COVID-19 pandemic.
To offer a space for reflection, she integrates a second segment of the performance featuring ambient sound, along with paper and colored pencils for those wishing to write or draw during this reflective time.
The inclusion of such interactive elements promotes a sense of community and connection, something rachel emphasizes in her work.
For future performances, it might prove powerful to arrange seating in a circle, drawing audience members closer to the story, each other, and the immersive soundscape.
rachel, who previously created the heartfelt musical Unbound: A Bookish Musical that was part of the 2025 Fertile Ground Festival, clearly has a wealth of messages concerning kindness, healing, and community, and her voice is one to be spotlighted moving forward.
The compelling experience of The Rainbow Passage, written and directed by Ajai Tripathi, pushes boundaries between entertainment and transcendence.
The July 27 performance offered a profound exploration of familial bonds, sibling rivalry, and the weight of perception within family dynamics through the plight of characters caring for a catatonic sister.
The narrative centers on Sang (Parth Ruparel) and his family, providing round-the-clock care for his twin sister Sushma (Mini Sharma Ogle), a professor of radio astronomy whose consciousness is trapped at the edge of a black hole.
As Sang discovers he can access his sister’s memories with a childhood-built radio, he embarks on a quest to liberate her consciousness from her painful limbo.
For non-science fiction fans, the story remains a deeply relatable account of familial relations, depicting universal themes through the lens of engaging and effective storytelling.
The seamless integration of multimedia elements enhanced the production.
Projections of photographs illustrating the family’s shared history unfolded alongside the performance, providing depth and nuance to their stories of love, pain, and the objective struggles of addiction.
Captured in black and white by photographer Lawrence Siulagi, who plays Sushma’s devoted husband Kumar, these images allow audiences to see the characters’ experiences from multiple perspectives, enriching the narrative’s emotional landscape.
The cleverly executed sound design added another layer with recurring humor introduced by the successful sibling Sai (Ari Aquilla-Saund), who frequently interjected with distractions from his seemingly busy phone life.
In one poignant scene accompanied by the soundscape of nightclub music, we watch with bated breath as Sang battles with addiction.
The coexistence of warmth, humor, and heart-wrenching pain illustrated in The Rainbow Passage leaves an echo of love resonating through the audience.
At its core, the production articulates the beauty and fragility of life, fostering connection between characters and inviting us to consider our shared humanity.
The summer residency at 21ten has undoubtedly nurtured a thriving space for artistic exploration, lending its support to powerful voices in theater.
As audiences await the return of these innovative productions and extraordinary talents, it is evident that 21ten’s commitment to the arts has produced a lasting impact on both the local community and the artists themselves.
image source from：orartswatch
