I've Never Told You This Before

We've been working on this show for a year.  And now it's ready.

Hello friends,

It is a very exciting time at Hand2Mouth Theatre as we rev up to see if our long exploration will resound with an audience, to see if we have made a work that makes people feel something.  As always we are confident, excited and nervous one week from opening.

This new show is a huge stylistic leap forward for the company. It is more elegant and gentle, the entire piece swims in a soundscape that seems to react to every word spoken, we move and dance nearly the whole show, there are hundreds of stories, confessions and sentences, more text than all of our last shows combined!

Its been over two years since we have created a piece for the stage by ourselves...no international collaborators, no trips to Mexico, no guest directors, no huge installation projects...just the company creating exactly the piece we want to make.  I think this work shows what we've learned in the last two years, and the kind of strange quiet, immediate live event we want to create.

This is a piece about our families.

It creates an unusual space that doesn't exist in the real world, but should, a space where all the things that you can NEVER say to those closest to you in your family ARE said, and said to total strangers, said to the public, one after another, after another.  There is an attempt to try and make a stranger FEEL what it is like to be a member of ones own family, all the historical trigger points, the essential stories and memories that define the emotional sense of belonging and alienation one has towards their family. This attempt, of course fails, but somehow succeeds in bringing people closer to understanding how truly unique and special their own family experience is.  Because, truly, only YOU can be a member of your own family.

Somehow because of the hyper-personal nature of it, the refusal to generalize, its really becoming a piece about FAMILY.

Over this last year we have struggled, fought, laughed and cried, so that we might share with you something very personal and very beautiful.

Please join us as we celebrate the opening of our new show,
Jonathan Walters

Artistic Director\Hand2Mouth

EVERYONE WHO LOOKS LIKE YOU - TRAILER

Watch the trailer. Spread the word. Help us go viral!



Everyone Who Looks Like You - Trailer from Hand2Mouth Theatre on Vimeo.

And make sure you and everyone you know comes to see this show. Don't wait. Be a pioneer and come on the first weekend!
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Wednesday Inspiration

Maybe it's because I'm realizing that the rainy season has truly set in.  Maybe it's looming midterms.  For whatever reason this recent post on Culturebot got me all mistyeyed in the middle of the workday.

Andy has written a deeply personal and heartfelt reflection on how we make our lives as artists and how we make peace with our lives as artists.  It's a beautifully written piece, so I won't spoil it by talking about it too much.  Enjoy!

For more inspiration, check out writer Elizabeth Gilbert's TED Talk on "the maddening capriciousness of the creative process" and why we need to talk to fairies.

Open Rehearsals and Thank You to Scratch!

For H2M there is always that period in creating a show when we need an outside eye, someone totally objective to view the piece and to react to it.  Our relationship to the audience is always a huge element in our shows and how the hell do you figure out what that relationship is if you have NO audience.  We have gotten in the great habit of showing our work along the way in order to understand this relationship.  We are always amazed how much the show changes, how the meaning of certain moments morph when the audience arrives.  We consider the audience another member of our ensemble and we certainly don't want that person in the room for the first time on opening night.

Well . . . we are definitely at that stage.  WE NEED AN AUDIENCE! We are a little less than a month away to our opening night and we are very eager to share our work.  And, the other night we were able to.  Every month on the second Saturday you can head on down to SCRATCH and test out your piece in front of a crowd.  We performed a 10 minute chunk of Everyone Who Looks Like You and then, of course, had the opportunity to see other various works being created in Portland.  Dancers, Monologists, ensembles.  It is a great place to spark conversation about art-making and to connect with other artists.  Check them out at  Scratchpdx.com.

To help serve this function we have also built in OPEN REHEARSALS.  A chance for people to come into our rehearsal room and see what we are up to.  Please join us on the following afternoons:

Sundays October 18 and Nov. 1 | 1:30 - 3pm

Hand2Mouth Studio @ Milepost 5 | 900 NE 81st Ave, studio 402

RSVP: mail@hand2mouththeatre.org

Hope to see you there!!

Woo-Hoo it's a Bar-B-Q!

Please join us on Saturday afternoon for an autumn BBQ at the Chill Palace, the name we’ve given to the beautiful azumaya that our firend Josh built last summer in our backyard.  We will be grilling up a storm and sipping delicious drinks brought to you by Ninkasi and New Deal.  And, if you haven’t yet treated yourself to a game of Cornholio, now is your chance!  My main man Casey has handmade our set and it has now skyrocketed to the tip top of my backyard game list.  We’ll have Dj Brokenwindow spinning records and a fire in the firepit!!  Most importantly the yard will be teeming with dear friends and supporters.  We never have enough time to just hang out and relax with the beautiful people in our town, so come on out to the Palace and chill with us.

I also want to send a big thanks to Ninkasi Brewing, New Deal Vodka, Kookoolan Farms, Saint Cupcake, Sunshine Dairy, Columbia Gorge Juices, Nature Bake, Safeway and Hood River Organic for generous donations to help make it all possible.

Oh and it’s company member Julie Hammond’s birthday on Saturday so when you see her say something sweet.

We hope to see you on Saturday!!  Details are below.

Hand2Mouth's Big Ol' Family Bar-B-Q

Saturday, October 3 | THE CHILL PALACE : 4912 NE Going Street | 3-7 pm |

$10 covers all-you-can-eat-and-drink!

Woo-hoo it's a Bar-B-Q!!!

Please join us on Saturday afternoon for an autumn BBQ at the Chill Palace, the name we've given to the beautiful azumaya that our firend Josh built last summer in our backyard.  We will be grillin up a storm and sipping delicious drinks brought to you by Ninkasi and New Deal.  And, if you haven't yet treated yourself to a game of Cornholio, now is your chance!  My main man Casey has handmade our set and it has now skyrocketed to the tip top of my backyard game list.  We'll have Dj Brokenwindow spinning records and a fire in the firepit!!  Most importantly the yard will be teeming with dear friends and supporters.  We never have enough time to just hang out and relax with the beautiful people in our town, so come on out to the Palace and chill with us.

I also want to send a big thanks to Ninkasi Brewing, New Deal Vodka, Kookoolan Farms, Saint Cupcake, Sunshine Dairy, Columbia Gorge Juices, Nature Bake and Hood River Organic for generous donations to help make it all possible.

Oh and it's company member Julie Hammond's birthday on Saturday so when you see her say something sweet.

We hope to see you on Saturday!!  Details are below.

	The Chill Palace
Street:
City/Town:	Portland, OR