Author Archives: Dmae Roberts

Stage & Studio moves to Oregon ArtsWatch!

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Stage & Studio, the popular radio broadcast program covering the best in performing, literary and media arts hosted by Dmae Roberts, is moving to Oregon ArtsWatch (OAW) on February 23.

Hosted as a bi-weekly podcast by respected online arts magazine Oregon ArtsWatch, Stage & Studio will attract broader arts-focused audiences to the podcast series and provide deeper collaboration with OAW editors for projects that are especially focused on Black, indigenous and People of Color (PIPOC) artists and arts. Roberts’ extensive broadcast journalism, arts and multicultural expertise makes Stage & Studio a topical program that will encourage public discussions and views on the arts and the issues it raises. OAW produces arts journalism that is fundamentally useful to public interests, thus Stage & Studio is a welcome addition to OAW’s mission.
 
A two-time Peabody award-winning radio producer and writer, Dmae Roberts brings national quality to the local arts scene with Stage & Studio. Roberts volunteered with radio station KBOO in 1997 on a show called Theatre Scene when she stepped in for then host Sharon Whitney. Shortly thereafter, Dmae revamped the show into Stage & Studio to focus on performing, media and literary arts in the Northwest, and often, nationally. In 2009, Roberts was one of the first to podcast locally with Stage & Studio, creating her weekly podcast: https://stagenstudio.com.
 
Through the last 23 years, Roberts has interviewed more than 1,000 people on Stage & Studio. As a writer, media and theatre artist, she brings her multi-disciplinary expertise and experience into the studio to ask in-depth questions about the artistic process and more personal inquiry into the artists she interviews. OAW will not only host the podcast, but Dmae will provide opportunities for feature articles as part of the podcasts.
 
“I’m looking forward to working with ArtsWatch on future projects,” stated Dmae Roberts. “I have nothing but respect for founder and executive editor Barry Johnson, and for senior editor Bob Hicks. Combined, they bring the greatest wealth of art experience in Oregon. I am honored to find such a welcoming new home.”
 
Oregon ArtsWatch mission: journalism is professional – independent, transparent, fair, accurate and responsive. OAW aspires to be a trusted public source for journalism about the arts. To learn more, visit the website: https://www.orartswatch.org/about/
 
Stage & Studio audiences can now subscribe for the program on these podcast platforms:
 
Official Website: https://stagenstudio.com
 ArtsWatch: https://www.orartswatch.org/about/
 
Apple:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/stage-and-studio/id1548158273
 Google:
https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9zdGFnZW5zdHVkaW8uY29tL2ZlZWQv?sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwipj-SEsKTuAhWIqJ4KHdc7D5cQ9sEGegQIARAC
 Stitcher:
https://www.stitcher.com/show/stage-and-studio-2
 Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/3VgYDxHgVEeRbWZFnZEja7
 

The Courtesan – First Look!

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First look at The Courtesan!

Photos by Alex Haslett with lighting by Xander Atwood.

Image 1

Featured Ken Yoshikawa & Michelle Fujii

ARTIST: I wish I understood you. I love painting you. Such magnificence and mystery. There’s a certain harmony about you. I picture you under a starry sky. It often seems to me that the night is even more richly coloured than the day, in the most intense violets, blues and greens—Why are you crying?

COURTESAN: I must go. I don’t belong here.

Image 2

Toru Watanabe & Samson Syharath

A lone WORKER emerges from the projected image, which slowly FADES away. He wears the same clothes as the workers in the painting as he moves against the pummeling rainstorm.

ZIHAO enters wearing a HAZMAT suit and a gas mask. He sees the WORKER and moves in a circle around his dance.

_______________________________________________________
A chance meeting between Van Gogh and his inspiration for the painting The Courtesan. How Japanese art influenced Impressionism with a side trip through time to modern-day China at the site of a devastating chemical blast.

The Courtesan
a new play
by Dmae Roberts
A 75-minute staged reading with projections, sound, movement and featured music/dance by Michelle Fujii and Toru Watanabe of UNIT SOUZOU
and actors Samson Syharath, Elaine Low and Ken Yoshikawa. With creative team Paige Rogers, Xander Atwood and Joe Rogers.

Showtimes:
Jan. 27th @ 7:30pm, Jan. 28th @ 2pm & 7:30pm
at N.E.W. Expressive Works, 810 SE Belmont, PDX 97214
Tix: Advance are tickets are $10.
It’s $5 students//Oregon Trail Card (day of show with I.D.)\
Buy tickets for The Courtesan – a new play by Dmae Roberts
http://courtesan.brownpapertickets.com (service fee included)

OR PayPal… (no service fee)

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The Courtesan – A New Play

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When time intertwines Japanese art, Impressionism, environmental science, and three cultures…

(left) Kesai Eisan (right) Van Gogh copy

In 2012 I went to the Van Gogh museum and saw all these Japanese prints. I thought it was cool they included them in the museum but then I realized it was Van Gogh copying Japanese wood-block prints as did many artists of the time. Japanese artwork really gave birth to Impressionism. I couldn’t get the image of one painting, The Courtesan, out of my head. I kept imagining the subject of the painting talking to the artist. Then I thought about global influences of art and cultures and how art can help give us hope even through devastation.

So I wrote two different stories across time: one of an artist and his work come to life and the other set at the site of an environmental disaster in modern-day China. The two stories are connect through time and place with an eternal longing for love, connection and inspiration to go on living. I chose nine Japanese prints that inspired Van Gogh and wrote scenes with two different story lines.

(left) Utagawa Hiroshige (right) Van Gogh copy

I gathered the musical talents of UNIT SOUZOU and three gifted actors Samson Syharath, Ken Yoshikawa and Elaine Low (who has been in five of my prior plays). I’ve been writing scenes based on nine of the original Japanese prints Van Gogh and other artists copied.We’ve started rehearsal for a reading with movement, projections, dance and music as well as slides of the paintings, my sound and lighting by Xander Atwood.

It will be  75-minute show at the intimate New Expressive Works on Jan. 27th at 7:30pm and Jan. 28th at 2pm & 7:30pm. Please mark your calendars.

It’s been 14 years since I’ve written a stage play. I  hope you can see this new work.

Here’s more info!
A chance meeting between Van Gogh and his inspiration for the painting The Courtesan. How Japanese art influenced Impressionism with a side trip through time to modern-day China at the site of a devasting chemical spill.

The Courtesan
a new play
by Dmae Roberts
A 75-minute staged reading with projections, sound, movement and featured music/dance by Michelle Fujii and Toru Watanabe of UNIT SOUZOU
and actors Samson Syharath, Elaine Low and Ken Yoshikawa. With creative team Paige Rogers, Xander Atwood and Joe Rogers.

Showtimes:
Jan. 27th @ 7:30pm, Jan. 28th @ 2pm & 7:30pm
at N.E.W. Expressive Works, 810 SE Belmont, PDX 97214
Tix: Advance are tickets are $10.
It’s $5 students//Oregon Trail Card (day of show with I.D.)\
Buy tickets for The Courtesan – a new play by Dmae Roberts
http://courtesan.brownpapertickets.com (service fee included)

OR PayPal… (no service fee)

Name of drop-down menu



The Letting Go Trilogies

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 The Letting Go Trilogies is now available for purchase for $12.95 in print on  CreateSpace (https://www.createspace.com/5971338).
It’s also available for $12.82 with Amazon Prime on Amazon.com.

The Kindle edition  is at this link:  https://amzn.com/B01G7Q912S.

You can also order it directly from the MediaRites’ Amazon store. MediaRites has agreed to distribute Dmae’s book free of charge. It’s $13 plus shipping at this link: https://amzn.com/1522998950

The book is appropriate for ages 14 to adult. And please consider sharing your review on Kindle and Amazon!

Available from Dmae  directory for $15 including shipping via media mail. All orders will go out within two business days. 


 

The Letting Go Trilogies: Stories of a Mixed-Race Family traces four decades of what it means to be a mixed-race adult who sometimes called herself “Secret Asian Woman.” With her personal essays written over a ten-year period, Dmae Roberts journeys through biracial identity, Taiwan, sci-fi, and the trials of her interracial Taiwanese and Oklahoman family amid love, loss and letting go of past regrets and pain.

Dmae-Vertical Reading-WHS-2

 

See photos from past reading and book signing events:

 

Past Events: 

  • May 20th at 6:30pm at Wilson High School (1151 SW Vermont St, Portland, OR 97219) along with a screening of Mei Mei, A Daughter’s Song, 2015 award-winning film for the Best Historical Documentary from the Oregon Independent Film Festival.
  • May 23rd at 7:00pm at Broadway Books (1714 NE Broadway St, Portland, OR 97232) for the official launch of Roberts’ book.
  • July 19th at 7pm at Rose Schnitzer Manor for their Lifelong Learning Lecture Series, “Live Your Art.
  • Sept 1st at 7pm at Another Read Through bookstore, 3932 N Mississippi Ave, Portland, Oregon 97227 (anotherreadthrough.com). Dmae will give a preview of her Oregon Humanities Conversation Project topic and feature a reading from her book with: “What Are You?” A Mixed-Race Reading & Conversation.”
Stay tuned for future events!

Educators can receive a discount on multiple copies. Appropriate for high school and college ethnic studies courses. Email: lettinggotrilogies@gmail.com.

  • 10 to 19 copies — 10% Discount
  • 20 to 29 copies — 20% Discount
  • 30 to 39 copies — 30% Discount
  • 40 or more copies — 40% Discount

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