Live Shows

Check out these reviews of the live Envelope shows:

Here’s a great review from The Portland Mercury. An excerpt:
“haunting and lyrical… [These shows turn] a few scant details found in newspaper clippings and old high school yearbooks into tender portraits of complex people… [The shows] hold on to a sense of hope. And just enough of that might save a life.”
Here’s a nice one from Broadway World. Pull quote:
“Moorad did a huge amount of research into the lives of the very real people behind the newspaper snippets. The way he interweaves their stories with his own -- of getting to know his grandfather, discovering the clippings, and dealing with the suicide of a friend -- makes the narrative very personal. And in shining a light on these subjects, THE LAZARUS COMPLEX asks us to reflect not only on what causes some people to want to die but on our perceptions of death and dying as part of the human condition. I found it incredibly powerful.
Here’s a really nice piece from Portland Monthly on the overall Envelope project.

Photos from and info on the 2018 run of shows:

Jonathan Walters (photo by Ian Reeves) — Jonathan Walters *(photo by Ian Reeves)*

Jonathan Walters and Ben Moorad (photo by Ian Reeves) — Jonathan Walters and Ben Moorad *(photo by Ian Reeves)*

Arlena Barnes, Jennie Spector and David Bellis-Squires (photo by Ian Reeves) — Arlena Barnes, Jennie Spector and David Bellis-Squires *(photo by Ian Reeves)*

Courtney Sheedy, Will Hattman and Wilson Vediner (photo by Ian Reeves) — Courtney Sheedy, Will Hattman and Wilson Vediner *(photo by Ian Reeves)*

Hand2Mouth Theatre presents

The Art of Blushing and the Lazarus Complex

Thursdays-Saturdays, November 8-17, 2018

Writer Ben Moorad's grandfather was a psychiatrist in New Britain, Connecticut, who collected 124 stories from 1941 to 1948 of townspeople who tried to end their lives. As his grandfather was dying, Ben discovered these harrowing and deeply human stories in his papers, and Ben has spent the last 11 years researching and writing about them. The Art of Blushing and The Lazarus Complex is a part of this ongoing study of the will to live and the will to die. These two new standalone shows are a genre-blending, provocative and immersive experience combining vocal performance, a live score and visual projections.

All shows at 7:30pm.

Venue: Shout House, 210 SE Madison, Ste 11, Portland, OR 97214

TICKETS: $15 Th/Fr, $25 Sa, hand2mouththeatre.org

See one show, see both separately, or see them together:

The Art of Blushing, Thursdays, 11/8 & 11/15

The Lazarus Complex, Fridays, 11/9 & 11/16

The Art of Blushing & The Lazarus Complex (double feature)

Saturdays, 11/10 & 11/17

Join us for a conversation with a panel of experts after the shows on 11/9 & 11/15.

11/9 - Representatives from Dougy Center & Ask the Question Project

11/15 - Representatives from Dougy Center, Returning Veterans Project & Outside In

CREDITS

WRITER/CREATOR: Ben Moorad

DIRECTOR: Jonathan Walters

PERFORMERS: Arlena Barnes, David Bellis-Squires, Ben Moorad & Jennie Spector

MUSICIANS: Wilson Vediner, Courtney Sheedy & Will Hattman

BEN MOORAD

Ben Moorad is the Co-Founder of Write Around Portland, a nonprofit that has helped over 5000 adults and youth use the power of community writing to transform their lives, and the Co-Founder of Pass the Mic, a free music camp for immigrant and refugee youth. Ben is a Fellow of The MacDowell Colony and has received support from the Regional Arts & Culture Council, Caldera Arts and the Sitka Center for Art and Ecology for his Envelope of Suicides project.

Info on the 2016 shows:

Every Thursday from October 13 through November 17...

Jonathan Walters (Artistic Director of Hand2Mouth Theatre) will direct Ben Moorad (me) in six entirely different, standalone shows that explore material from the envelope project. Wilson Vediner (of the bands Months and Point Juncture WA) will provide sound and music, and we'll have guest performers helping out throughout the run.

All shows will be at 7 pm at the Shout House at 210 SE Madison in Portland (under the Hawthorne Bridge). We'll have refreshments. Tickets are $10.

The shows are:

October 13 Introduction: The Envelope

October 20 Anna, George, Anna, Anna and Lillian and Frances

October 27 Man With $6,018 in Bank Deposit Leaps to Death From High Veranda

November 3 The Cause of Hydrophobia as Given by a Paranoia Patient at Brigham Hall

November 10 City Judge Flays 'Guttersnipes' From Out-of-Town For Misdeeds

November 17 Lora and the Grasshopper

Join us for one of them, or see them all! We're only selling about 40 seats per show, so get your tickets now. Click here to purchase. (Thank you, Hand2Mouth Theatre, for your help with ticketing!)