New Faces Series

NEW FACES original play series

IFCC awakens cultural awareness by creating an environment for artists and audiences to explore, honor, and celebrate diversity. IFCC’s New Faces series highlights two playwrights from diverse and often under-represented communities with a workshop process and public reading. New Faces fosters a deeper understanding of the human condition while deepening Portland’s pool of creative talent.

ABOUT THE PLAYS

When Justice Throws the Second Stone
Credibility- It can make you, break you, save you. Eddie Crankshaw loses his credibility due to a single incident of domestic violence during a failing marriage. He becomes a prime suspect after his wife is discovered murdered. His future is haunted by his diminished credibility, making it more difficult for him to aid in his defense and to prove to the world that he’s innocent. His case ends in a guilty verdict. A deeper, post-conviction investigation reveals shocking twists that shine light on a major conspiracy. The goal of the New Faces workshop is to fine tune the piece, and polish it in preparation for a future production. Originally developed as a one act through a grant from the Regional Arts an Culture Counsel, he playwright plans to adapt this play into a novel and a screenplay.

Wall (working title)
WALL explores the divisions between people, ideological, physical, real, and invented, and how these divisions affect individual morality. At a border checkpoint, migrant workers, tourists, and other travelers wait for the day’s passage to begin. When a terrorist attack erupts within the border walls, and the checkpoints lock down, border guards and commuters must decide whether protocol or humanity will dictate their next actions. Developed through improvisational workshops, WALL, examines what it means for an individual identity to be defined completely by volume categorization and what it means to survival.

ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHTS

Raymond Cornelius Alexander is a native son from Richmond, Virginia. His migration to Portland, Oregon, in 1966 was an unlikely adventure. He was later overwhelmed by fiction writing spirits during his own “tumultuous, long hot summer” of 1973. A kindly magazine editor purchased his first short story, after eleven years of rejections by others. The power, beauty, and persuasiveness of creative writing compelled him to teach himself the techniques of writing a play. In 1992, the Oregon Arts Commission awarded Mr. Alexander a playwriting fellowship, which led to a one-act play called When Justice Throws The Second Stone. His combined knowledge of the criminal justice system and criminal law were key factors that helped him to create this experimental one act play. In 1999 with funding from the Regional Arts and Culture Council and the Puffin Foundation Mr. Alexander led a reading series that included readings at Borders Books, Kennedy School and Portland Cable Access. In 2007, at the encouragement of IFCC‘s Creative Director, Adrienne Flagg, and in order to experiment with ideas – multiple themes within a subject, multiple layers, sub-plots and a novelistic view of the story, Mr. Alexander finished a the third draft, a three-act play entitled, When Justice Throws The Second Stone. Mr. Alexander sites as his influences Lorraine Hansberry, August Wilson, Eugene O’Neill and Jene Genet. (photo by Barry Frankel)

Song Kim grew up in Portland and has worked in different capacities with various local companies. He is newly delved into the discipline of writing. In June ‘08, Mr. Kim premiered his first full length play, Due Process, at Gresham Little Theater.