OCH Press Releases

OCH teams up with Portland Center Stage for innovative discussion series (February 19, 2007)

OCH and PCS offer Portlanders a chance to explore "Four Questions" in the new Gerding Theater at the Armory.

What is the nature of love and desire? What is the relationship between power and justice?

These are just two of the timeless questions Portlanders will have the chance to consider during the upcoming reading and discussion series Four Questions: Virtue, Community, Love, and Justice in the Theater, presented by the Oregon Council for the Humanities (OCH), in cooperation with Portland Center Stage (PCS) and Reed College.

This series of lively conversations will be held at PCS's new Gerding Theater at the Armory (128 NW 11th Ave., Portland) on four consecutive Monday evenings, beginning April 9, from 7:30 to 9:00.

Registered participants will receive reading packets containing selected scenes from four plays--Oedipus Rex, Antigone, A Streetcar Named Desire, and The Crucible. Each night, a Reed College professor will deliver a brief lecture about that evening's play and question, then will facilitate a discussion among participants.

Registration for the series is $35 and forms are available to download at the OCH website (www.oregonhum.org). Registration deadline is March 15, 2007. Space is limited. Participants are expected to attend all four sessions.

Jennifer Allen, Education Program Director, says, "One of the things OCH does best is bring people together for unusual and important conversations. Four Questions is a great chance for theater lovers and humanities scholars to have such a conversation. Just as actors make plays come alive on stage, so can great teachers of history and literature bring these texts to life in conversations with engaged, inquisitive people."

The full schedule is as follows:

  • April 9: What is the role of knowledge in being a virtuous person? Scenes from Oedipus Rex by Sophocles
  • April 16: What is the relationship between an individual and the community? Scenes from Antigone by Sophocles
  • April 23: What is the nature of love and desire? Scenes from A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams
  • April 30: What is the relationship between power and justice? Scenes from The Crucible by Arthur Miller

    • Four Questions, which was offered by OCH in Pendleton during October 2005, is based on OCH's Humanity in Perspective (HIP) program, a free college-level course in the humanities for low-income adults, in partnership with Reed College.


    Contact: Jennifer Allen, Education Program Director, (503) 241-0543

    General OCH information

    The Oregon Council for the Humanities is an independent, nonprofit affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. OCH was established in 1971 and is one of five statewide partners of the Oregon Cultural Trust. If you have questions about any of our programs, please view our staff list to find the appropriate contact person or call us at (503) 241-0543 in Portland or (800) 735-0543 from elsewhere in the state.