imago theatre

The Company

Artistic directors Carol Triffle and Jerry Mouawad, trained in the methods of theater master Jacques Lecoq with influences from Robert Wilson, Richard Foreman, Alain Platel and Trisha Brown, have created a company that is one of the most innovative theatres in the U.S.

Imago Theatre began in 1979 performing exclusively mask theater in small communities around the Northwest, and has progressed toward creating and staging experimental works, original text works, and contemporary adaptations of classics.

Audiences fortunate enough to witness Imago's productions of past years have journeyed to some exciting, unusual, and fantastic universes. The ensemble's ingenuity has manifested itself in numerous stage 'theatrics' including a tilting stage in Jean-Paul Sartre's No Exit, underground projections in Carol Triffle's Buffo, a giant 14' metallic wheel in Richard Foreman's Symphony of Rats, underwater soliloquies in Triffle's Oh Lost Weekend, a matrix puzzle of a set in Jerry Mouawad's House Taken Over, and most recently the United States premiere of Caryl Churchill's A Number. These productions and others have earned Imago numerous Drammy awards and nominations, as well as consistent recognition from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Imago's work has been seen on television and on several continents during extensive tours to Europe, Asia, and throughout North America. In 2001 Imago's FROGZ completed a two-week run on Broadway, and returned to the acclaimed New Victory Theater for a four-week run in May 2002. Two Imago productions, FROGZ and No Exit, presented extended runs at the Tony Award-winning American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 2005-2006. No Exit returns to the East Coast this fall at the distinguished Hartford Stage in Hartford, Connecticut.

The Artists

CAROL TRIFFLE (Co-creator, Co-director)

Carol is Co-Artistic Director and founding member of Imago Theatre. She attended the Ecole Jacques Lecoq for a two-year program (1986-1988) and returned to Paris in the late nineties to complete the third year pedagogical program (1996-1997). Carol brings to Imago Theatre the primary teachings of Mr. Lecoq, by whom the company is highly influenced. Carol's work has appeared in Russia, Asia, Europe, and throughout the United States. Her original works have been landmarks at Imago Theatre and include: Buffo (1994), Ajax (1996), Ginger’s Green (1997), Trailer Park Paradise (1999), Oh Lost Weekend (2000), No Can Do (2001), Missing Mona a.k.a. Leo’s Lost Notebook (2004), and Hit Me in the Stomach (2006). Her productions have won several Portland Theater awards including Best Cinematography, Best Costume and Best Original Play (Dead End Ed, 1998, co-writer/performer). Carol is recipient of two Oregon Arts Commission Fellowships and the New York Dance Film Award. Her co-creation of FROGZ with Jerry Mouawad has had double visits to Broadway at the acclaimed New Victory Theater (2000 and 2002). In 2003, Carol produced the United States premiere of Caryl Churchill's A Number at Imago Theatre. For the past three years she has been collaborating with Jerry Mouawad on Imago's latest mask theater production Biglittlethings, which recently completed its second national tour. Carol has performed in lead roles for several Jerry Mouawad productions at Imago including Richard Foreman's Samuel's Major Problems (Marie Helene), Jean-Paul Sartre's No Exit (Estelle), Anton Chekhov's Uncle Vanya (Yelena), Eugene Ionesco's Exit the King (Queen Margarite). Carol recently starred in Imago's Not Not Not Not Not Enough Oxygen.

JERRY MOUAWAD (Co-creator, Co-director)

Jerry is Co-Artistic Director and founding member of Imago Theatre. He studied the teachings of Jacques Lecoq at the Hayes-Marshall School of Theater Arts. He has designed and directed the following original works at Imago Theatre: Phoenicians in the House (1994), Half Light (1996), Dead End Ed (1998), House Taken Over (1999), and the following adaptations of contemporary work and classics: Richard Foreman's Samuel's Major Problems (1996) and Symphony of Rats (1996); Sartre's No Exit (1998, 2000, 2005); Lorca's Blood Wedding (1999); Moliere's The Imaginary Invalid (2000); Ionesco's Exit the King (2002); Caryl Churchill's A Number (United States premiere, 2003). Jerry has performed lead roles in Carol Triffle's Buffo (1994), Ginger's Green (1997), Oh Lost Weekend (2000), No Can Do (2001), and Missing Mona a.k.a. Leo's Lost Notebook (2004). His three primary collaborations with Carol Triffle (co-design and co-direction) include Verdad (1993), FROGZ (2000) and Biglittlethings (2003). FROGZ was presented twice at the acclaimed New Victory Theater in New York (2000 and 2002) and Biglittlethings just completed its second national tour. Jerry is recipient of the Oregon Arts Commission Fellowship, Portland Civic Theater Fellowship, Portland Theater Awards and the New York Film Dance Award. He has staged work for the Oregon Symphony, the Portland Opera, BodyVox and Portland Center Stage. Jerry designed and directed Imago’s Not Not Not Not Not Enough Oxygen and recently directed No Exit at the acclaimed Tony-Award winning American Repertory Theatre in Boston.

JONATHAN GODSEY (Performer)

Jonathan became interesting in theatre in 1998 at the ripe young age of 28. Since then, he has performed in numerous national FROGZ tours with Imago, including runs at American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge, MA, and on Broadway in the Big Apple. Jonathan's other Imago appearances include Oh Lost Weekend, The Imaginary Invalid, and Biglittlethings. He currently studies Aikido at Two Rivers Aikikai in Portland, OR and eventually plans to apply his extensive studies of Taichichuan and Aikido to the art of stage combat.

DANIELLE VERMETTE (Performer)

Danielle has worked with Imago since her arrival in Portland in 1998. This marks her fourth season touring with FROGZ. Other works with Imago include Blood Wedding, Blood Wedding, Imaginary Invalid, and, most recently, Hit Me in the Stomach. Two years ago she received a theatre excellence grant through Imago with which she hopes to stage a play created in collaboration with Katie Griesar tentatively titled, At Night We Take Things. She and Katie (and many of their favorite objects) can be caught writing and creating tiny pieces of theatre which often make their way into Cabaret Boris and Natasha at Performance Works Northwest. Other interests include: talking, writing, watching movies which feature Gena Rowlands, reliving the glory days when Michael Jordan played basketball, and entertaining fantasies about clever projects which could make other people a lot of money. Danielle is grateful to be making her living as an amphibian. (Don't tell the penguins!) She wishes to thank her talented partner, Randy Bynum, for his heart and sparkle, Walter Dog for his ears, and her family for years and years of useful material.

JONOTHON LYONS (Performer)

Jonothon Lyons graduated from Arizona State University with a BA in Theatre in 2004. Since then he has been living in New York City working in music promotion and performing as an actor and dancer. In November 2007 he danced at Theater for the New City in A Timeless Kaidan, a central production of the 3rd Biennial New York Butoh Festival featuring Takuya Ishide, Yuko Kaseki, and Daiji Meguro. He has trained with Mari Osanai, Minako Seki, and Katsura Kan. As a member of Leimay AcTS LAB in July 2008 he will be working with Ko Murobushi to create a new inter-media piece to be presented in 2009. Since fall of 2006 he has toured nationally and internationally with Imago Theatre's mask productions Frogz and Biglittlethings. These have taken him to most of the lower 48 states as well as Alaska and as far overseas at Macau, China. In July and August 2008 he will be working with Robert Wilson at the Watermill Center Summer Program in Southampton, New York. Other recent productions include Sexual Perversity in Chicago, Reckless, A Clockwork Orange, subUrbia, A Chorus Line, and the Marshall W. Mason productions of The Cherry Orchard and J.B. Next year he will appear in the film Couchgarden from Studio Rêver.

KATIE GRIESAR (Composer)

Katie Griesar is a graduate of Vassar College and the American Repertory Theatre Institute for Advanced Theatre Training at Harvard University. She is a three-time Portland Drama Critics Circle Award winner for her music/sound work with Imago Theatre, where she is currently Resident Composer. Katie has also composed/performed original music for the Portland Art Museum’s Music in Performance series, has contributed original music to works by choreographers Linda Austin, Catherine Egan, Cydney Wilkes, as well as filmmaker James Westby, and she plays in the band Durango Park. Katie also frequently collaborates with writer/performer Danielle Vermette, creating tiny (soon to be expanded) pieces of theatre & sometimes co-hosting events at Performance Works Northwest. Most recently Katie has been collaborating with choreographer Mary Oslund & filmmaker David Bryant.

JEFF FORBES (Light Design)

Jeff is a Portland based lighting designer working primarily in theatre and dance. He is a nine-time winner of the Willie and Drammy Awards for theatre, for such companies as Artists Repertory Theatre, Imago Theatre, the Musical Theatre Company, Storefront Theatre, and Tygres Heart Shakespeare Co. He has also designed for American Repertory Theatre (Cambridge, Mass.), the New Rose Theatre, Portland Repertory Theatre, Portland Center Stage, Portland Actors Conservatory, and many others. He tours nationally and internationally with Imago's production of FROGZ as lighting designer and stage manager, and as technical director/lighting designer for the Deborah Hay Dance Company. His work in Dance and Performance includes frequent collaborations with choreographers such as Linda Austin, Linda K. Johnson, Do Jump! Movement Theatre, Monster Squad, Josie Moseley, Mary Oslund, Sally Silvers, and Cydney Wilkes. He is a co-founder, with Linda Austin, of Performance Works NW, for which he also serves as technical director.

GEORGE SMITH ("Cowboy" Illustrations)

George is a nationally syndicated cartoonist. He is best known for his strip, The Smith Family. His inspiration for the strip came from his one boy and ten girls, or which Carol Triffle is one.

MARK FORREST (Resident Fabricator)

Mark is co-founder with Susan Bonde of Bon Design which design and construct mascots, walk-arounds and other unusual creatures. Mark has been involved in theatre design and construction for over two decades including for projects Wee Sing, Oregon Children's Theater, ORLO, Sea World. Mark has been designing and constructing for Imago since 2003. He worked closed with Carol Triffle to bring to life Imago's 'Dino.'

CATI THOMAS (Fabricator)

Cati was born and raised in England. She started sewing at seven and a few years later set off to work in the costume shops of regional and London theatres. A taste for adventure led her and her sewing machine to the American Northwest where, for 20 years, she led a domestic life in Central Oregon. She has performed in, directed and costumed numerous community theatre and dance productions, including A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Tempest, Charley's Aunt, Deathtrap, Oliver!, Swan Lake and The Trojan Women. When she returned to Portland three years ago it was her heart's desire to work at Imago Theatre and see the inside of an orb. She has since become intimately acquainted with the insides of many of Imago's creatures. This is her third season at Imago and her debut in front of the curtain. She would like to thank her three children.

KATHERINE GRAY (Fabricator)

Katherine has performed in four of Imago’s original works. She has assisted in creature creations for both FROGZ and Biglittlethings. While her primary focus has been as a dancer over the past 18 years, including many seasons with Oslund & Co./Dance, she works steadily in the field of prototype development, special events production, costuming and industrial design.

MARK DE GLI ANTONI (Additional Music)

Mark De Gli Antoni is a composer and performer who has devoted the last five years to his band Soul Coughing. Other collaborations include William Wegman, Rivhard Pronce, Christian Marclay, Anthony Coleman and Julia Scher.

Imago is a non-profit organization. Ticket sales and fees we receive from our touring productions cover only a portion of our costs. Contributions to Imago are tax deductible and are greatly appreciated. To contact us write:

Imago Theatre
Post Office Box 15182
Portland, Oregon 97293-5182
(503) 231-3959
www.imagotheatre.com

Tour Direction
Arthur Shafman International LTD
163 Amsterdam Ave #121
New York, NY 10023-5001
tel 212. 799.4814
fax 212.874.3613
email: Ashafman@aol.com

Thanks to Shauna Uselman, Mona Huneidi, Twila Nesky, Lance Woolen, Scott McGregor, Keri Roberts, & others.

Imago Theatre Staff

Artistic Directors
Resident Composer
Resident Lighting Designer
Resident Fabricator
Fabricating Associates

Bookkeeper
Administrative Assistant
Design & Photography

Carol Triffle, Jerry Mouawad
Katie Griesar
Jeff Forbes
Mark Forrest
Cati Thomas
Katharine Gray
Bill Frazier
Sidonie Starr
Jerry Mouawad
Nathan H.G.

Imago Theatre
17 SE 8th Ave
Portland, OR
503.231.9581