From Miracle, with love (part two)

With Valentine’s Day here, we want to say just how much we love our artists and staff and volunteers who make the Miracle possible. From one show to the next, we are constantly amazed and impressed with the depth of talent and breadth of camaraderie that is shared here at El Centro Milagro each and every day. So many artists have contributed to the Miracle over the years that we wanted to take a moment to share with you a little bit about where they are today.  So we put out a call to our master list of "all contacts, all shows" and we’re thrilled to share with you news from near and far. So here's part two — read on and fall in love with your favorite artists all over again!


Tamara Carroll is currently directing Danny and the Deep Blue Sea for Action/Adventure Theatre March 2-24. Her most recent project at Miracle was directing the reading of The House of the Spirits at last fall’s La Luna Nueva festival.  Previously, she was the stage manager for Miracle’s production of Clean, where she fondly recalls, “I accidentally gave an actor a line with way too much of my own inflection. Everyone sort of stopped and looked at me and Olga said, ‘Line, Tamara. Not line reading.’ Stage managing for Olga is best directing education I could have hoped for …  she meets each challenge with endless positivity and innovation and inspires everyone with whom she collaborates.”

Remember the blockbuster show How the García Girls Lost their Accent? Then you probably remember Lara Kobrin who played Sandy. She just finished productions of The Tripping Point: An Exhibition of Fairytale Installtions and Splasher by Ellen Margolis. She is currently the co-owner of a screen printing company specializing in original and custom designs.

Erubiel Valladares Carranza II, originally from Queretaro, México and currently living in Woodburn, was last seen in Miracle’s production of The Shrunken Head of Pancho Villa. He’s not currently working on any theatre projects but hopes to stay involted, perhaps helping to build the set for Oedipus el Rey. “I am the project manager for a building that will achieve ‘Passive Haus’ and will be the first one on the nation to do so.  And we are doing it with volunteer power. So I have over 850 ‘volunteer coordinations’ on my belt and continue strong. My dedication is to do great work to articulate the social and environmental issues that have a great deal of connection, but it seems that main stream doesn't see that connection.  Thanks to the commodities. I hope that by the end of this year I will lead a nonprofit that will be the arts and cultural aspect of farmworkers here in Woodburn.” 


It hasn’t been long since the beautiful work of costume designer Marychris Mass (yes, her real name) was last at Miracle — it’s onstage right now in Boleros for the Disenchanted. Originally from Chicago, MaryChris is now moving on to design costumes for Dialogues of the Carmelites at Portland State University Opera.

Also onstage right now in Boleros for the Disenchanted is the perky young Kylie Clarke Johnson, who you may recall from last year’s world premiere of Boomcracklefly.

And then there’s the incomparable Enrique E. Andrade, originally from Mexico City and last seen onstage at Miracle in our Day of the Dead production ¡Viva la Revolución! as Ludovico  Augusto Montes de Oca y Calatrava del Pozo. His next project at Miracle will be in the Chorus of Oedipus el Rey in May.  “Every play is a favorite memory, and there are too many stories to tell,” says Enrique. “This theater is a magical space. The Miracle Theatre  is the only place in Portland where Latino performers and artists are celebrated with respect and in a culturally appropriate manner.” Aside from theatre, though, Enrique also enjoys poetry and has a YouTube channel.                                                                

Originally from Nicaragua and now living in Vancouver, Washington is Castillo Morales, who was last seen on the Miracle stage in Ana en el trópico as Santiago. He returns in March in Mensaje de Papá, Miracle Theatre Group’s Spanish-language presentation in recognition of International Women’s Day.  By day, Castillo is an entrepreneur trying to set up a fast-food drive-through restaurant in Vancouver called Tacos ‘n’ Cream.  “Performing/acting isn't a job for me, but a welcome challenge to portray life in many dimensions,” says Castillo.

Remember Jay Alvarez from that crazy-titled one-man show from New York called Be Careful! The Sharks Will Eat You!? Well, Jay continues to perform that show and Tiny Bubbles by Richard Willet at the Stage Left Studio through July. From New York, Jay writes that “Paquito D'Rivera, multi Grammy Award Winner, Kennedy Center Honoree, National Medal of Honor in the Arts recipient is now on board to compose the music for a full-length musical version of Be Careful! The Sharks Will Eat You!                      

Our favorite transplant from the great state of Iowa, Rebecca Frost Mayer, was last seen at Miracle in Canta y no llores, one of our Day of the Dead celebrations. She has many irons in the fire, including a one-woman cabaret that she'll be performing this summer (with a lot of tap dancing and, she hopes,  some Spanish-language content. She also continues to work on her scripts O'Flannery's Pub, The Elevator, and Apples Fall as well as other new projects for the stage and for print. Looking back, she remembers how “Opening night of Canta y no llores was one of the most memorable opening nights of my career. I spoke with an amazing patron of the theatre, Laura (and I must say I held the español pretty well!), about the show, and she invited me to borrow her apartment in Mexico City! I hope the offer still stands, because I'd like to get there sooner than later. At the moment, I'm not in any physical theatre space, just mostly in my head. And sneaking in a few rehearsals here and there at Northeast Community Center, where I teach ZUMBA, and a new fitness method called willPower and Grace. If you want to drop in and dance or work out with me, you can learn more by visiting rebeccafrostdanceandbody.com. 

A few years ago, Miracle co-produced Dos Pueblos with Hand2Mouth Theatre, a company that includes Julie Hammond, who most recently co-created and appeared in H2M’s production of Something’s Got Ahold of My Heart, which continues March 9-April 28 at the Portland2012 (biennial showings) and June 10-11 at the NW New Works Festival in Seattle, plus a fall premiere to be determined.

Ann Singer has sat in the control booth for many productions, most recently as a sound tech for Ana en el trópico. Now she’s working on a story event and The Lunatic Fringe educational workshops for teens for Lunacy Stageworks, where she’s a producer/special events coordinator/educator.

Do you remember El Grito del Bronx? Well, Corinne Gayle Lowenthal (originally from George, I’ll have you know), was the stage manager for that production. She’s now working on several productions, including 13: A New Musical for Staged! (who co-produced our award-winning Songs for a New World summer musical a couple years back); Promise: The Opera for 45^th Parallel, the OPS Fest, and Fuse Midsommer for Fuse She’s also coordinating the Portland Area Theatre Alliance regional auditions.

And finally from afar, we heard from the wondrous Charise Castro Smith, playwright of Boomcracklefly, who is now working as a playwright with a musical theatre writing workshop Feb. 27 for New Dramatists. She writes, “The opening night of my play Boomcracklefly is something that I will never ever forget. The care and love that the actors, director and staff of the Miracle Theatre put into bringing my play to life is something for which I will forever be grateful!”

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