Life In Arts Productions presents
OF MICE AND MEN
BY JOHN STEINBECK
PRODUCED BY
BENJAMIN DANIEL PHILIP
TRAVIS SCHLEGEL
KELLI LACEY
AKITORA ISHII
MEGAN MURPHY RUCKMAN
SHOW DATES: April 7th – April 22nd, 2023
Thursdays, Fridays, Saturday Evenings @ 7:30pm | Sunday Matinees @ 2:30pm
VENUE: 21TEN Theatre, 2110 SE 10th Ave, Portland, OR 97214
TICKETS: $15 General Admission | $10 students & seniors ticketing available at the door | Advance: https://life-in-arts-productions.square.site
Of Mice and Men is presented by special arrangement
with Broadway Licensing, LLC, servicing the Dramatists Play Service.
There is no one person who is credited as The Director. This was an ensemble-based production devised using methods of Viewpoint Work, Ensemble-Based Dramaturgy & Table Work, Scene Work with blocking created in collaboration with The Ensemble, and frequent discussions that informed our exploration of what it means to tackle such a classic piece of American Literature in today’s world — as we were all drawn in as a group to come to a creative space to see what we could find in Steinbeck’s words.
The lead Production Team consisted of Benjamin Daniel Philip, Travis Schlegel, Kelli Lacey, Akitora Ishii, and Megan Murphy Ruckman — all of us working together handling the overall artistic vision while making sure we were also able to track each element of the production.
CAST:
Benjamin Daniel Philip as George
Travis Schlegel as Lennie
Ron K. Palmblad as Candy
Akitora Ishii as Slim
Chloë Duckart as Curley
Bobbi Kaye Kupfner as Curley’s Wife
Jelani Kee as Crooks
Brandon Michael as Carlson
Steve Radley as Whit
Chuck Weed as The Boss
For Actor Bios — just click on the highlighted name, and you will be redirected to the specific page for that performer.
PRODUCTION STAFF:
Artistic Director: Benjamin Daniel Philip
Production Manager: Kelli Lacey
Stage Manager: Isabella Steele
Production Assistant: Travis Schlegel
Production Assistant: Akitora Ishii
Master Carpenter: Adam Caniparoli
Scenic Designer: Kyra Sanford
Lighting Designer: Annabel Cantor
Lighting Assistant: Akitora Ishii
Live Music/Sound Design: Iris Evans
Costumes: Kelli Lacey & Benjamin Daniel Philip
in collaboration with the Ensemble.
Props: Kelli Lacey, Isabella Steele & Kyra Sanford
in collaboration with the Ensemble
Booth Tech: Annabel Cantor
Advertising & Marketing: Benjamin Daniel Philip
Promotional Photographer: Akitora Ishii
Show Photographer: Jaren Kerr
Advising Producer: Megan Murphy Ruckman
For Crew Bios — just click on the highlighted name, and you will be redirected to the specific page for that member of the crew.
“To be an ignorant man, to posses nothing but a fragile word, to find oneself as if relying upon darkness and nothingness; that it the position from which one must be constantly setting out.”
– Jean Starobinski
A NOTE FROM
BENJAMIN DANIEL PHILIP
PRODUCER, OF MICE AND MEN
FOUNDING MEMBER, LIFE IN ARTS PRODUCTIONS
Up until about 2015, theatre had been a cornerstone of my life, a creative outlet that I discovered in high school — one which allowed me to find some helpful ways to interact with this world, to understand the people in my life and the different ways they felt and behaved, to do my best while facing the constant changes and difficult challenges of this life while manuerving some elements of severe mental illness and the resulting neurodivergence which had often influenced the ways I felt, processed, and communicated — and even though I have failed way more often than I’ve succeeded while carrying around certain deep traumas and a lot of self blame — theatre provided me with a solid foundation from which I could continue listening and learning.
Portland has been a difficult place for me to navigate, and it’s been challenging to find those good people and those safe places where I can honor the storyteller in me, and continue to do the hard work necessary to be present and mindful in this work I do. When I first moved here, I was recovering from a serious illness — one which had taken a year of my life away from me, six months of which were spent in the hosptial and six months of which were spent very withdrawn and isolated, without a good sense of self, safety, or support, and I was unable to wrap my mind around the sequence of events that seemed to have laid waste to everything I was, everything I wanted, all the dreams and hopes I had carried with me. As I struggled to find ways to heal, I ended up hiding, and it was only in hindsight that I realized I hadn’t fully processed what had happend — I didn’t know how to. I tried to go right back to the theatre, but I was definitely not okay — and even though I was aware that something seemed incredibly off, I forged ahead anyway, pushing right past any warning signs internal or external, and the result was scary, confusing, and heartbreaking.
In the midst of this turbulent time, my mother was diagnosed with cancer, and within a year, I had lost her. She had been my rock, the one person who had stood by me through all my various difficulties and failures, the one person who saw my struggles with mental illness and trauma and accepted me no matter where I was in my journey, the one person who had my back and fought like hell so that I could still have a fighting chance to find some kinda life out there — even if it was one that required a lot of compromise, a lot of patience, a lot of disappointments, and a lot of time spent learning about how the different ways I needed to take responsibility for my words and actions — even though they often felt twisted and broken by an illness I did not understand, an illness I often had no control over.
One of the last things my mother did was to create a trust in my name, a trust that I could pull funding from to put into any production I decided to move forward with — she knew how important theatre was to me, and she also knew the difficulties I was up against — but she wanted me to continue to create opportunities for myself, to continue my search for community, creativity, and communication.
I ended up starting a small company in 2016 with one of my best friends — the extraordinarily talented Jayne Furlong, an amazing performer who I had worked with on several community theatre productions — and together we moved forward with our inaugural production from Life In Arts Productions. “The Pillowman” by Martin McDonagh opened in February 2017 to rave reviews and sold-out houses. That production was directed by Jamie Rea, and it provided me with an opportunity to dig into an incredible role — it was performance I was extremely proud of — while working with an incredilbe script, and a chance to share the stage with Bobby Bermea, Jonah Weston, and Gary Strong (in a Drammy Award winning performance). I had hoped to keep moving forward on that journey, but life had other plans for me.
In 2018, I stepped away from the theatre due to extreme burn-out and several severe symptoms steeming from my life-long battle with anxiety and depression. For the first time in 24 years, I went an entire year without participating in a single theatrical production onstage or off. And then I went another year. And another. And just as I was feeling ready to return to the stage, it was early 2020, and the COVID-19 pandemic was soon upon us, closing down live performances all over the world.
As I continued my journey away from the one thing that had always been a constant in my life, I was finally granted the opportunity to examine the difficulties I had faced, the mistakes I had made, the abuses thrust upon me, the triggers which had always kept me on edge, and the trauma that had taken away my own agency, and my ability to advocate for myself. I was finally able to step back and explore the different ways I make decisions, and honor those those feelings I had about all the many ways I had lost sight of why I had been so committed to this creative life.
I didn’t find many answers, but I did find a lot of questions.
“Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are now written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.”
— Rainer Maria Rilke
The inspiration behind the decision to move forward with a production of Of Mice and Men came out of several conversations, starting with local actor Travis Schlegel. We had become aquatinted with each other over the course of two different auditions for two different plays. I nabbed a role in the first production, and Travis nabbed a role in the second production, but a friendship began to blossom. Even though we had never worked together on stage, we began a conversation… a conversation that lasted throughout the pandemic, a conversation which eventually lead to the discovery that both performers had a mutual love for this play.
Of Mice and Men was the first real scene study I did in high school and it was the first time I realized that this crazy artistic outlet was something more than just trying to remember your lines and where you’re suppose to stand while you’re on stage. It has stayed with me over the years, waiting for the right time, waiting for the right moment… where I would meet the Lennie to my George.
Soon the conversation expanded to include Megan Murphy Ruckman (founding member and advising producer), Kelli Lacey (founding member and production manager), and Akitora Ishii (founding member and production assistant). Once a Production Team was in place, this dream project soon turned into a reality, and from there the community behind Life In Arts Productions was revived in order to move forward — digging into four months of pre-production, holding multiple conversations about theme and tone, and assembling an amazing team of artists and performers who would then fill all the necessary positions, the creative building blocks needed to bring this show to the stage with a minimal budget and a lot of hard work.
After six years away from the stage, I’m happy to announce that Life In Arts Productions is returning to the Portland Theatre Community, and I’m proud to the work that has led to this moment as we open Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck here at 21TEN Theatre.
I feel extremely blessed to be surrounded by all the amazingly talented individuals who have come to work on this production, and this is an exciting opportunity to showcase their passions and their talents both onstage and off as Life In Arts Productions continues to carve out a little space in the Portland Theatre Community where they can produce theatre with an eye towards developing safe spaces for all artists, using the ideals of community and collaboration to enrich and inform the creative process.
Of Mice and Men is a modern American classic of page, stage, and screen, and with our amazingly talented and incredibly supportive ensemble cast and crew, we are excited to present this extraordinary production — a meaningful examination of friendship, of the ways people are labeled and discarded because of physical or intellectual differences, of the search for a little place called home, a dream which remains now — as it did when this story was first written — out of reach for those who struggle in this society.
This production puts the resources of Life In Arts into the vision of local artists on a project aligned with Life Art’s mission, offering a deeper collaboration and more diverse community involvement for the company, the artist, and the communities they serve.
Thank you all for coming out to support live theatre in our community. All of us here involved with Life In Arts Productions are grateful to share this timeless story with you.
“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man.”
— George Bernard Shaw
ABOUT THE SHOW: Before John Steinbeck penned The Grapes of Wrath, the 1939 epic detailing Okies and others who had been swept out West when the Dust Bowl met the Great Depression, he had drawn from his own experiences as a transient California laborer in Of Mice and Men. Originally written as a short novel with the structure of a play, Of Mice and Men was first published in 1937 and later appeared on Broadway in November of the same year. The play, which predates the Tony Awards and the Drama Desk Awards, earned the 1938 New York Drama Critics’ Circle Best Play. The play was revived on Broadway in 1974 and 2014, and film adaptations were made in 1939 and 1992.
The tale follows two field workers — the quiet, but wise George and his simple-minded friend Lennie — as they move from farm to farm looking for work. The pair have ambitions to own a farm of their own one day, but Lennie’s excessive strength and mental handicap create frequent problems for both of them, resulting in the duo losing one job after another and exhausting their savings.
Of Mice and Men was controversial at the time for its use of profanity and vivid depictions of the human suffering surrounding prejudice, mental disabilities, domestic violence and poverty. It was the issue of euthanasia, however, that resulted in the book being banned from public schools and libraries, presumably due to the emotional state of much of American society at the time. But the story of Lennie and George, offering bright hues of friendship, compassion and survival that shine through the overall darkness, helped carry the novel over the censors and into the kind of literary significance that today encourages many public schoolchildren around the world to read about them.
The show deals with the themes of hopes and dreams, loneliness, isolation, elation, and rage. All of those components, throughout history, have been relevant in describing the human condition. People who see this show will see the truth in the writing; they are going to be drawn in by the way the characters are portrayed on the stage, and by the characters themselves, by Steinbeck’s very in-depth, very fleshed-out portrayals.
John Steinbeck said it best: “Try to understand men; if you understand each other, you will be kind to each other.” This story rings true today on the importance of acceptance and understanding. Life In Arts Productions chose this piece in hopes of not only educating audiences but inspiring tolerance and compassion.
MISSION STATEMENT: Life In Arts Productions is committed to producing quality work that brings performing arts and education to our communities.
FOUNDING MEMBERS
Jayne Furlong
Benjamin Daniel Philip
Mandy Khoshnevisan
Megan Murphy Ruckman
Kelli Lacey
Beth Westbo
LIFE IN ARTS PRODUCTIONS 