OPENING ACT THEATRE COMPANY
Roosevelt High School's resident production company is Opening Act Theatre Company.
Students can audition for after school productions from improvisation to one-acts, full-lengths to musicals, depending on the year. Some productions come from inside classes, like the touring children's shows.
OUR BACKGROUND
OATC PHILOSOPHY
"What did you learn today?" is the core of company. Everything is about learning, growth, and process.
OATC productions are open to the community whenever possible. "Community call" auditions are announced each year by May. All auditioners are considered, but priority is given to currently enrolled RHS students.
What? Roosevelt High School's resident production company
Who? Students as members enrolled in Theatre Production class, RHS students auditioning for productions, and community members when shows include an "open call" for auditions
When? Our season runs concurrent with the school year. Typically, OATC has a fall production (one-act), winter production (full length or musical), RUCKUS improv shows, Acting Showcase, and spring production (Senior Shorts: senior-directed one-act play festival). Some years, we include a touring children's show.
Where? Roosevelt High School's Performing Arts Center's Main Stage Theatre, Black Box Theatre, and Main Stage Studio (main stage theatre converted to an intimate performance space for Senior Shorts).
How? Please email Jo Strom Lane at jolane@pps.net for more information on how you can get involved with OATC as a cast or crew member.
To become a company member:
Students enrolled in the Theatre Production class are resident OATC company members for that school year. Other students and community members outside of the class become company members for the duration of any production of which they are a part. Contact Jo Strom Lane for audition information or visit the Audition Info in the Production drop down menu.
HISTORY:
OATC started in Tucson, Arizona in 1996 as an annual summer theatre training program with University of Arizona theatre education graduates Jennifer Burritt Rogers, Maryann Flannery Green, and Jo Strom Lane. With permission from Rogers and Green, Lane took OATC with her to Portland in 1999 where she ran OATC for another seven years first at Winterhaven School in SE and then at Roosevelt in North Portland. Once accepting the position at RHS, OATC became the resident theatre performance company, no longer offered in the summer only, but rather during the school year. The philosophy of OATC is a part of the curriculum and production experiences.
