Project Growth

Presenting this work in the Festival represents a meaningful step in the lifespan of this project. The project is either brand new, or has undergone significant development or changes since its last presentation. This project will clearly benefit from access to GROW Grant resources at this point in its development, and the project has an intended life beyond the Festival.

Scored on a scale of 1-5

Artist Growth

Producing this work provides a significant growth opportunity for the primary artist or artists involved. For example, artists may be taking on a new artistic role, experimenting with new forms, engaging in a new process for creating work, engaging with new collaborators, or presenting work of a greater scope or scale than they’ve previously undertaken. 

Scored on a scale of 1-5

Ki Ridenour-Starnes

(they/fae/she/+) is a multi-disciplinary indigenous (ᏣᎳᎩ + Chicane) artist, an embodied emergence based theater-maker, and a knowledge sharer. Their work focuses on the welfare of community; working from the idea that artistic expressions are inherent to our collective existence, survival, and future. They love to explore immersive, audience driven pieces that work on sparking direct action to empower communities and the alchemization of their healing and growth.

In 2021, they graduated with an MFA in Directing from the University of Portland and was a member of the 2020/21 Cohort for the Institute for Contemporary Performance. They've worked in Portland on pieces including The Flame, And So We Walked, 1984, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, El Público, Wolves Eat Elk, Clown as Protest: Build a Bougie, Shroom Show: A Foraging Tour, and more! When not working they are likely hanging out with their baby, hiking with their pup, cooking up a video game themed dish, clowning around with their troupe, or wandering through rabbit holes of knowledge.

Yasmin Ruvalcaba

is a Portland-based arts admin, director, writer, and consultant. She centers her work around advancing equity, honoring mentorship and education, and promoting community outreach and engagement. Yasmin is currently the Executive Director at Tualatin Valley Creates. Previously, Yasmin worked with Centro Cultural as the Arts & Culture Manager and Advance Gender Equity in the Arts (AGE) as the Grants Program Director, and has worked with numerous theatres and nonprofits as an artist and contractor, including but not limited to, Artists Repertory Theatre, Bag&Baggage, Hand2Mouth, Northwest Theatre Workshop, Portland Revels, Theatre Diaspora, and Washington County Kids.

Sarah Andrews

is a Portland-based director, the Co- Founder of Crave Theatre Company, and professor at Portland Community College in the Multimedia Department. She holds a BFA in Acting from Central Washington University and is well on her way to earning a Masters in Arts and Culture Leadership and Management from Colorado State. Sarah's artistic work has been featured by many local theatre companies including Tears of Joy, Staged!, Post 5 Theatre, Milagro, Lakewood, Oregon Children'sTheatre, defunkt theatre, Profile, and ART. She also works in community-based performance projects such as Ellensburg, Washington's Buskers In The Burg and Seattle's Summer Solstice.

Heath Hyun Houghton

is a Korean American writer, actor and director. To support and develop organizations that endeavor towards creating environmentally and socially responsible products and services. Heath hopes to work as an advocate for fair trade, for the freedom of information, for our rights as citizens and consumers to have transparency and equality in our business practices. Member playwright of Line Storm Playwrights, Ensemble Member of Fuse Theatre, Ensemble Member of Theatre Vertigo, Member of the Dramatists Guild, Member of USA Gymnastics.

Jane Comer

a part of the Portland theatre scene since the 1980’s, is sometimes called a trans pioneer of theatre. Jane has decades of experience making theatre both from before and after transition. An actor, writer and director, her work recently has focused on solo performance. Her latest work, The Fear of Speaking , was workshopped at the 2020 Fertile Ground Festival, and was featured as the mainstage production of the 2020 Outwright Theatre Festival. Jane currently serves on the board of Fuse Theatre Ensemble.

Samson Syharath

is a Laotian-American performer, director, educator, playwright, and theatre producer. He received a BA from the University of Arkansas Fort Smith. After studying at the Portland Actors Conservatory, he helped start Theatre Diaspora, a nonprofit committed to celebrating and creatively advocating for the Asian American/Pacific Islander experience through stage work and post show discussion. He is also a member of the Accountability Collective and the EDI Committee Chair with the Portland Area Theatre Alliance. He received the Leslie O. Fulton Fellowship and was named part of the Theatre Communications Group Rising Leaders of Color Cohort in 2017.

Ashley Song

is an actor, producer, and writer in Portland, Oregon. She co-founded Desert Island Studios, an independent film studio dedicated to providing more accessible film resources for independent storytellers. Regional: Dracula: A Feminist Revenge Fantasy, Really; Ms. Holmes and Ms. Watson – Apt. 2B; It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play; Rent; The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime; Summerfield Estates; Redwood (Portland Center Stage). Film: Song of Summer, Doppelbanger, Private Chat. Ashley has a B.F.A. from NYU and training in The Method at The Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute. IG: @ashleysongofficial @desertislandstudiospdx

Nik Whitcomb 

is a cultural strategist and arts advocate with over two decades of experience in theatrical production. He is widely recognized in the region for his tenure as Producing Artistic Director of Bag&Baggage Productions, where he revitalized the organization’s mission, directed acclaimed productions including Red Velvet, World Builders, Tartuffe, and Hard-Boiled Eggnog, and brought unprecedented national attention to the company by expanding opportunities for diverse and dynamic voices. Beyond the arts, Nik serves as a Community Affairs Coordinator with TriMet, leading community engagement for major capital projects such as the TV Highway Transit & Safety Project. He also champions youth and community development as an Ambassador Board member with Wonderfolk, an Advisory Council member for OK You, an inaugural member of the Hillsboro School District Equity Advisory Committee, a member of the BABC Scholarship Committee, and Co-Chair of the Strategic Planning Committee with Oregon Children’s Theatre. Nik holds a BA in Theatre Performance & Directing from Creighton University and will begin the Masters in Urban and Regional Planning program at Portland State University in 2026.

Ajai Tripathi

is an award-winning writer, actor, director and teacher based in Oregon. An alumnus of the David Lynch Graduate School of Cinematic Art, he is practitioner of Transcendental Meditation, and his writings are noted for their lyrical prose, emotional complexity and raw honesty. A writer of Indian-Mexican descent, his work explores elements of his cultural background and themes of identity as a queer person of color. He most recently concluded his acclaimed Great White Trilogy with Fuse Theatre Ensemble, a reading of Dreams of a Celestial Night with the OUTwright Theatre Festival and The Rainbow Passage with 21ten Theatre. His screenplays have won plaudits from NYC International, PageTurner International Screenplay Association, Portland Screenplay Awards and Geneva International Science in Fiction Screenplay Awards.