New Ground Willamette Rep reads set of unlikely plays. BY JAMES M. ENGBERG What better way to wrap up a successful seventh season of theater than with a nod to the future? The realm of possibility is precisely the direction that Artistic Director Kirk Boyd and Willamette Repertory Theatre look toward as they present three days of Readings in Rep this weekend. This second annual set of readings features one show per day, including scripts by Lee Blessing, T.S. Eliot, and Portland playwright Donald Olson. Boyd kicks off the series Friday with his direction of Tony Award- and Pulitzer Prize-nominated Lee Blessing's A Body of Water. Middle-aged Moss and Avis wake up one morning to find themselves in a strange house surrounded by water … with absolutely no recollection of who they are. Wren, a mysterious young woman who repeatedly visits and changes their biographies with each pass, aggravates their desperate crisis of identity. The poetic and often domestically political Blessing lends his quill to the terrifying meaninglessness that results from memory loss. The question of identity and the poetry of language reverberate through history the following evening as director Joseph Gilg tackles T.S. Eliot's 1949 play The Cocktail Party. Wrapping two upper-crust parties around a middle act of psychiatric investigation, Eliot's existential drama presents the seemingly vacant lives of Edward and Lavinia Chamberlayne. The Chamberlaynes' struggle to balance social illusion with true human contact illustrates the fight against isolation inherent in the modern world. The series culminates with a Sunday matinee of Donald Olsen's Oregon Ghosts. From the haunted lighthouse on the Oregon Coast to the gold rush era of Eastern Oregon, Olson brings to life three of our most famous state legends. A discussion facilitated by the respective director will follow each play's reading, and this one will feature an opportunity to talk with the playwright. May 19 and 20 at 8 pm, May 21 at 2 pm. Tickets 682-5000. $10.
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