Clinton Street Theater, Portland Oregon
June 27th, 28th, 29th 2014
Doors @ 6:30 – Curtain @ 7:00
Only $5!

The Portland Ten Minute Play Festival is a seasonal collaborative event created by Monkey With a Hat On. The festival features ten locally written ten minute plays. Each play features different writers, actors and directors – many people are involved. The festival is a seasonal opportunity for Portland artists to share moments, and for the audience to experience a wide range of stories in one night. It’s a fun, festival atmosphere! 

SEX, DEATH & SPRINGSTEEN

Clinton Street Theater, Portland Oregon
May 9th, 10th, 11th 2014
Doors @ 6:30 – Curtain @ 7:00
Only $5!

Sex, Death & Springsteen is a supernatural comedy in two acts featuring original music and a talented cast. Jack, a waiter and aspiring writer, needs to get his soul back from evil idiotic restaurant owners so he can go after the girl of his dreams. Along the way Jack meets his spirit guide, commiserates with a hip hop ghost and learns what true success really is. Written and directed by Justin Gauthier.

Sex, Death & Springsteen is a supernatural comedy in two acts featuring original music and a talented cast. Jack, a waiter and aspiring writer, needs to get his soul back from evil idiotic restaurant owners so he can go after the girl of his dreams. Along the way Jack meets his spirit guide, commiserates with a hip hop ghost and learns what true success really is. Written and directed by Justin Gauthier.

Sex, Death & Springsteen is a supernatural comedy in two acts featuring original music and a talented cast. Jack, a waiter and aspiring writer, needs to get his soul back from evil idiotic restaurant owners so he can go after the girl of his dreams. Along the way Jack meets his spirit guide, commiserates with a hip hop ghost and learns what true success really is. Written and directed by Justin Gauthier.

Turtle Doves

Clinton Street Theater, Portland Oregon
October 18th, 19th, 20th 2013
Doors @ 6:30 – Curtain @ 7:00
Only $5!

Turtle Doves is a dark, crime drama that involves cocaine dealing, murder, the World Series of Poker Champion, and revenge.  The play takes place in an other-worldly setting where “The Birds” tell the story.  “The Birds” are played by The ‘Leles, a Toledo-based Portland musical duo.

Cast:
Leo – Ollie Collins
Raf – Maya Spring Brown
Don – Justin Gauthier
Mike – Sean Bailey
Jim Valentine – Christopher Baird
Frank – Caleb Blatz
Joe Marcus – Ben Hayes

The Birds – The ‘Leles, Josh Ward and Gabby Grumelot

Costumes by Rebecca Therkelsen
Stage Manager – Amber Merritt

Clinton Street Theater, Portland Oregon
August 16th, 17th, 18th, 2013
Doors @ 6:30 – Curtain @ 7:00
Only $5!

The Portland Ten Minute Play Festival is a seasonal collaborative event created by Monkey With a Hat On. The festival features a dozen locally written ten minute plays. Each play features different writers, actors and directors – many people are involved. The festival is a seasonal opportunity for Portland artists to share moments, and for the audience to experience a wide range of stories in one night. It’s a young, fun, festival atmosphere!

For our seventh festival, all plays are Animals themed! The plays range in tonalities, styles and the interpretation of the theme. Think: on a safari with your crazy uncle, killing the dog next door, a whale's thoughts on the weather, three grooving blind mice, an intergalactic neighborhood association that chooses the fates of species, an ape going mad from finding a mystical artifact, and more!

Also, we are encouraging the audience to dress up in animal costumes. Come on down wearing your bunny ears, masks, leopard print, feathers, or any animal-like attire. It’s going to be grrrrrrrreat!

Clinton Street Theater, Portland Oregon
June 4th and 9th, 2013
Doors @ 6:30 – Curtain @ 7:00
Only $5!

No Take Backs is an hour-long play in two acts with an intermission. Written and directed by Justin Gauthier. 

Go on an emotional journey into the world of small town America where people face the shadow of life and its hardness. Some folks triumph with their choices and others are crushed by them. Whatever price you're willing to pay there is one thing to remember - no take backs.

Cast (in order of appearance)

Matthew - Aaron Bikis
Frank - Dan Fitz
Bill - Christopher Baird
Jimmy - Justin Gauthier
Nancy - Roxy Jones
Samantha - Kelsey Peake

Clinton Street Theater, Portland Oregon
March 21st and 24th, 2013
Doors @ 6:30 – Curtain @ 7:00
Only $5!

Woo hoo! It's our biggest, baddest, most awesomest Ten Minute Play Festival yet! And it's at a larger venue - the Clinton Street Theater. They got actual theater seats bolted to the ground! It's going to be Mythological Madness!

About the festival:

The Portland Ten Minute Play Festival is a seasonal collaborative event created by Monkey With a Hat On. The festival features eleven locally written ten minute plays. Each play features different writers, actors and directors - many people are involved. The festival is a seasonal opportunity for Portland artists to share moments. It's also an opportunity for the audience to see a wide range of stories in one night. It's a sweet, fun, high energy, festival atmosphere.

For this festival, all plays are Mythology themed! The plays range in tonalities, styles and the interpretation of the theme. Think Zeus, the Pied Piper, Mayan gods, Jesus as a teenager, Poseidon as a jolly sailor, Kool-Aid, Santa Clause, the journey of the sperm to the egg, and more!

We started the Ten Minute Play Fest because we wanted there to be inexpensive, fun theater where we could involve a wide range of different types of artists. None of us are professional 'thespians'. We are writers, waiters, cooks, bike messengers, city workers, teachers, coffee shop workers, and everything in between. When we first started the fest, we thought it would be a yearly festival. However, since there has been so much support in both artists and audience, we do the festival seasonally. Since August 2011, this will be our sixth festival. It's a festival of stories, and is a heck of a time.

Also, we are encouraging the audience to dress up in the mythological theme! Dress up as a god, goddess, mythological character, a dragon, a unicorn, a monster, anything mythological! 

Here we go Myth City!

The Vern, 2622 SE Belmont Portland, Oregon
January 3rd, 2013
Doors @ 7:00 Music @ 8:00
Foosball tournament @ 10:30
Free! 21+

For Dive Art, we turn a dive bar into an art gallery... and it's a party!  Over twenty Portland artists display their artwork, packing the dank walls and filling the tables of the Vern.  Paintings, drawings, prints, photography, t-shirts, books, magazines, key-chains, hand-sewn pouches, and more!  And what's awesome, is that all artists discount their artwork to 20 DOLLARS AND BELOW!  This is a great opportunity to pick up on some really good artwork that is usually priced for way more.  It's a great hyper-local opportunity to pick up some artwork for your walls, or for your friends/family!  And a great place to just come hang out and have a good time!

The artists and the art they're showing at Dive Art:

Randy Steward - blood guts and gore zombie punks

Elizabeth Considine - little drawings of desperate men at bars

Bennett Protexter - Bennett enjoys working with clean, defined lines... Whether they be on canvas, wood, or mirrors.

Stephanie Podmore - Stephanie teaches preschool, and after her
class experimented with melting crayons she decided to run with the idea on her own.

Kevin Sohler - Using new mediums and technique, Kevin is showing pieces with watercolor and ink on lines. His artwork is inspired by the same things that inspired Kevin when he was 13 - fantasy, giant robots, super heroes, and boobs.

Laura Eychaner - watercolor pet portraits

Aaron Dean Bikis - Aaron is a recreational photographer and clinical imperfectionist. He attempts to recreate the experience of a small town soul shaken by reality and finding himself in an urban environment wrought with awesome people. Aaron shoots the surreal and the serene.

Kyle Renteria - Kyle's showing two pieces. One is a space shuttle, and the other piece is what you get when you cross a triangle with a square.

Emma Colburn - six shadow boxes in anchovie tins

Kenny Spurlock - Kenny's piece is an enchanted depiction of the sparkles and glistens. A gift from the sun, which only chose to rise today to give this to the utmost prestigious yet delicate puked on flower.

Jonnie Arnett - eyes

Thomas Ritchey - series of palindromic drawings

Andrea Genoveva - a piece with a lady in nature

Zach Walker - Zach's a fried chicken kind of man. His piece in Dive Art is a sexual metaphor for fried chicken: rough-cut fem-fatal beauties. Gap toothed kittens of the PNW.

Phil Garrison - sweet art

Summer Hatfield - collage on glass

Nate Skavdahl - art from the dreamer, The Poi Wonder

Ali Baron - an ethereal, dreamlike drawing

Will Madden - two dimensional multimedia day dream pop

Brooke Myhre - three exciting mixed media nonsense pieces

Joshua Cloudt - Finger painted acrylic on canvas, swelling with warmth and a poignant sense of fantastical nostalgia, Josh's piece is called "Alien Vacation #2"

Dylan Manley - recycled material art

Ollie Collins - Inspired by the next theme of the Tens - "Mythology" - Ollie produces a mythological painting series with Zeus, Pan, Billy the Kid, Larry Bird, and women smoking cigarettes.

The Someday Lounge, Portland, Oregon
September 30th and October 7th, 2012
Doors @ 6:00 Curtain @ 7:00
 

Woooooo eeeeeeeee! Americana independent theater for the masses! (not backed by major U.S. banks)

The Portland Ten Minute Play Festival is a seasonal collaborative event created by Monkey With a Hat On. The festival features a dozen locally written ten minute plays. Each play features different writers, actors and directors - many people are involved. The festival is a seasonal opportunity for Portland artists to share moments, and for the audience to see a wide range of stories in one night. It's a young, fun, festival atmosphere!

For our fifth festival, all plays are Campaign 2012 themed! The plays range in tonalities, styles and the interpretation of the theme. Think campaigns, war campaigns, campaigns of the mind, elections, personal politics, friend politics, international politics, red vs. blue, media hype, 2012, the end of the world....

Also, we are encouraging the audience to dress up in patriotic attire, end of the world clothes, war uniforms, donkeys, elephants, political candidates, ect. - interpret the theme how you like! It's going to be knock down drag out political theater jelly!

Very silly indeed is how we do it.

Waterfront Park, Portland, Oregon
July 26th, 27th and 28th, 2012

Monkey With a Hat On provided intermission entertainment in between musical acts on the main stage at the 2012 Oregon Brew Fest. It was awesome. Ollie Collins MCed the event - introducing bands, thanking sponsors, and riling up the crowd. Intermission entertainment included comedian/actor Dan Considine, teaching the crowd a traditional beer dance with Kelsey Peake, and Game Show Beer Fest with Ollie and Brooke Myhre along with contestants from the audience. The Monkey was happy to collaborate at an event with Yarley Nystrom, AudioGlobe, the Portland Pick, Sound Guy Productions, the Rhythm and the Flavor, and all the sweet bands. It was an awesome, Portland experience.

The Piano Fort, Portland, Oregon
June 25th, 2012
Doors @ 7:00 – Curtain @ 8:00
Only $5!

A Night in Parris was a night of unique entertainment, delving into the creative mind of Justin Parris. The night featured a myriad of art with a zombie twist, including interactive theater, a zombie game show, live music, and the world premier of The Ballerina Corpse- a silent zombie romantic comedy with live piano underscore. The event took place at a The Piano Fort in Sellwood - a new warehouse performance space where the stage is made out of pianos. The night was a fun and interactive atmosphere.

Directed by Justin Parris

Cast: Norm Arkwright, Jonnie Arnett, Ollie Collins, Dan Fitz, Phil Garrison, Avery Gilbert, Mike Huntley, Roxy Jones, Brooke Myhre, Dylan Nalyd, Justin Parris, Shannon Passanante, Geoffrey Victor Pope, Hannah Reader, Manthony Schmanthony, Stephen Shaum, Nathan Skavdahl, John Sobotka, and Michael Torres

Someday Lounge, Portland, Oregon
May 13th and 20th, 2012
Doors @ 6:30 – Curtain @ 7:00
Only $5!

For our fourth Ten Minute Play Festival we chose do do a West theme. The nights ended up being awesome art with a lot of 'yee-haw's'. As in the previous festival, the plays ranged in tonalities, styles and the interpretation of the West. Think cowboys, Indians, outlaws, the wild frontier, the Oregon Trail, western expansion, manifest destiny, western civilization, Cascadia, the western United States. There were plays about Lewis and Clark 'blazin' the Oregon Trial, a silent play to music and dance that told the story of cowboys vs. ninjas, two country girls coming to grips with the realities of life and change, a train voyage with a mad conductor killing quirky passengers each night, corporate board members worshiping a seven foot owl, workers at a Plaid Pantry looking across the street to see their neighbors having sex! Just to name a few. Like the Space Ten Minute Festival, people dressed up for the theme, and the festival became a real rodeo with plenty o' jingle janglin, cowboy hat wearin' audience members!

Someday Lounge, Portland, Oregon
April 25th, 29th, 2012
Doors @ 7:00 – Show @ 8:00
Only $5!

A Night of Comedy was our first collaboratively written, big cast show. The performance was a myriad of comedic skits with recurring characters, crowd interaction, and smooth transitions woven into one silly piece. The play involved the origins of money, Mickey's Fish and Chips, local theater critic Bob Wankerhouse, time travel, door to door salesmen, Smart Pants, Internet: The Magazine, the Horse Doctor, and a whole lot of silliness. It was a hoot. Monkeys say 'ooh ooh ah ah'!

Written by the Actors
Directed by Ollie Collins

Cast: Brooke Myhre, Dan Fitz, Jeff Dozier, Nate Skavdahl, Ollie Collins, Shannon Passanante, Tes Sheppard, Kenny Spurlock, Manthony, Kyle Renteria, Amberley Steichen, Adam Rosen, Phil Garrison, Norm Arkwright, Phillip Thomas, Kelly Forester, John Sobotka, and Summer Hatfield

The Someday Lounge, Portland Oregon
March 16th, 2012
Doors @ 6:00 – Curtain @ 7:00
Only $5!

This was an eclectic art party celebrating community involvement on the stage. The night started off with an interactive theater piece – think crowd involvement, bringing audience members onstage, surprises, improv, and a game show! This is the type of theater where the audience is a part of the show! After the interactive theater we screened some sweet local short films – some of which were shown for the first time! After the films we featured live music by Sean O’Neill from Otis Heat, and Second Response Team. Following the live music, DJ Seizure spun for our dance-face pleasure. The Monkey Party was bananas, and we’re looking forward to doing it again sometime soon!

Someday Lounge, Portland Oregon
February 12th and 19th 2012
Doors @ 6:00 – Curtain @ 7:00
Only $5!

For our third Ten Minute Play Festival, all of the plays were Space themed. This was the first festival that we had a theme, and it was awesome. The plays ranged in tonalities, styles and the interpretation of space. There were plays about aliens traveling to Earth to steal gravy, a delusional man on a spaceship, two dudes at a psychedelic train station, a quirky couple trying to pick out a pillow, and a guy named Jimmy who lives in a crawlspace. To name a few. Some of the audience attended in space attire and the evening became a space-extravaganza. After this festival we decided to stick with the themes.

The Moon In The Triangle

Someday Lounge, Portland, Oregon
December 11th, 12th, 13th, 17th, 18th, and 19th, 2011
Doors @ 6:30 – Curtain @ 7:00
Only $5!

The Moon in the Triangle was a contemporary spectacle epic play that illustrated the intertwining of two stories: one man's inevitable death, and a society's uprising against a plutocratic government. The production featured 18 performers, digital light projections, ballet, film, stage combat, and a live band playing the underscore and sound effects. We mixed all available medias into one theatrical experience to provide something that people had never seen before - a multimedia Kung-Fu play. The Moon in the Triangle was Monkey With a Hat On's largest single production - involving 29 people and produced for a six night run.

Someday Lounge, Portland, Oregon
November 13th, 2011
Doors @ 6:30 – Curtain @ 7:00
Only $5!

Due to the amount of interest and support that Monkey With a Hat On received from the first Ten Minute Play Festival produced in August 2011, we decided to make the Ten Minute Play Festival a seasonal event. This was the Fall Season - the very 2nd festival! Ten local playwrights wrote theatrical pieces with a wide range of styles and subjects. We performed for one night, under the full moon at the Someday Lounge. Some of the plays performed were about a man and his change, a conversation with the devil, the Occupy eviction, an elderly couple and their horrible grandson, a shadow dance, a dark story of killing a chicken for the first time, and even a marriage proposal!

The Someday Lounge, Portland, Oregon
October 29th, 2011
Doors @ 6:00 Play @ 7:00
Only $5!

SeSoS revolves around the trials of four roommates, coming to terms with hidden personalities, and a disturbing culinary obsession. Many audience members came in costume ready for a night of Halloween fun!

Written and Directed by Ollie Collins
Lighting and Glasswork by Dave G.

Cast:
Ollie Collins as Rob the Pirate
Elizabeth Fay-Babb as Mary the Witch
Dan Considine as Craig the Super Hero
John Sobotka as Mort the Zombie

September 24th, 2011 Someday Lounge, Portland, Oregon
September 28th, 30th, 2011 Ella Street Social Club, Portland, Oregon
Doors @ 6:30 – Curtain @ 7:00
Only $5!

My Summer was our second duoshow with the same theatrical conventions as in My Americana. The duoshow is a new art form developed by Ollie Collins delivering the words, and musician, Geoffrey Victor Pope, playing live music through a dozen different instruments. The music highlights the scenes, serves as transitional elements, and connects with the words to tell the story. My Summer was an honest piece about one man's summer in Portland. Greyhound Buses. Monday Funday. Dodgeball. Malt Monday. Cheap Neon Signs. Loneliness. Flowers. Death. Ducks. July 4th. Canada. The Calgary Stampede. The Alberta DHS Office. Love. Human Connections. Vancouver Weed Cafes. Heroin on the Streets. Daydreams. Spaceships.

Written and Directed by Ollie Collins
Music by Geoffrey Victor Pope

Watershed PDX, Portland, Oregon
August 13th, 14th, 2011
Only $5!

Twelve local Portland writers wrote theatrical pieces that could be performed on a stage within ten minutes.  There was a casting call.  Each play had a director and was cast.  Each of the twelve plays rehearsed and got ready for a weekend of performances.

On August 13th and 14th, 2011, twelve plays were performed at The Watershed Warehouse.  It was a chance for a wide range of Portland artists to get together and tell stories, to act on stage, and to experience the same series of moments.The overwhelming positive energy from this event has inspired us to produce a Ten Minute Play Festival every season.  There are too many Portlanders with stories to tell for us to not get up and run with this bad boy.

July 3rd, 2011 Someday Lounge, Portland, Oregon
July 8th, 2011 Ella Street Social Club, Portland, Oregon
Doors @ 6:30 – Curtain @ 7:00
Only $5!

The nature of the duoshow is to provide something honest and entertaining. My Americana is a 50 minute experimental performance piece with a single stage performer (Ollie Collins) accompanied with live music (Geoffrey V. Pope) and overhead projections. It is about one man's life in Portland, OR.  Baseball.  The American Dream.  Memory fades.  Money.  I'm alive again.  Chimichangas.  Tattoos.  Gooshnish.  Florida.  Road trips. Sleep. Pancakes.  Dreams.  Love.  TV.  Drugs.  Death.  Shakespeare.  Shoes. Happiness. Laughter. Motherfucker I'm ill.  Freedom.  Running.

Someday Lounge, Portland, Oregon
May 22nd, 29th, 2011
Ella Street Social Club, Portland, Oregon
June 8th, 10th, 2011
Doors @ 6:30 – Curtain @ 7:00
Only $5!

This dark comedic one act was Monkey With a Hat On's very first production. We chose to pick a contemporary play that still has relevance. Written in 1958 by Edward Albee, the play explores themes of isolation, loneliness, miscommunication as anathematization, social disparity and dehumanization in a commercial world.

The Zoo Story was originally scheduled for two performances, however there was enough support to have an extended run.

Written by Edward Albee
Directed by Ollie Collins
Jerry - Ollie Collins
Peter - Dan Fitz