NEWS

Portland Ovations to bring awareness to food insecurity with WHO'S HUNGRY?

Portland Ovations presents, in collaboration with SPACE Gallery, the poignant and provocative Who’s Hungry for 4 performances at SPACE Gallery on April 10th at 8 pm, April 11th at 8 pm and Saturday April 12th at 2 pm and 8 pm.

Who’s Hungry is an evening of experimental tabletop puppet theater that gives a voice and face to hunger in America. A series of plays written by Dan Froot, designed and directed by Dan Hurlin, with music by Amy Denio, Who’s Hungrytells the stories of those of us who, on a daily basis, must choose between life’s basic necessities – food or rent, food or medicine, food or bus fare. The production weaves together the lives of five homeless and/or hungry individuals, incorporating puppetry, dance, music and text to provoke thought and conversation about this ever-growing crisis. Maine currently ranks #1 for food insecurity in New England and 18th nationally with hunger effecting more than 15 percent of Maine households and 23.9 percent of Maine’s children

Portland Ovations is collaborating with many community partners on this performance hoping to educate the public and showhow the arts can be an effective way to address this very important social issue. Collaborators and partners include Pierce Atwood, Preble Street, SPACE Gallery, United Way, Portland Public Schools Dining Services and Cultivating Community.

In advance of the Who’s Hungry performance, SPACE Gallery will be showing A Place at The Table on March 24th at 7:30pm and tickets are $8 for the general public and $6 for SPACE Members and Students. A Place at the Table shows us how hunger poses serious economic, social and cultural implications for our nation, and that it could be solved once and for all, if the American public decides-as they have in the past-that making healthy food available and affordable is in the best interest of us all.

Tickets for Who’s Hungry are $18 for Ovations’ Members and $20 for the general public. To purchase tickets visit www.portlandovations.org, call PortTIX at207-842-0800 or stop by the box office window at Merrill Auditorium.

Each year since 1931, Portland Ovations brings a dynamic season of exceptional performing artists from around the world to Maine including classical music, jazz, opera, dance, theater, and Broadway national tours. In addition to live performances, Ovations brings the exhilaration of the performing arts out into our community with season-long educational and outreach activities known as Ovations Offstage. A Maine-based non-profit, Portland Ovations contributes to the cultural, social and economic well-being of our community by presenting an array of high quality performing artists from around the world and creating diverse educational experiences that bring the enjoyment, energy and enrichment of the arts to all.