CoHo PRODUCTIONS

PONTYPOOL: Season 23

CoHo Productions with Christy Bigelow, Gavin Hoffman & Pat Moran present

PONTYPOOL by Tony Burgess
February 8 – March 2, 2019

SHOCK JOCK.
ZOMBIE RIOT.
SMALL TOWN, USA.

Directed by Gavin Hoffman
Featuring Christy Bigelow, Jimmy Garcia, Paige McKinney, Pat Moran, and Todd Van Voris

When the sleepy town of Pontypool, Oregon is hit with a devastating and mysterious epidemic, shock jock Grant Mazzy (Todd Van Voris) and the staff at the local radio station must ask, “Is this just fake news?” As reports of escalating violence in the streets come in, tensions rise in the basement studio where Mazzy continues to broadcast. Based onPontypool Changes Everything, the cult horror novel-turned-film-turned-radio play by Tony Burgess, this suspenseful and gory stage adaptation merges thoughtful semiotic satire with America’s zombie obsession. (Yes, there will be blood.)

“(Pontypool) plays like the twisted terror found in the pulp classic EC comics, with a slight hint of WKRP and a gnarly squib. It’s fast. It’s fun and it’s a frightening treat for both horror and theater fans alike.
– Chicago Stage Review


SPECIAL EVENTS

Sunday February 10
Post-show discussion: Creating SFX for the Stage & Screen with Janet Price and Dani Turner

Sunday February 17
Post-show discussion: Creating Horror Theatre with Aubrey Jessen, Joel Patrick Durham, and Dylan Reiff (additional panelists TBA)

Sunday February 24
Post-show discussion: Zombie Movies with Anthony Hudson


ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT

Tony Burgess is a novelist and screenwriter living in Stayner, Ontario, with his wife Rachel and their two children. He is best known as a master of literary horror fiction whose novels include The Hellmouths of Bewdley, Pontypool Changes Everything, Caesarea, Fiction for Lovers and Idaho Winter. Pontypool was made into a cult film by Bruce McDonald in 2008, and Burgess has adapted the story for both radio and stage. 

ABOUT THE CO-PRODUCERS

Christy Bigelow is a proud graduate of the American Musical and Dramatic Academy’s studio program in NYC. Since moving to Portland she has worked with many theater companies, including Northwest Classical Theatre Company, Theatre Vertigo, Lakewood Theater, Classic Greek Theatre of Oregon, Artists Repertory Theatre, defunkt, and CoHo Productions (appearing in Season 20’s The Yellow Wallpaper). Christy was also a company member and writer with the sketch comedy troupe Superego, and can be seen on several episodes of Portlandia

Gavin Hoffman is a well-known Portland-based actor, having appeared in Astoria (Part I & Part II), Great Expectations, Cyrano, Othello and Clybourne Park (Portland Center Stage), American Hero, The Understudy and The Monster- Builder (Artists Repertory Theatre), The Tripping Point (Shaking the Tree), Fifth of July  (Profile Theatre), Body Awareness (CoHo Productions, where he also directed ‘Night, Mother in 2014), and A Noble Failure (Third Rail Repertory Theatre). He is a four-time Drammy Award winner who has worked regionally and in New York City. Gavin has guest-starred in The Big Easy (USA) and Leverage (TNT), co-starred in Grimm (NBC) and appeared in Portlandia. He is a graduate of P.C.P.A. and has a B.F.A. in acting from Ithaca College. Gavin is a proud member of Actors’ Equity and SAG-AFTRA.

Pat Moran Pat Moran is a director, playwright, teaching artist, actor, producer and photographer living and working in Portland, Oregon. Originally from Seattle, he received his BA in theatrical performance from the University of Portland, and spent many years touring and teaching with Oregon Children’s Theatre, where he created residency programs to bring free art and health programming to high-need schools. As OCT’s Educational Theatre Program’s Head of New Work and an ensemble teaching artist, he wrote, directed, and dramaturged educational plays that toured to over 60,000 students in Oregon and Washington. Pat is dedicated to writing, producing, and directing new work, and has recently appeared as an actor in Action/Adventure Theatre’s School Dance, Northwest Children’s Theatre Company’s Robin Hood, and Oregon Children’s Theatre’s Timmy Failure. His photography has been featured in the Portland Mercury, Portland Monthly, the Oregonian, Artslandia, Willamette Week, and more.

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