Anthropology

OCT 23 – NOV 15

Performances

Thu/Fri/Sat @730pm, Sun @5pm

What if technology could keep the people we love alive? An intimate, sexy, and quietly unsettling thriller that explores grief, artificial intelligence, and the enduring bonds between sisters. Featuring an all-woman cast, Anthropology asks: “What does it really take to love someone unconditionally?”
“A highly original, beautifully written piece.” – Daily Mail (UK)

*Adult content / themes

The Oregonian

“Anthropology” Hitting stages this fall

What is real enough?

Gunderson’s play takes the nervous pulse of the AI-Anxious public. It’s a prime pick for Portland’s newest theatre company’s second season opener.
Read Full Article

Annie Kehoe

Classically trained Chicago theatre alum, Annie has worked in theatre/film in New York, London, Los Angeles, and Chicago. She is co-founder of LastMatch Theatre Company in Chicago, and has performed at the Royal George and Athenaeum Theatre. She holds a BFA in Acting from Ithaca College. She co-directed 100 Lives inaugural production of Orange Flower Water which won the Broadway World Award for Best Direction of a Play. Recently she starred in 100 Lives productions of The Body’s Midnight and The Pavilion. She is Co-Founder and Co-Artistic Director of 100 Lives Rep, and teaches acting, audition prep, Shakespeare, and Laban technique. She’s honored and excited to bring inspiring, challenging plays like Anthropology to Portland audiences.

Rachel Bentzen

Rachel Bentzen is delighted to return to the Portland theatre community as Angie in Anthropology. A recent graduate of acting school in Copenhagen, she last appeared as Medea in Medea. Portland audiences may also recognize her from ART’s productions of 1984 and The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart. She sends endless love and gratitude to her mom for always cheering her on (and for believing this whole acting thing was a good idea).

Cyndi Rhoads

Cyndi is happy to be working on such a timely and meaningful production as Anthropology. She has performed in the theater for over twenty years. Her favorite productions include the scathing role of Carolyn Bryant in The State of Mississippi vs. Emmett Till (Pegasus Players) co-written by civil rights legends Mamie Till Mobley and David Barr; the union busting role of Mother Jones in a Joseph Jefferson Award winning production of The Kentucky Cycle (Infamous Commonwealth); the magical role of Lady Macbeth in Chase Park’s Macbeth; and the robust role of Julius Caesar in Julius Caesar (Bag ‘N Baggage). Favorite On-Camera Credits include Goose Woman, The Rooms, and working with The Lumineers.

Natalie Spadolini

Natalie Spadolini spent the first 17 years of her life active in Seattle’s youth theater programs, appearing in various productions and musicals before evolving into teen/young adult theater and Shakespeare training. Since then, Natalie has reignited her career, studying comedy and improv at the Upright Citizens Brigade in New York and training under Brooke Totman for the past three years. Her favorite roles include Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, Beth in Little Women, and Millie in Thoroughly Modern Millie, alongside various commercial work in Portland. She is beyond thrilled to make her official return to performing with this production.

Lauren is one of the most produced playwrights in America since 2015 topping the list thrice including 2022/23. She is a two-time winner of the Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award for I and You and The Book of Will, the winner of the William Inge Distinguished Achievement in Theatre Award, the Lanford Wilson Award and the Otis Guernsey New Voices Award; a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, Weisberger Award, and John Gassner Award for Playwriting; and a recipient of the Mellon Foundation’s Residency with Marin Theatre Company. She studied Southern Literature and Drama at Emory University, and Dramatic Writing at NYU’s Tisch School where she was a Reynolds Fellow in Social Entrepreneurship. Her play The Catastrophist, about her husband virologist Nathan Wolfe, premiered digitally in January 2021. She co-authored the Miss Bennet plays with Margot Melcon, and The Half-Life of Marie Curie premiered off-Broadway and is now at Audible.com. Her work is published at Bloomsbury (Revolutionary Women: A Lauren Gunderson Anthology, anthropology, I and You), Playscripts (I and You; Exit Pursued By A Bear; The Taming and Toil And Trouble), Dramatists Play Service (The Revolutionists; The Book of Will; Silent Sky; Bauer, Natural Shocks, The Wickhams and Miss Bennet) and Samuel French (Emilie). She is a board member of The Playwrights Foundation. LaurenGunderson.com