REVIEW: THIS IS A SONG FOR THE CITY

THIS IS A SONG FOR THE CITY – Orthogonal Arts

To learn more about this show, click here.

POSTED 6/3/2023

Two former lovers of a deceased magician meet up on a rooftop of one of Portland’s hotels to perform a magical ritual. It’s an alternatingly bittersweet and funny play about gentrification in Portland and about the lovers’ experiences with the deceased. This show is a reminder to appreciate the delightfully queer magic present in Portland. Memorable quote: “The Millicent twins moved down East to raise goats. They raised goats.”

submitted by: Jessica Labbe, PF23 Independent Review Team

POSTED 6/3/2023

“This is a Song for the City” is not about nostalgia. In fact, Orthogonal Arts tells that saccharin emotion to fuck right off.

“This is a Song for the City” is a love song -balls to bone- to the weirdos. This is calling to account the aches of outsiders – calling out why you can’t just fit in as well as why the hell would you want to. This is a reminder to make space for the young queerlings. We will save each other.

This is a reminder that things WILL change and that is what it is. It will be okay. You/we/us will have to make be okay together.

submitted by: Bridget, PF23 Independent Review Team

POSTED 6/4/2023

Orthogonal Arts’ “This is a Song for the City” paints a picture of Portland that feels all too real to those of us who have been here for more than a few years. The characters we meet as the lights come up mourn not only a loved one who has passed, but also several friends who have been forced out of the city by ongoing gentrification. As I watch their ritual, set on the roof of the Time & Temperature building, I feel like I am sharing in a collective experience of lament – an emotion that is difficult for many & therefore frequently discouraged, dismissed in favor of “It gets better! Don’t give up!” The piece holds in gorgeous tension the feelings of mourning, despondency, and somehow, in an unexpected but also inevitable twist that this reviewer won’t spoil for you, the idea that hope CAN still show up when you least expect it, calling us to action to go create the city that we want – a combination that feels to me like the essence of what PortFringe is all about.

submitted by: Kylie Groat, PF23 Independent Review Team

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