Director.
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“Director Cristi Miles has crafted a punishing role that brings Vanya's inner torture into the physical realm. He falls, rolls down stairs, and performs several extended Russian dance moves - the kind that involve a lot of squatting and jumping. I'm not sure how he makes it to the end of the play still standing, much less able to convey the complicated emotions of a character in midlife crisis.
If you're already predisposed to like UNCLE VANYA, you'll love this production. Even more importantly, if you hate Chekov or think you won't get it or that it's old and irrelevant, I urge you to give this production a try. If anything can change your mind, this is it.” (Broadway World)
Uncle Vanya | PETE | Photo Owen Carey
Uncle Vanya | PETE | Photo Owen Carey
“Director Cristi Miles manages to bring everything together into one cohesive dramatic movement, making it feel thought-provoking but not laborious…PETE's production simply attacks Chekhov's text with gleeful enthusiasm” (Willamette Week)
The Americans | PETE | Photo Peter Ksander
The Americans | PETE | Photo Owen Carey
The Americans | PETE | Photo Owen Carey
The Americans | PETE | Photo Owen Carey
Interview with ORegon public Radio
Dave Miller: This is Think Out loud on OPB. I’m Dave Miller. Who is an American, and what does it mean to be one? These questions came to mind for Cristi Miles when she first heard about an iconic series of photographs published in the late 1950s by Robert Frank. His book was called “The Americans.” Miles is the co-founder of the Portland Experimental Theater Ensemble. But little did she know that a few years later she’d be exploring these themes and reimagining the photographs on stage. The production, now up at the Historic Alberta House in Northeast Portland, takes its name from Robert Frank’s book. Cristi Miles sat down with Think Out Loud senior producer Alison Frost to talk about the creation of The Americans, beginning with her first impressions of Robert Frank’s photographs:
Cristi Miles: Unapologetic, non-nostalgic view. A specific view of our country in the 50s. What struck me was the clear sense of divide between races, and the lack of representation of Native Americans, and- I’m Latine, and I was like “how many people in here are like me?” So I was struck. And I know the first time I came across a photo of a Latino in front of the jukebox, and I was like “there I am.”
Just really trying to take it in, the spontaneous capturing of us. It felt like he captured us in a moment, and that moment still felt true…