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Kate Mura sitting in the surf with title "Play About My Father"

The Play About My Father

Hawthorne

When

Apr. 11–May 5, 2024

Thursday through Sunday, Times vary

Cost: Sliding Scale

Where

Fuse Theatre Ensemble – The Back Door Theater

4319 SE Hawthorne Blvd
Portland, OR 97215

The following description was submitted by the event organizer.

After over a decade of development, Fuse Theatre Ensemble is proud to present the final incarnation of The Play About My Father, which will be premiering as part of this year’s Fertile Ground Festival. 

The Play About My Father, created and performed by Kate Mura, is a theatrical “thank you” to the New Jersey community who rallied around her family after her father’s freak accident. This tale of (seemingly- too-rare) compassion and kindness and features physical storytelling, corporeal mime, improv and a magic skirt. Watch her shift from tragedy to acceptance via the race track, ghosts, and many casseroles.

The Play About My Father began as a short mask show, Suburban Tribe in the very first Fertile Ground and became Fuse’s first national and international tours, with the original productions of Suburban Tribe and Suburban Tribe Unmasked garnishing one of Theatre Jones's Top 5 Small Tours. It grew and transformed over the past decade through numerous performances, violating theft, and, ultimately, death. It now concludes in this final iteration, transforming a personal tragedy into a communal connection.

Kate Mura has an extensive list of skills and credits, including being a backup dancer for Salt-n-Pepa, dancing with President Bill Clinton at the Presidential Summit for America’s Future, coaching William Hurt in neutral mask for No Man’s Land at Artist’s Repertory Theatre, touring ten states and performing for thousands of children with Tears of Joy Theatre in The Reluctant Dragon, Pinocchio, and When Animals Were People, performing on the Widgeon Theatre Boat in the UK, and multiple times at the Avignon OFF Festival. She is a Leslie O. Fulton Fellow, through whom she studied shadow puppetry, music and dance through Dell’Arte Abroad: Bali, in Indonesia. 

As a founding member of Fuse Theatre Ensemble and the OUTwright Theatre Festival, she has continuously devised, directed, designed, and/or performed since 2008. Some highlights include Midsummer Night’s Somnambulism, LaVonda in Sordid Lives, choreographing Fuse’s critically acclaimed Cabaret at the Funhouse Lounge, and being part of the Best Ensemble and Best Supporting Actor nominated Our Town.