The Mask I Wear by Jonathan Hernandez

Downtown

When

Apr. 10–12, 2026

Daily, Times vary

Where

Lincoln Performance Hall

1620 SW Park Ave
Portland, OR 97201

The following description was submitted by the event organizer.

The Mask I Wear by Jonathan Hernandez is a continuation from last year’s acclaimed solo performance that follows a Latino actor caught in the endless cycle of auditions, typecasting, and cultural expectation across theatre, film, and television. 

Set in the familiar purgatory of a casting office waiting room, Actor J confronts the voices that shape—and limit—his career: Johnny H, a version of success built on compromise and stereotype, and J-Boy, a fearless Southwestern artist who refuses to shrink himself to fit the industry’s imagination. As Actor J moves between these personas, the piece exposes the quiet contradictions of an industry that celebrates “universal” stories while restricting who gets to embody them. Blending sharp humor with raw honesty, the show interrogates why Latino performers are rarely considered for complex leading roles, and why the stories of their communities are dismissed as unfamiliar or niche.

The Mask I Wear is both an internal reckoning and a public challenge—an exploration of identity, representation, and the cost of belonging in an industry that still struggles to see the full American story.