"What makes Shaking the Tree one of the gutsiest production companies in the city is Van Der Merwe's ability to look straight at enshrined notions about what theater can or should be and tell them to go to hell." -Bennett Campbell Ferguson, Willamette Week

​"I have been gobsmacked by every Shaking the Tree production I've seen!" ~Patron

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BAKKHAI 
​by Euripides| a new version by ANNE CARSON
October 4th - November 2nd 2019

​​​A stunning, new translation by the poet and classicist Anne Carson, first performed in 2015 at the Almeida Theatre in London

Anne Carson writes, “Euripides was a playwright of the fifth century BC who reinvented Greek tragedy, setting it on a path that leads straight to reality TV. His plays broke all the rules, upended convention and outraged conservative critics. The Bakkhai is his most subversive play, telling the story of a man who cannot admit he would rather live in the skin of a woman, and a god who seems to combine all sexualities into a single ruinous demand for adoration. Dionysos is the god of intoxication. Once you fall under his influence, there is no telling where you will end up.”
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Info & Tickets

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Shaking the Tree GROVE Residency
​Jeffy Denight - adaptation of The Bacchae by Euripides
October 16th at 7:30pm
​All residency tickets are Pay-What-You-Will

Info & Tickets

Jeffrey "Jeffy" Denight will write / devise a one-act adaptation of The Bacchae by Euripides, retold as a queer revolution romp. The daemon of Dionysus has arrived to blur the artificial lines that society creates: lines between ‘female’ and ‘male’; ‘ruler’ and ‘servant’; ‘beauty’ and ‘ugly’; and ‘theatre’ and ‘real-life’. As a new queer anti-hero, Dionysus will pull long-standing societal structures down into the gutter, creating equity through destabilization. The chorus of Dionysus’ followers, the Bacchae, will take the form of a wild meta-theatre cabaret, lifting up self-love, gender euphoria, and the new god xyrself.

Jeffrey "Jeffy" Denight (they/them) is a playwright & educator. Currently, they are the 2019 playwright for Orphic. Previously, they are a two-time writer for the Teen West Project with Playwrights West, through which they wrote L O S T_F O R_W O R D S | 失われた言葉 (2018) and Curtain Call is What Follows Act V (2019). They are also a two-time Waukegan Theatre Festival fellow with Three Bros. Theatre, where they developed Pictorial Anatomy of an M----- (2014) and Daddy Daughter Dance (2015). Jeffy lives in Portland, OR. Jeffy received their BA in theatre and BFA in creative writing at Truman State University.

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Shaking the Tree GROVE Residency
​Jenni GreenMiller - An Island
October 23rd at 7:30pm
All residency tickets are Pay-What-You-Will

Info & Tickets

In 1949, seeking isolation from the rest of the world, Arthur and Nan Kellam purchased a 550-acre island off the coast of Maine.  Arthur was an engineer for Lockheed Martin and it was rumored that he was on the team that engineered the Atomic bomb. Nan Kellam was an economist.  The Kellam's were conservationists before their time; dedicated to the preservation and privatization of an island they felt could only be appreciated by its true inhabitants. The Kellam's lived on Placentia Island for nearly 40 years, essentially cut off from the rest of the world. The play is a portrait of their lives, the mental and physical toll of such an unusual lifestyle, and yet a beautifully devoted relationship that endured and prospered in isolation.

Jenni GreenMiller is a native Oregonian, company member at Hand2Mouth Theater. Formerly with Sowelu Theater Company. (And Brainwaves) She has been writing plays for twelve years; 3 full length, 4 short, 3 devised pieces, and 1 in process.  Two short plays were performed in Los Angeles in workshop with Burning Wheel and SITI Co., Locally, she has received workshops, readings, and staged readings independently and in collaboration with various theater companies.

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A Banquet
in·stal·la·tion
/ˌinstəˈlāSH(ə)n/
​by Samantha Van Der Merwe
​January 24th - February 22nd 2020

Info & Tickets

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The Antipodes by Annie Baker
April 17th - May 16th 2020

The Antipodes is a play about people telling stories about telling stories.

​Critic’s Pick! “Endlessly fascinating […] in-all-ways-fabulous […] The Antipodes leaves you glowing with a wondering satisfaction. I mean the happy satiety that comes from being in the hands of a real right-brain/left-brain author who channels her ineffable instincts with a master artisan’s practical skills […] Ms. Baker has established herself as one of the freshest voices in American theater.” - The New York Times

​"An intensely vivid hypnotizing act disguised as a play." - Time Out New York

Info & Tickets

Buy a 3 show flex pass

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Content Advisory for all Productions

Shaking the Tree Theatre does not offer advisories about subject matter, as sensitivities vary from person to person. If you have any questions about content, age-appropriateness or stage effects(such as strobe lights or theatrical fog) that might have a bearing on patron comfort, please EMAIL or contact the box office at 503.235.0635