Director Trish Egan
Trish Egan serves as Associate Artistic Director for Mt. Hood Repertory Theatre
Company. With over 30 years experience on and offstage, she has performed in
theatres from Oregon to Texas as well as overseas.
Ms. Egan become an East Metro resident two years ago, which led to her
commitment to Mr. Hood Repertory Theatre Company and theatre in the East Portland
Metro area. Her recent Portland acting credits include Mrs. Barker in Profile Theatre Project's
American Dream, Dean Kenney in CoHo Productions' Spinning Into Butter, Ariel in
Tygres Heart's The Tempest, Zofia in Tongue of a Bird for MediaRites and Queen
Margaret in Stark
Raving Theatre's Richard III (for which she was awarded a Drammy for Best
Supporting Actress). Other local credits include Wings for Profile Theatre Project,
Calphurnia in Julius Caesar at Tygres Heart, and Feste in Twelfth Night
for Epicurean Productions. Outside Portland, she has performed in A Pirate's
Lullaby, You Can't Take It With You, Merry Wives of Windsor,
Musical Comedy Murders of 1940, and Night of the Iguana.
Also a director, her local directing credits include The Anger in Ernest
and Ernestine, Five Women Wearing the Same Dress, Driving Miss Daisy,
Trifles, Fifth of July and The Actor's Nightmare, as well as
Inherit the Wind for Mt. Hood Rep's summer 2002 festival.
She studied with Uta Hagen at the
Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. where she was a
national finalist in the Irene Ryan Acting Competition, and holds a Master of
Fine Arts degree in Directing from the University of Portland.
About The Playwright
Sir Alan Ayckbourn is considered One of Britain's most successful and prolific dramatists.
Known for the wit and ingenuity with which he portrays the foibles and
anxieties of England's suburban middle class and their conflicts with those in
the social spheres above and below them, Ayckbourn was born in Hampstead, England in 1939.
His mother, Irene Maud Worley (better known as Lolly), was a novelist and
short story writer; his father, Horace Ayckbourn, lead violinist with the
London Symphony Orchestra.
His interest in theatre grew throughout his school years. Upon leaving the
Haileybury School in 1956, he took a job at the Edinburgh Festival as an assistant
stage manager. Encouraged to write by his mentor Stephen Joseph, Ayckbourn's
first full-length play was produced in 1959 under the pseudonym Roland Allen.
Since that early offering, Ayckbourn went on to write such hits as How the
Other Half Loves (1970); Absurd Person Singular (1973);
The Norman Conquests (1974 - a trilogy); Bedroom Farce (1975);
Season's Greetings (1982); A Small Family Business (1987);
House and Garden (2001), and Woman In Mind (1985).
His plays have won numerous awards - including seven London Evening Standard
Awards. They have been translated into 35 languages and are performed on stage
and television throughout the world. Seven of his plays have been seen on
Broadway attracting two Tony nominations. In 1991, he received a Dramalogue
Critics Award for his play Henceforward...
Many Ayckbourn fans see Woman In Mind as a very different play than the
domestic comedies and farces the playwright is known for. While the expected
social commentary of British society and manners are present, the surreal
landscape painted by Ayckbourn in this play allows the playwright to present
his themes in a new and, at times, unsettling way. Ayckbourn himself
said of the play, "Mainly I want to say things about the fear and distrust
people have for each other, the fact that men and women still don't seem to
understand each other very well. There are too many people in the world who are
likely to leave important decisions they should make until far too late."
Ayckbourn was knighted 1997, and is currently the Artistic Director of the
Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough, England.
Sources:
The Alan Ayckbourn Guide
The Stephen Joseph Theatre
Info Please
Joseph Lockett's notes on directing Woman In Mind
Director Trish Egan
