Last Thursday, on March 1^st, the Portland Playhouse’s appeal of a land use decision to terminate the staging of plays in their site at 602 NE Prescott was heard by City Council. The appeal, filed by the King Neighborhood Association on behalf of the Playhouse, centered on defining what a community arts center is, and whether the theater productions held at 602 NE Prescott constitutes community use, or a retail theater use (a status asserted by city staff, and which are not allowed under the building’s current zoning). City planner Mark Walhood noted that the city staff’s decision to deny the Playhouse’s original permit application was among the most reluctant they had ever made.

With more than eighty people in attendance in support of the Playhouse and none reporting opposition, the Council opened up the hearing to testimony from members of the public. Nearly two dozen folks testified at the hearing, including two King NA board members, and Playhouse artistic director Brian Weaver. There were numerous testimonials to the deeply-felt value of the work being done by the Playhouse, both in its theater programming and in its community service.

Nora Diver, Co-chair of the king NA, cited the neighborhood’s desire for an arts and culture center as expressed in the King Neighborhood Plan, and reported the KNA’s unanimous vote to support the Playhouse and file its appeal with the City Council. She also remarked on the long-standing use of 602 NE Prescott as a site for intercultural experience, having been host to an Interracial Faith congregation for decades, calling the building a “place where meaning is made.”

Eight-graders from the St. Andrew Nativity School brought cards of support for the Playhouse to the Council, and thanked the Playhouse for hosting their yearly talent show, saying that the Playhouse is “very important to our family at St. Andrew.” A gentleman named Chris praised the Playhouse for its openness to exploring issues of disability in its theater. He also thanked the Playhouse for constructing a ramp for wheelchair users (a ramp that had to be removed because it was built without a permit, but which the Playhouse vowed to rebuild as quickly as possible), and said that the Playhouse has made “accessibility to all members of the community a priority,” by participating in the Arts For All program.

Kevin Jones, founder of the August Wilson Red Door Project, called the Playhouse a “model for people working together… to take risks and make great art,” the only institution in Portland that “mixes it up between artists of color and the mainstream white community.” He posed a series of questions to the city council: “Art is a strategy for changing the racial ecology of Portland… Portland has a legacy around race. Are we willing to contradict that legacy by making hard and controversial decisions? What are the consequences of shutting down efforts that are making progress in the areas of equity and diversity? Where does our equity strategy begin if not with the organizations that are already making great strides and can be role models for the community? Where does social entrepreneurialism fit in, in our city’s development? What are our individual and collective commitments to creating a city that is a role model for other cities across the country, as we have for other environmental issues?”

Gabrielle Foulkes testified that the Playhouse has improved the quality of the neighborhood. Playhouse board member Karol Collymore praised the theater company for its commitment to racial diversity, saying it has “moved far past lip service… and has become a place where me and many other people have felt included in the arts. The opportunity for learning and creativity always exists.”

Former KNA board chair Charles Boardman reported that “nowhere have I heard more important and powerful conversations about gentrification and race taking place in the King neighborhood than in the lobby of the Portland Playhouse after the performance of  [August Wilson play] Radio Golf.”

After hearing testimony from about twenty members of the public, the City Council members spoke. Each commissioner voted to overturn the staff ruling and endorse the Playhouse’s appeal, allowing the Playhouse to begin planning for theater performances as soon as the end of March. City Commissioner Amanda Fritz said that “the arts are a value to your heart, and to our community as a whole.” The city council’s decision included an avowal to craft a formal decision that would be tailored as narrowly as possible to the Playhouse’s appeal, and to consider changes to the zoning designations for community arts centers in the future.

The members of the King NA are deeply grateful to everyone who came to the council hearing with such heartfelt avowals of support for the Playhouse, and we are grateful to the Playhouse as well for the opportunity to work with them on their appeal to the Council. We also feel indebted to the Playhouse on behalf of our neighborhood for its powerful and far-reaching commitment to pursuing issues of equity, community, and voice in its theater, and in its other community programming. The generosity of the actors and staff of the Playhouse in opening their hearts wide enough to create deeply meaningful art and dialogue, and in opening their building to so many patrons and other community users, has moved us.

In the upcoming months, as the Playhouse resumes theater productions at 602 NE Prescott, the KNA will be working with the Playhouse and with neighbors to craft effective plans for patron parking. We are also pleased to announce that the Playhouse will partner with the neighborhood association on the 2012 clean-up for the King neighborhood.