Podcast: What’s Up Bainbridge:
Art Museum hosts April 16 play-reading of Elizabeth Heffron’s “Portugal”

In this podcast Kate Carruthers and playwright Elizabeth Heffron talk about Portugal, Heffron’s latest play, to be performed Saturday April 16th at the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art.

In Portugal, there’s been an accident at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in rural Eastern Washington, “home to America’s largest stockpile of unprocessed radioactive nuclear waste and the most contaminated place in the Western Hemisphere.”  (hanfordchallenge.org)

Heffron has never shied away from difficult and complicated subjects: in previous plays she has addressed such issues as late-term abortion (Mitzi’s Abortion), and the effects of poverty and sexual abuse (Bo-Nita).  In Portugal, this fearless playwright explores the devastating effects of radioactive contamination on workers, the critical problem of radioactive waste disposal, and the predicament of whistleblowers.

Listen here and learn why Heffron wanted to write this play, how she researched and gathered the material for it, how she chose her five characters, and about the devices she’s used to deal with this difficult subject. You will also hear Carruthers talk about her experiences directing this play reading, which features local favorites John Ellis, Barbara Deering, Robert Bergen, Elizabeth Ellis, and J.C. Figueroa — five actors well known to Bainbridge Island theatre-goers.

Don’t miss this moving performance: Tickets may be purchased at brownpapertickets.com

Credits: BCB host: Channie Peters; audio editor: Tim Bird; social media publisher: Diane Walker.