-Season 5-
Dreaming Big - New Directions for Fall of the House
by Alison Hallett, The Portland Mercury
Semi-improvised serial 'Fall of the House' rises again
by Marty Hughley, The Oregonian
Fall of the House: Back to blow your mind June 4th!
by Megan Kate, PDX Pipeline
-Season 4-
The Oregon Live Onstage Blog:
Spring into... Action/Adventure Theatre
Posted by Win Goodbody July 20, 2008 12:29PM
"Kapow!
Here they are, one of Portland's new theatre groups.
Creators of the beloved soap opera, improvised epic "Fall of the House", which returns in 2008-2009 with 12 new episodes, Action/Adventure is on to something big.
FOTH is poised to become a unique, treasured annual entry on the Portland theatre calendar, much like Shoebox Theatre's Anonymous Theatre, which started small and now packs the PCS Armory."
http://blog.oregonlive.com/onstage/2008/07/spring_into_actionadventure_th.html
Blogtown, PDX; The Portland Mercury Blog
Fall of the House
Posted by Alison Hallett on Fri, Oct 26 at 1:44 PM
"I caught episode two of Action/Adventure Theater's Fall of the House last night, and was really impressed. The hour-long show takes place in the living room of a typical house of 20somethings who drink a lot, name their bongs, and fuck up their relationships and friendships in the familiar ways that we all fuck them up, but never see onstage. The narrative arc is mapped out but most of the dialogue is improvised, and pretty well at that. Last night's show was honest-to-god hilarious, and a pretty realistic portrayal of the post-college (post-Reed College…) experience.
For the theaterphobes out there, the friend I dragged along (who was understandably trepidatious about setting foot in a theater for the first time in years) liked it even more than I did. I'll be running a full review of the show next week, but since it is a serialized show, I'd recommend getting in this weekend before episode 2 closes."
http://blogtown.portlandmercury.com/2007/10/fall_of_the_house_1.php
Portland Mercury
Theater Review by Alison Hallett
November 1, 2007
"Action/Adventure Theatre's Fall of the House is a serialized show following a group of roommates and their friends. Each week lays out a new episode—a literal little slice of what it's like to be a twentysomething in this city, dating and fucking around and trying to negotiate a social landscape full of borderline personalities who drink too much. And because the cast and crew of Action/Adventure seem comprised of these very personalities, they handily mine the milieu for all the humor and emotional currency it's worth. If you've ever smoked out of a bong that has a name, slept with someone for exactly the wrong reasons, or graduated from a good college into a shitty service industry job, you'll appreciate this show. (I was immediately won over by the ceramic unicorn head sitting on the set's side table, having lived at various times with ceramic unicorn heads of my own.) It's gratifying to see your experience represented onstage, without having to sift through layers of history and metaphor to find something to relate to.
Of course, the thrill of self-recognition fades quickly, and wouldn't mean much if the execution wasn't solid. But given the freedom to improvise within a pre-plotted narrative structure, Action/Adventure's ensemble is consistently quick and surprisingly witty, bringing depth and complexity to familiar personality types (Patrick Alan Coleman as the affable but clueless Brian is particularly well drawn).
If you've missed previous shows, a recap at the beginning of each episode will quickly bring you up to speed: While I only saw the second episode, I think I can safely assume that each installment deals with some combination of sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll (the recorded soundtrack is courtesy of a familiar roster of local acts, including the Builders and the Butchers and the Crosswalks).
Episode 2 ended on something of a cliffhanger, but the individual episode had a pretty complete little narrative arc of its own. Unfortunately for those of you who have yet to discover this gem of a show, there are only two weekends left. Hopefully, though, we'll be seeing more from Action/Adventure in the future—Fall of the House is a cult classic in the making.
http://www.portlandmercury.com/portland/Content?oid=457316&category=22143