Liberty Oregon

Liberty, Oregon takes place at the beach and various small towns in the Pacific Northwest in the 1930s and 1940s. The time period occurs before worker's rights or labor unions were a mainstay of American labor. The play revolves around the brutality of local law enforcement officials against immigrant workers. When one of the workers is rounded up by authorities and taken away, never to be seen again, his daughter, Nadia, struggles to gain control of her life while seeking her missing father. Nadia suffers at the hands of a religious American woman who abuses her physically and verbally, while forcing her to adopt Christianity and Jesus in her life. Nadia escapes to search for her father and is befriended by a kindly Asian woman named Mrs. Hirase.

When Mrs. Hirase is deported, Nadia is alone once more, only to find solace in the attention and support of a writer from New York, Albert. Albert promises to help find her father, discovering that he has been killed in a concentration camp setting where the workers are housed. When Mrs. Hirase dies, Nadia inherits her money and possessions. Albert tells Nadia he has feelings for her and would like to start a new life with her in California, but Nadia rejects his offer and walks off toward the mountain in search of the remains of her father.

There are a number of themes incorporated into Liberty, Oregon. One of these themes is the suffering and lack of rights on

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hibited toward others foreigners in an era in the U.S. when foreigners, especially Asians, were unwelcome. Her strong emoting abilities lend heart and soul to a play that is otherwise violent, abusive, and depressing. Nadia Novitski is played very well by Sandra Dougherty. She does an excellent job of showing the complete loss and isolation of young immigrants who are bereft of family or friends. She uses body language to great affect at the end of the play, when she turns down Albert's offer and walks off toward the mountain to find her father's remains. She walks off in a manner that shows defeat but determination. Four of the actors in the play act three different parts each. I found this to be a bit disconcerting, as seeing the same actor play three different roles broke the aesthetic distance of the piece for me. Although Peter Dresner plays two roles, that of Albert and Tomash, he is made to look considerably different for each role and his acting helped overcome this reliance on one actor to play multiple roles. The two actors who play the Sheriff and Deputy are also quite good, demonstrating the cold and violent nature of law enforcement officials to immigrant laborers. Directing & Production Elements The dire

Category: Arts - L