A Sleeping Country
Written by Melanie Marnich | Directed By Amanda Clark
May 16-19 & 23-25, 2025
All Performances At 7:30pm
Venue: Ki Coffee (4655 SW Griffith Dr #160, Beaverton, OR 97005)
A dreamy comedy about sleep lost and hope found.
Julia, a woman from New York City with a serious case of insomnia, travels to Venice seeking help from a sleepless heiress who might be a distant relative. What she discovers is the difference between being an insomniac and being truly awake.
“A thoughtful comedy…it’s a funny riff on the way that many of us
avoid being fully aware of life.” —CityBeat.
Featuring
AL Rogers as JULIA FRACASSI
Adam Williams as GREG/FRANCO/CARLO
Lesley Mansfield as DR. MIDGE/GONDOLIER/CARLOTTA
Patricia Alston as ISABELLA ORSINI
Directed By: Amanda Clark
Stage Manager: Pax Bennett
Technical Director: Alex Woodard
Production Designer: Pam Taylor
Costumes: Pat Lach, Sandi King, Pam Taylor
A Special Thank You to Ki Coffee for the performance space!
About The Creative Team
Click the + sign to learn more about the artist.
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Katie "AL" Rodgers is so excited to be playing Julia in Spark Plug's production of A Sleeping Country! AL moved to Portland amidst the pandemic in 2020. Their most recent credits include Esther in BCT's Digging Up Dessa, Sulla in Matt Zrebski's adaptation of Rossum's Universal Robots, and Director/Sound Designer for VIRAL as part of the Fertile Ground Festival. When AL is not on/backstage, she works as an arts educator and program manager for Northwest Children's Theater and School. On the rare occasion she is not working, AL enjoys playing video games and spending time in nature.
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A founding member of Spark Plug Theatre Collective, Amanda is consistently fueled and inspired by the incredible artists who give their time and their talent to share these stories with the community.
She’s been active in the area’s theatre scene as an actor and director for over a decade directing pieces including FUTURA, Slow Food, Infamy, Inc., and Almost, Maine.
Some favorite past acting roles include Woman in Lungs, Annette in God of Carnage, Berta in Boeing, Boeing, Corie Bratter in Barefoot in the Park, and Laurie in Stage Kiss.
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If you've seen Spark Plug shows before, maybe you caught Adam in Infamy, Inc., part of last year's Fertile Ground PDX Festival. Or if you like musicals, you might have seen him in The Music Man or Something Rotten! with Sherwood Foundation for the Arts. Offstage, Adam is a video editor working in Beaverton. Special thanks go out to Jina, for these ten years of learning from each other.
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Lesley Mansfield was born at a very early age and has grown since then. In the meantime, she has played 100+ roles on stages across the country, eaten a lot of mac and cheese, and read a lot of mysteries. She would like to thank Amanda and the rest of the cast and crew for their hard work, Ian for his endless support, and Vincent Price for having existed.
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Patricia is excited to be performing with Sparkplug Theatre Collective for the first time. AsI sabella Orsini in A Sleeping Country, Patricia is enthralled with bringing her character off the page to embellish and compliment the shows deeper message alongside this fine Cast. Patricia was last Directed by Amanda Clark as Arlene Marcus in BCT’s successful show Two Witches, No Waiting, a Fanclub Favorite. Besides Film and stage acting in Arizona and California, you may have seen Patricia locally and most recently as Marcia Bradshaw in Mask & Mirrors’ Spirit Level. She has also graced the stages of Penguin Productions, Wilsonville Stage, and Lakewood. Pop singing group Kaleidoscope Sound PDX is giving Patricia’s reserve vocal talent a run this spring too, thank you. Patricia is ever grateful and blessed by her supportive Fans, Coach Nancy M., dear Family and adoring Tom.
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Pax studied, produced, performed, and directed theatre in New York, Connecticut, and Georgia before moving to Oregon in 2014. After a short break became a long one, she returned to community theatre 2024, co-directing Inherit the Wind at Mask & Mirror and then The Lifespan of a Fact which she directed at Spark Plug Theatre Collective. Pax is glad to be working with this talented cast and crew, and hopes you all get some sleep one day.