Moments of Reckoning

Part of the Fertile Ground Festival of New Works

April 4, 5, 6 | All performances at 7:30pm

(All four pieces will be performed each night)

Venue: Ki Coffee (4655 SW Griffith Dr #160, Beaverton, OR 97005)

There comes a time when the conversations we’ve been avoiding demand attention. When we can choose to ignore them or face them head on, though resolution isn’t guaranteed. This collection of plays highlights pivotal moments: co-raising a new puppy, deciding what we owe to family, parenting through tragedy, and the meaning of a life well-lived, that encourage the characters - and the audience - to contemplate their next move.

Post Partum by Nancy Campbell | Directed by Matt Grand

A couple negotiates the division of labor to co-raise their newly adopted puppy in the difficult first days of chaos and overwhelm.

Featuring: Mia Torres (DYLAN) and Ashtyn Zelek (AVERY)

Pink Collar by Mishelle Apalategui | Directed by Amy Millay

"Pink Collar" is a sharp and heartfelt play about siblings Ernesto and Louisa reconnecting after Louisa gets out of prison. Over the course of a bus ride and their return to their crumbling family home, they navigate a mix of old resentments, dark humor, and the messy realities of starting over. With secrets literally hanging over their heads, the play dives into themes of loyalty, forgiveness, and what it really means to be stuck with family—whether you like it or not.

Featuring: Naiya Amilcar (LOUISA) and Pedro Dominguez (ERNESTO)

Blame Game by Nancy Campbell | Directed by Kraig Williams

Two parents anxiously wait outside of their 16 year old son’s school as they await news in the aftermath of a school shooting and search for the answers to how and why something like this could have happened.

Featuring: Shelley Aisner (SHERALEE RASK) | Michael Rouches (AMOS RASK) | Adrian Harris Crowne (SHERIFF CROSBY)

Let’s Get It Over With by Timothy Krause | Directed by Steve Holgate

Even though his wife just passed away, Bernardo is already thinking about getting rid of her stuff and his own. He's not trying to forget their life together, but he's always been someone who just likes to get things done. Adaption of a short story by Luigi Pirandello.

Featuring: Kraig Williams (BERNARDO) | Patti Speight (ERSILIA) | Bud Reece (ARTURO)

About The Creative Team

Click the + sign to learn more about the artist.

  • Shelley is honored to be a part of the Fertile Ground Festival in this important short play that touches upon a topic that she wishes wasn’t a reality, but unfortunately is. She feels that the Portland metro area consists of many very talented authors and artist that truly deserve to be seen and heard. Shelley has appeared in numerous productions throughout the U.S at theaters. Her most recent roles include God of Carnage (Veronica) and Moon Over Buffalo (Charlotte). Past favorites include, Song of Extinction (Lily), Streetcar Named Desire (Blanche), Venus in Fur (Vonda), Leading Ladies (Audrey), Proof (Claire), and Steel Magnolias (Annelle & Truvy). Shelley also dabbles in film acting and will be seen as Sandy in the upcoming Amazon series CRIMINAL/LAWLESS.

  • Naiya  is very excited to be a part of Pink Collar with Spark Plug Theatre Collective. She recently worked in an app commercial with Harter Creative and as Aurelia in Ritual Treatment with Roots and All Theatre Ensemeble. Naiya has also studied the Chubbuck technique with the Ivana Chubbuck studio. She would like to thank her family and chosen family for their continued support and encouragement to her acting pursuits.

  • Mishelle Apalategui (she/they) is a playwright, deviser, actor, and producer with a knack for hitting audiences with deeply relatable content wrapped in seemingly unrelatable plots. A BFA graduate of Cornish College of the Arts (Original Works) and an alum of Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, Mishelle’s passion for devising and writing original works has taken them from San Diego to Seattle, LA, and beyond. In Chicago, she founded and curated Digest, a monthly performance art series featuring thematically linked solo pieces—an endeavor that exemplified their gift for turning nothing into something extraordinary. In Portland, Mishelle co-created and co-starred in the beloved augmented reality experience RE: Lilith Lopez as part of the Fertile Ground Festival’s 2021 lineup and has written and performed in numerous interactive, immersive plays in both Chicago and Portland. Most recently, she developed and performed her solo clown show, HR: THE FINAL DIRECTIVE, for Stage Fright Festival 2024. Their play Downward Facing was featured in Fuse Theatre Ensemble’s inaugural Artelier Festival, resonating deeply with both queer and straight audiences. Mishelle is actively working on a series of shorts titled Intimate Apocalypse, inspired by their award-winning play, HELLSCAPE. As the head of ETERNAL.CLASSIC, Mishelle hopes to continue their journey into production under the banner of “It’s Nothing, Really”.

  • Nancy Campbell is a playwright and actor living in the Pacific Northwest. She began her playwriting career with “I Just Can’t Fathom” for PDXPlaywrights’ Epic Shorts Festival, followed by “Postmortem” for Chapel Theatre’s Play Festival, and “Broken from Hoboken” for Playwrite, Inc.’s Write On! 24 hour play festival. She co-wrote a devised work for Northwest Theater Workshop, “Psycho Killer C’est Que Ce” and a short piece for a fundraiser, “Cupid Draw Back Your Bow”.  “’Twas the Night Before Christmas” is her most recent work as part of the NWTW 2024 holiday show, Scenes of the Season.  “Hummingbird”, her first one act play, was presented as a staged reading in July 2024 at Twilight Theater.  Nancy is working on a full length play and is a graduate of The Actor’s Conservatory and the University of Southern California.

  • Originally from Texas, Pedro (They/He) found themselves having an existential crisis (as one does), and decided to uproot their life to be in an acting apprenticeship at the Portland Playhouse. They’ve stayed here to create art with their friends, read a couple books, play a couple video games, and live their best life. They can be found petting the nearest animal, probably. Previous acting credits include their own solo show, “thought-o-vision”, H2M’s Memento Mori and 24H2M Festival; Blood Wedding’s The Moon at Shaking The Tree; in the short film, Dearest Eva, as chaotic bisexual, Carlos.

  • This is Matthew's first time directing! He's been an actor in a few Spark Plug shows before (Jim in The Lifespan of a Fact, Riley in Infamy Inc.), and is very excited for his directorial debut. In his personal life, he's a nerd who likes games of all kinds. If you meet him, ask him about his current hyper-fixation! He'd like to give a special thank you to his girlfriend, because without her he wouldn't have taken the leap to direct.

  • Adrian is excited to be a part of Blame Game and the Fertile Ground Festival. He is just coming off of a run of Biloxi Blues at HART, continuing his return to theater after a very long hiatus.  Last year, Adrian performed in Chris Byrne’s Christmas in Christmasville and Bertolt Brecht’s The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, both at Twilight Theater.  He also worked with Gresham Reader’s Theater on an adaptation of excepts from Jane Austen.  Off the stage, Adrian enjoys hiking and partner dancing with his wife and kids. Thank you everyone for a great experience!

  • Steve Holgate, a Tigard native, has been acting for more than 50 years. Over that time he

    has taken leading roles in such diverse plays as “The Lion in Winter,” “Arsenic and Old

    Lace,” “Finian’s Rainbow,” “A Thousand Clowns” and “Harvey.” He has also had the

    pleasure to act in Spark Plug Theater’s “Futura.” He has been presenting a one-man show on Abraham Lincoln for 25 years. As a director, his most recent experience was directing Beaverton Civic Theater’s production of “The Diary of Anne Frank.” Holgate has also published four novels to positive reviews, and lousy sales (stephenholgatewrite.com).

  • Timothy Krause is an educator and theatre-maker in Portland, Oregon. Timothy Krause began his professional theater career in the production department of North Shore Music Theatre near Boston. While there, he also directed shows at Salem State University (“The Lesson” and “On the Verge”) and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (“Trial By Jury”), and his Civil War drama “Re-Union” was presented at the Playwrights’ Platform Festival of New Plays in Boston. He then shifted roles to theater administration and served as marketing and development director for Maine Shakespeare Festival and Penobscot Theatre Company in Bangor, where he also designed scenery for “Wait Until Dark”. Moving to Portland, Tim wrote about theater for Just Out newspaper; reviewed hundreds of shows for the Drammy committee and Followspot blog; and served for seven seasons as the marketing director for Miracle Theatre Group (Milagro). During this time, Tim received a Leslie O. Fulton Fellowship from the Portland Civic Theatre Guild to attend an international theatre festival in Santiago, Chile, as well as an “Unsung Hero” award from the Drammy Committee for his work in organizing the Portland Theatre Marketers Roundtable. Tim originally received a bachelor’s degree in theater from Southwest Minnesota State University, which included a summer internship in stage management at The Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis. At Portland State University, Tim earned a bachelor’s degree in Spanish and later a master's degree in Teaching English for Speakers for Other Languages, and he has been teaching at Portland Community College since 2015. Writing a novel for his students led Tim to return to playwriting in 2022, and some of his new work has been produced by the NW10 Festival in Eugene (“A Density of Thought”) and PDX Playwrights Epic Shorts Festival in Portland (“Salmon Pink”). Another short play (“Yes, Indeed!”) was published by Drama Notebook and presented by schools in Canada and the U.S., while a one-minute radio script (“A Big Break”) aired on KeppelFM91.3 community radio by Yeppoon Little Theatre in Australia. His historical drama "Bread and Roses" won the 2024 New Play Award by the Portland Civic Theatre Guild and was presented as a staged reading by Linestorm Playwrights during the 2024 Fertile Ground Festival of New Works in Portland. At the same time, PDX Playwrights presented a concert reading of his vaudeville jukebox musical "Pack Up Your Sins and Go to the Devil." More recently, his ten-minute comedy "The Multiplier Effect" was produced in UpStage Napa Valley's 2024 PlayFest, and his short stage adaptation of "Let's Get It Over With" has been accepted for publication in the 2025 Journal of the Pirandello Society of America. Three of Tim's new works will be presented in the 2025 Fertile Ground Festival of New Work: "Rally 'Round Sally", "Now Are You Afraid of Me?" and "Let's Get It Over With."

  • Amy Millay most recently directed Lungs at Spark Plug Theatre Collective. She is passionate about telling stories about human connection and deeply grateful to Amanda and Mishelle for entrusting her with this one. Much love to her husband Brad, who always supports her creative endeavors, and to her kitties Louie and Moggett.

  • Mia (She/Any) is a diverse Latina director, actor, dramaturg and playwright hailing from Spokane, Washington and working full-time at Milagro Theatre as Artistic Associate. An Honors 2024 BA graduate, Mia has earned degrees in Theatre Performance and English Literature from Gonzaga University. Her professional directorial debut "FRIDA, un retablo" was Milagro's biggest success in recent years. This is her first production with Spark Plug, and she hopes there are more down the line!

  • Michael is excited to be involved with Spark Plug and Fertile Ground. He has been acting in Oregon, California and Wisconsin in a variety of roles over many seasons. He is very pleased to be working on this thought provoking play with a talented cast, crew, director and producer. Thank you for supporting live theatre.

  • Patti Speight is extremely happy to be working on this project with Spark Plug Theatre Collective (a first!) for Fertile Ground. (also a first!) It's exciting to see the works of talented, local writers come to life. Patti has been seen in various community theatre productions around the Portland area for the past 12 years and has always loved the creative energy and bonding that comes with being part of a show.. The message of "Let's Get It Over With" is very thought-provoking and Patti feels blessed to be working with such wonderful cast-mates and director. They aren't just talented and smart--they're simply wonderful humans to share this moment in time with too!  Enjoy the show!

  • Bud is delighted to be working with Spark Plug Theatre Collective. Growing up with parents devoted to theatre, he came up in their footsteps, on stage. First role on stage was at age five in a community theatre in South Bend, Indiana. He played an elf. Since then he has played roles on stages in New Jersey, Indiana, and Oregon. Always a character actor. Some favorite roles include Alfred Doolittle in My Fair Lady, Froggy LeSeur in The Foreigner, Mr. Mushnik in Little Shop of Horrors and Terry in Casa Valentina. Thanks to Steve and Amanda for this opportunity to play yet another character. Good night Sandy Lorraine, where ever you may be.

  • Kraig is excited to be a part of the 2025 Fertile Ground Festival and working with Spark Plug Theatre Collective. Kraig has been acting and directing in Portland area theaters for 20+ years. Amongst some of his directing credits are Fiddler on the Roof, Persuasion, Moon Over Buffalo, Biloxi Blues and of course his signature show Suite Surrender. ome of his favorite roles have been Max in Lend Me a Tenor, Reverend Hale in The Crucible, and Mark Webster in Spirit Level. He thanks his daughters for their love and support and both amazingly talented casts and crew.

  • Ashtyn Zelek is an actor based in Portland, OR. She earned her BFA in acting and production design at Savannah College of Art and Design. Ashtyn’s trained for the stage, screen, and voiceover. She recently moved back to the PNW after 10 years away and signed with Q6 agency. She’s excited to get to work on more projects like this one!