World Stage Theatre presents the play written and directed by Shalanda Sims
Welcome to Vanport, a city located between Portland, OR, and Vancouver, WA that thrived during World War II. On the heels of the Great Depression, people were eager to find work and make money. When Henry Kaiser put out a call for workers in his shipyard, people came from far and wide. But what was it really like?
Shalanda Sims created Vanport the Musical out of a quest to find out more about how, when, and why Black people emigrated to the Portland area. She heard stories about Vanport, the lost community in the north part of the city destroyed by flood in 1948, and felt a deep sense of responsibility to the elders of Vanport (who were children back then) to take what was in her hand through theater and tell this story that had been erased and hidden.
Special Performances & Accessibility:
Saturday, May 21 at 7pm: Audio-described performance
Sunday, May 22 at 2pm: Free performance dedicated to Vanport descendants and their families, sponsored by Vanport Mosaic
Sunday, May 29 at 2pm: Free Sensory Friendly performance, sponsored by PDX Parent and SUCHa: Uplifting Brand Design
ASL-Interpreted performances TBD
Tickets
Adults: $25
Students: $20