SPRING: a Haywire Hijinks (in five acts) Program

BEdrock Theatre presents

SPRING: a Haywire Hijinks (in five acts)

may 30 - 31, 2026

at Tualatin Hills Nature Park

Song List

“Forest Hum”  | Music by London Bauman

“Na Na Na Na Na (Nectar)”  | Music by Joellen Sweeney & London Bauman

“The Honeybee Hoedown” | Music by Emily Eisele, Lyrics by Emily Eisele & Joellen Sweeney

“The Mating Suite” | Music by Emily Eisele, Lyrics by Emily Eisele & Joellen Sweeney

“The Death Orchestra”  | Music by Joellen Sweeney

About the Production

ABOUT SPRING: a Haywire hijinks (in five acts)

Bedrock Theatre presents SPRING as the next installment of a collection of original performances inspired and immersed in the four seasons. Following up Winter’s Hibernate and Summer’s Sun Songs & Moon Tunes (listen to the show album here), spring was the next, fitting installment we wanted to tackle. 

At its heart, SPRING reflects Bedrock Theatre’s ongoing desire to connect audiences more deeply to their environment. The production celebrates the wonder that can emerge from simply paying attention: to the lil’ guys underfoot and the larger, sweeping seasonal phenomena that affect us all. It is a zany little meditation on renewal, grounded in ecology, observation, and our evolving relationship to the landscapes we inhabit.

For SPRING, Bedrock had the special opportunity to work with Matthew Shephard of The Xerces Society, along with Alex Ramos and Kyle Spinks from Tualatin Hills Nature Park, as our knowledgeable guides around the park. Because of them, we were able to not only explore and observe our forest surroundings, but also to name and learn about the creatures, plants, and life cycles that piqued our interest. Matthew was very patient with us on our morning walks through the park as we bombarded him with questions: What is that? When does that hatch? How long is a life cycle? What’s native and what’s not? Through this exploration, SPRING found its anchor in invertebrate science and local ecology, resulting in a performance rooted in close observation of the living world and the quiet rhythms that shape seasonal change.

It’s been a surprise to us that a show most closely linked to biology has resulted in a performance that may be Bedrock’s oddest, and most abstract yet. We found ourselves leaning into SPRING as a somewhat fleeting, time-pressed concept—there is pressure to hatch, eat, work, and mate promptly before the summer heat presses in, or before death promptly ends a short life cycle. Nature is weird. It is astonishing. It’s wild! So maybe it shouldn’t be shocking that, with the help of Sascha Blocker, clowning and movement has been our preferred method of digesting and conveying all the juicy scientific factoids swimming in our heads. Sascha joined us in both the studio and on the trail to help us explore the spirit of spring physically, introducing games and exercises to help build playful presence with our surroundings. 

Creating SPRING, in many ways, mirrored the season itself – full of fits and starts, surprising twists, and unexpected beauties. We’re grateful to have had the chance to spend the last few weeks among the ever-shifting green at THNP, and we’re so glad to get to share this magical spot with you

ABOUT BEDROCK TheATRE

Founded in 2016, Bedrock Theatre's mission is to connect audiences to their environment and to each other through immersive storytelling in natural landscapes. With music, movement, and person-to-person storytelling, our adaptations and original works are lovingly crafted to transform an ordinary path into the world of the tale. While Bedrock Theatre shares work in a variety of landscapes and venues, we primarily gather in and around Portland, Oregon, the traditional villages sites of the Multnomah, Wasco, Cowlitz, Kathlamet, Clackamas, Bands of Chinook, Tualatin, Kalapuya and Molalla. We respectfully acknowledge this land’s original caretakers, and honor the ongoing story of Oregon’s Native peoples, whose knowledge and stewardship of this landscape goes back tens of thousands of years. This is Bedrock’s first collaboration with Tualatin Hills Nature Park.

ABOUT TUALATIN HILLS NATURE PARK

The Tualatin Hills Nature Park is a magical forest embedded in Beaverton, Oregon. The Nature Park provides a quiet haven to more than 200,000 visitors each year. Hikers, bikers, botanists, birders, and families traverse its five miles of trails. The wildlife preserve’s 222 acres of wetlands, forests, and streams shelter insects, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals. But without the fierce dedication of a handful of people in the 1970s, the park might have been developed into housing or commercial use and its wildlife habitat lost forever. Most visitors don’t know how it was saved from development. Each time they walk down a trail and hear the birds or listen to the trees, they owe thanks to a small grassroots group of thoughtful, committed people who followed through and did not give up. Learn more here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxBEcSl6myQ

SPRING MUSES

Oregon Bee: A tiny but mighty pollinator with a starring role in SPRING! Oregon Bee is very familiar with the work of Matthew and the Xerces Society, and Oregon Bee represents the incredible diversity of native pollinators that keep our ecosystems thriving. While many people picture the honeybee as the “classic” bee, there are actually 600–800 species of bees in Oregon alone and nearly 3,600 species across North America. Unlike native bees, honeybees are not native to this continent and are often managed much like livestock because they can be transported and controlled by farmers.

Oregon Bee wants to give a special shoutout to Oregon’s remarkable native solitary bees — underground tunnel-diggers, leaf cutters, and cellophane bees, who create waterproof nursery chambers from their own glandular secretions. These small but extraordinary creatures are often far more efficient pollinators than honeybees, proving that sometimes the quietest performers have the biggest impact. If Oregon Bee has you buzzing with curiosity, we encourage you to learn more about, support, and get involved with the Xerces Society.

Flies and the “Unsexy” Pollinators: While bees may steal the spotlight, these ensemble performers are here to remind audiences that pollination is truly a group effort. Inspired by the overlooked heroes of biodiversity — moths, flies, butterflies, beetles, hummingbirds, and wasps — these characters celebrate the countless creatures working behind the scenes to keep native plants and ecosystems flourishing. SPRING extends its gratitude to these often-unsung pollinators, whose contributions are every bit as vital, even if they don’t always get top billing.

The Many Birds of Tualatin Hills Nature Park: Serving as the unofficial orchestra of SPRING, the birds of Tualatin Hills Nature Park have provided the soundtrack to rehearsals and trail walks alike. From the chatter of chickadees to the flash of a ruby-crowned kinglet, these feathered performers inspired moments of wonder throughout the season. Featured cast members include juncos, wrens, hawks, ducks, finches, hummingbirds, jays, robins, and brown creepers, with rumors that the park’s elusive owls may still make a surprise cameo appearance before closing night.

The Newt and the Garter Snake
A classic rivalry with evolutionary stakes! Inspired by sunny afternoons at Tualatin Hills Nature Park, this duo brings to life one of nature’s most fascinating arms races. The rough-skinned newt may appear charming with its bright orange belly, but it carries a powerful toxin strong enough to deter most predators. Enter the garter snake, which has evolved an extraordinary resistance, allowing it to feast on the poisonous newts. Each generation raises the stakes: newts become more toxic, snakes become more resistant, and the cycle continues in an endless battle of adaptation, survival, and dramatic tension worthy of the stage.

CASt & Production team Bios

Emily Eisele (she/her) is a Co-Founder and Managing Director for Bedrock Theatre. She has written, composed, and performed for Bedrock’s original productions of Sun Songs & Moon Tunes, Hibernate, Persephone, and The Nightingale. Other local performance credits include Third Rail Repertory Theatre (Recent Tragic Events), CoHo Productions (Beethoven and Chopin Meet The Bride of Frankenstein), and Artists Repertory Theatre (I and You; American Hero). Recently, Emily spearheaded a passion project as the Lead Producer for Bedrock’s audio production series CoastWatch & Listen, a community science & storytelling collaboration produced in partnership with Oregon Shores Conservation Coalition. All seven episodes can be streamed on Apple Podcasts or at: https://www.bedrocktheatre.com/coastwatch-and-listen

Joellen Sweeney (she/her) grew up hiking and exploring the Oregon Coast and Columbia River Gorge, where she fell in love with all things mossy, boggy and green. Joellen is a Company Member with Bedrock Theatre, and was most recently seen as The Knitting Woman in HIBERNATE and as a songwriter for CoastWatch & Listen. Outside of Bedrock, Joellen works broadly as an actor, music director and teaching artist. Her regional theatre credits include work with Shaking the Tree Theatre (Dancing on the Sabbath, Blood Wedding, Forbidden Fruit, Fucking A, The Bakkhai, Caucasian Chalk Circle), Corrib Theatre (From a Hole in the Ground, An Scéal), Artists Repertory Theatre (The Revolutionists), Seattle Shakespeare Company (Much Ado About Nothing), Renegade Opera (Bird Songs of Opera, Orfeo in Underland, She Loves You Back), and others. Joellen is also a writer; her debut poetry collection, The Small Particulars, was released through Verdant Publishing in 2025. Joellen earned her MFA in Acting from the University of Washington and serves as the Community & Creativity steward at The Verdancy Project. www.joellensweeney.com

Becca Wirta (she/her) has performed in recent years with companies such as Bedrock Theatre (Hibernate, Sun Songs & Moon Tunes), Basement Stair Collective (Still Life, GRINDHOUSE, The Innkeeper), Corrib Theatre (An Scéal), Renegade Opera (Waking the Witch), Mt. Hood Repertory Theater (Silent Sky), Third Rail Repertory Theatre (Off the Rails - An Evening of Storytelling), Portland Experimental Theatre Ensemble (a/void/fest), and The Theatre Company (Gossnight - Valentines Day Edition). Becca is a member of Bedrock Theatre, and is also a founding member of Basement Stair Collective, an experimental company illuminating and challenging the cycles in which we are trapped through immersive, collaborative, and design-forward performance. Becca is happiest out on the trail with Emily and Joellen – so this production has been a real treat. She hopes this piece serves as a reminder to fight for and protect the beautiful natural spaces we have left.

London Bauman (he/him) is a musician, sound designer, and theatre maker from Portland. He is especially interested in the audience's role in theatre and the way sound & music can help tell stories, and is excited to explore both with Bedrock! His work as an actor and producer has been seen around Oregon, in the Bay Area, at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and elsewhere. Favorite credits include The Delays (Theatre Vertigo), Shopping & F***ing (prod. Annabel Cantor) and the Ghosted tour (Oregon Children's Theatre). He is a graduate of both Portland State University (2019) and PETE's Institute for Contemporary Performance (2025). He plays guitar in the local bands Frecks and The Kelevras and is a co-founder of the devised theatre company Trick Pony. 

Leiana Petlewski (they/them) is an actor, dancer, theatre maker, choreographer, musician, and intimacy director. They hold BAs in Dance and Applied Theatre from Pacific University and a certification from the PETE’s Institute for Contemporary Performance. They’ve performed with various companies in Portland, including Portland Playhouse, Corrib Theatre, Salt and Sage, ProLab Dance, Trip the Dark, and the Stage Fright Festival. Leiana has choreographed and/or Intimacy Directed for Salt and Sage, Ponderosa Players, SouthWest StageWorks, Pacific University, Many Hats’ The Hatchery, and a variety of other new works. They’ve been a resident artist with From the Ground UP and The Verdancy Project and a guest resident choreographer for the Pacific Dance Ensemble. Leiana has a love of site-specific dance work, artistic collaboration, and multimedia work, and they’re so excited to frolic with the Bedrock crew!

Madeleine Tran (she/her) is a Vietnamese-American soprano, actor, fight choreographer, and occasional street and festival performer. She studies voice under Dr. Nicole Hanig and studies and teaches stage combat under the mentorship of Kristen Mun. She has performed locally with many companies, including Artist’s Repertory Theatre, Profile Theater, Third Rail Repertory, Portland Center Stage, Shaking The Tree, Portland Opera, and Renegade Opera.

Emily Trimble (she/her) is a Stage Manager who grew up in Houston, Texas and began her theatre career in Dallas at companies such as Undermain Theatre, WaterTower Theatre, and Dallas Children’s Theatre. She moved to Portland in 2012 and has since Stage Managed for many companies around town, including: Bag&Baggage Productions, Corrib Theatre, Oregon Children's Theatre, and Renegade Opera. She’s pleased to be working with Bedrock Theatre again, having previously stage managed last winter’s production of Hibernate. Some of her favorite shows she has stage managed have been In This Corner: Cassius Clay; A Year with Frog and Toad; Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed; and The Great Gatsby. When at home she can be found watching bad action movies with her husband, playing with her two cats, or doing a variety of fiber arts.

Alexandra Schaffer (she/they) is a lifelong Oregonian who continues to be enchanted by the incredible ecological diversity of their home state. She is connected to Bedrock via participating in the Third Rail Mentorship Program with Emily, Sean, and Joellen; and belonging to a bookclub with Becca since 2018. Their contributions to Bedrock include: the care & keeping of multiple moving parts & people, a knack for finagling a schedule, and creative content skills for production materials like the CoastWatch & Listen and SSMT album covers. In addition to theatre, she is a writer, designer, and nature photographer for her studio A.Schaffer Creative.

Urks Io (they/them) is a multidimensional, interdisciplinary, omninonbinary artist with a physical form currently based in Portland, OR. They are a recent graduate of PETE’s Institute of Contemporary Performance program. 

Support BEdrock

SPRING is Presented Through the Generosity of our sponsors:

Oregon Cultural Trust: Thanks to the support of OCT, tickets for SPRING have been provided to our community free-of-charge! With a mission to fuel Oregon’s culture, Oregon Cultural Trust works to inspire Oregonians to participate in the cultural tax credit.

Wirta Hospitality Worldwide: If you are looking for a place to stay and eat in gorgeous Sequim, WA while you’re exploring the Olympic Peninsula, consider the Black Bear Diner, Quality Inn, and Holiday Inn Express.

Townsend Career Coaching: Gayle Townsend is an Oregon-based career coach offering remote coaching services that support your career success, through all life’s seasons. Learn more at www.townsendcareercoaching.com.