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Brandon Weaver

Actor

Brandon was last seen on stage for JET some years ago in Alice in Mathland. In Pumphrey he plays the role of Uncle Elmer. When not on stage, he likes to learn about medieval warfare--he is something of an expert on the matter.

Six days, six cousins, one shot at glory--do they have what it takes to be Oregon Champs?

David Hastings

Music Director, Orchestrator

Deb Blakewood

Laine Wagner

Musician

Erik Montague

Actor

Kevin Muir

Writer, Composer, Director

In this show, Chris plays the role of Reynolds. He loves drama so much, he started his own theater company that specializes in Shakespeare. Chris loves Chex Mix and Dr. Pepper. He also finds time to be a dog walker.

Chris Forrer

Actor

David has done just about everything in musical theater. He's been in 150 shows and led choral tours across Europe. He can make up amazing music at the piano on the spot. And he cooks a storm. In our performance, you will see David conduct the band and play piano. (click to hear.)

Deb toured last season with JET's production of The Revolutionary Revue. When not on the road performing in grade schools, she is a computer expert doing tech projects for big companies.

Click here to hear the bass.

This is Erik's first show for JET. He plays the role of Philmont. Philmont is a mentalist, which means he can read minds--is this for real, or is Philmont just a joker?

You decide! The Real Life Erik loves ice cream and playing video games and teaches at Northwest Childrens Theater.

Props and Costumes

Kevin thought it would be fun to start a theater company. He was right! He eats chocolate, spends time with dogs and plays piano. He teaches in a Portland grade school and lives with his family in Southeast Portland. Life = good.

Laine loves drawing, reading and cooking. She is also an actor and teaches at Northwest Childrens Theater. Laine knows how to take care of herself--she is a black belt and violinist (though the black belt is probably more useful in self defense). Laine designed the props and costumes you see in our show.

Mitch Iimori

Musician

Lizzy returns to the stage for JET following her

performance in last season's Revolutionary Revue.

She is also our Dance Captain, which means she helps everyone remember the dances if they

have questions. In addition to being in this show, Lizzy is finishing a Ph.D. in psychology. She stays busy! In Pumphrey she plays Morgan.

Actor

Laura was in the show "Cats" for a long time, which is good, because she likes cats. Her favorite color is yellow and she loves to eat Biscuit Shapes. She's from Australia. When not singing, Laura loves to travel and tend her garden. She's been to all seven continents and now calls Portland home. She plays the role of Nola.

Actor

Lizzy Tremaine

CONTACT

Laura McCulloch

Mitch is musician and music teacher. He plays many different instruments. In our show, you'll hear him play the flute, clarinet, oboe, alto sax and Native American flute. If you can blow on it and make a sound, Mitch can play it. He also speaks Japanese.

Nicholas Granato

Actor

Nicholas plays the role of Quincy in our show.

He has been doing drama since age 14 and loves the show Les Mis. He is an Eagle Scout and keeps five chickens. Nicholas also loves video games and eating bread.

Rachel Lidskog

Choreographer

Rachel dreamed up all the dances you see in our show and the taught them to the cast. She grew up in Alaska and now lives her dream of running her own dance studio in Sellwood.

Sam Bangs

Actor

This is Sam's first show for JET. She plays the role of Ophelia. When she's not in rehearsal, Sam enjoys being with her two-year-old son. She is also a personal trainer and stays fit at the gym. Sam plays guitar and has two dogs.

Sophie Foti

Production Manager

Sophie is the Boss of the Show on performance days.

She makes sure everyone knows where the performance is and when to arrive. She's responsible for the show running smoothly, and for solving any problems that come up on performance day. Sophie plays cello, performs as an actor and has three cats and a dog.

Time to play a word game to get ready for the Multnomahs to tell the legend of the Bridge of the Gods.

Give a rhyme based on (the clue in parentheses).

Heart: (means intelligent) Fight: (means to see) Gods: (chance of something happening)

Pain: (water falling from the sky) Price: (a general word meaning good, fine)

Got: (very warm) Clue: (opposite of me) Swift: (a present) For: (in addition to)

Plot Synopsis--what this show is about.

The Pumphrey Family Reunion is about a family that gets together every two years for a week-long campout somewhere in Oregon. In our show, they're camping at Champoeg Park. This is a goofy, highly-competitive family that loves to compete, so they've created a game they play at their campout called "The Pumphriad." This is a lot like the Olympics (The Olympiad) without the gold medals but with all the glory.

They break into teams and compete against each other through week in a series of games. At the end of the campout/reunion, the points are tallied and one team emerges as the winner. The theme for this year's campout is "Oregon." The winning team will show a keen knowledge of "All things Oregon."

The characters you see on stage are cousins and siblings--they are the Multnomah Team competing against the other family teams--Team Clackamas, Team Lane, Team Josephine, etc. One cousin, Philmont, is from England--he claims to be a mentalist, and it seems to be true. How does he do it? What's the trick? Uncle Elmer is the host of the Games, introducing the teams, keeping the action going, and judging the teams' efforts. He's also a magician--you might know him as 'Elmer the Magician.'

The Official Guide to The Pumphriad

A Selected Compendium and Description of Pumphriad Games you will see during the musical.

"The Oregon Poetry Slam"

Rules of the Game: Before the event, each Team Member writes a poem about Oregon. Each Team takes the stage in turn and Uncle Elmer randomly selects one person's poem to be presented; Uncle Elmer then randomly selects a Team Member to present the poem to the entire Pumphrey Clan. This game is always a favorite, 'cuz who doesn't love a good Oregon poem?

Key Vocabulary: Clackamas, Portland, Boring, Cascades, Willamette, Mt. Hood

"Native American Legend Telling"

The Multnomah Team tells the tale of the Bridge of the Gods. This legend explains the origins of Mt. Hood, Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Adams and the rock bridge that once crossed the Columbia River...

...Long ago, two brothers, Klickitat and Wyeast, were handsome, but not too smart; they always fighting each other. The Great Chief Sahalie sent them north and south to be away from each other. He built a rock bridge across the Columbia River so they could visit each other when they wanted, but these two brothers, as you might guess, became jealous of each other's land on the other side of the Columbia and wouldn't stop fighting.

To punish them, Sahalie unleashed a nonstop rain that extinguished all fire. People got cold, wet, and miserable; only one person had fire--Old Loowit who lived on the rock bridge. Sahalie asked her to share her fire with everyone, which she agreed to do, but only if he, the Great Chief Sahalie, would make her young and beautiful again. He did, and Loowit shared her fire.

The two brothers, Klickitat and Wyeast, heard about the now-beautiful Loowit and began fighting over which of them would get to marry her. She wanted neither of them.

The Great Chief Sahalie grew tired of the constant fighting, so he turned them into the mountains. Loowit became Mt. St. Helens, Wyeast became Mt. Hood, and Klickitat became Mt. Adams with its rounded top, as if lowering its head in sorrow to see the beautiful Loowit forever frozen as an icy mountain.

Mt. St. Helens blew its top in1980. Maybe it was Loowit commenting once again on the two fighting brothers.

Key Vocabulary: precipitation, token of appreciation, pulchritudinous, amiable, rain cats and dogs,

Mt Hood--Wy'east Mt. Adams--Klickitat

The bridge was created by a landslide coming off Greenleaf Peak and Table Mountain. Scientists believe this happened sometime around the year 1450.

Mt. St. Helens--Loowit

"Family Story Time"

The Multnomah Team tells and sings about the non-Pumphrey branches of their families. This is a not-funny part of the show; they talk about the challenges and injustices faced in Oregon by African Americans, Native Americans, Chinese and Japanese. As we know, our world, our society, our country, our state are still beset with social injustice, so this scene is about history but also about the present.

The name of the song is "Executive Order 9066." This refers to a presidential Executive Order signed by Franklin Roosevelt during World War Two that required people of Japanese ancestry on the West Coast, including Portland, to give up their houses, land and businesses to go live in large prisons, basically, for the duration of the war. Just because they had Japanese names.

Japanese Americans in Oregon

We can talk a lot about this, and will, but for the moment, the pictures say it all.

African Americans (and others) in Oregon

Oregon's First People--Native Americans

Then.... ...and now.

Contemporary Native American youth.

Native Americans fishing at Celilo Falls on the Columbia River,

upriver from the Bridge of the Gods. Now drowned by The Dalles Dam.

The Chinese in Oregon

Many people came to Oregon from Southern China in the 19th Century to work and make money.

It was not all they dreamed of or hoped for.

Today in Portland.

"The Oregon History Pageant"

Team Multnomah takes us on a whirlwind tour of Oregon history starting in the depths of time with the first residents--Native Americans--and ending with modern life in Oregon.

"Taking the Initiative"

Did you know that In Oregon individual citizens can bring about a change in the law? It's called the Initiative System. If you have a great idea for a new law or a change to an existing one, all you have to do is get enough to people to agree with you and sign your paper and your idea goes on the ballot for state-wide election. That's it! It takes a lot of work to make this happen, but the idea itself is simple.

In the Pumphriad, each team thinks of one idea to present to the family and everyone votes. The winning idea gets a team fifty points and the family then goes out to collect signatures to get it on the ballot. They actually changed a law in 2004! (It was a change to the pet leash law--very exciting, and important!) What idea for a new law will the Pumphrey Clan select this time around? Stay tuned!

"Oregon Civics and Symbols"

Six kids from the audience will come up to the stage to play this game to earn points for the Multnomah Team. Can you name the following about Oregon?

State Symbols:

Bird

Tree

Animal

Rock

Nut

Song

Flower

Motto

Civics and Trivia:

Governor

Highest point

National park

Order in admission to the Union

Rank in physical size

Oregon's two U.S. Senators

How many U.S. Representatives

First woman to serve as governor

Number of counties

How the flag is different from all other state flags

Population, approximately

Biggest city

Capital city

"Father of the State"

Year of admission to the Union

Deepest canyon

Deepest lake

And here are the answers:

Bird--Western Meadowlark

Tree--Douglas Fir

Animal--Beaver

Rock--Thunderegg

Nut--Hazelnut

Song--"Oregon, My Oregon"

Flower--Oregon Grape

Motto--"She flies with her own wings"

Governor--Kate Brown

Highest point--Mt. Hood (bonus: 11,249' feet)

Oregon's national park--Crater Lake

Oregon's order in admission to the Union--33rd

Oregon's rank in physical size--10th

Names of Oregon's two U.S. senators: Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley

How many U.S. Representatives in Washington D.C.: five

First woman to serve as governor--Barbara Roberts

Number of counties--33

How the flag is different from all other state flags--it's the only flag with a

design on front and back.

Population, approximately--four million

Biggest city--Portland

Capital city--Salem

Father of the State--John McLoughlin

Year of admission to the union--1859

Deepest canyon--Hells Canyon (formed by Snake River on Oregon/Idaho border)

Deepest lake: Crater Lake

Here are some other words, places, ideas and people you should know before you see The Pumphrey Family Reunion ~

Mentalism: Mind reading.

Prognosticate: Tell the future.

Oregon Shakespeare Festival: In Ashland. Quite famous. They do many

other playwrights in addition to The Bard (Shakespeare).

"Hamlet," one of Shakespeare's most famous plays.

Champoeg Park: A state park about 20 miles south of Portland; has an interesting history you can google to learn more about.

Bigfoot: Also known as Sasquatch, believed to live in the Pacific Northwest. Here is a picture of Bigfoot. Is Bigfoot real? Is this picture real? Does anyone actually have big feet? Possibly--no one knows for sure yeti--you decide!

Civics: the rights and duties of citizens, and how government is structured and operates.

Kudos: Congratulations on a job well done.

The Oregon System: Any registered Oregon voter can get a law made or changed by getting enough signatures for the idea to go on the state-wide ballot at election. Twenty-four states have such a system--twenty-six don't. Oregon was the first state to adopt this in 1902.

The Bottle Bill. Another Oregon First. 1971. Requires certain beverage containers to be refundable; credited with reducing litter--especially roadside litter--and increasing recycling.

The Enchanted Forest in Salem has been delighting people of all ages since 1971.

Polar Bear Swim: Jumping into a lake at the crack o' dawn. Beloved by some, hated by others.

Philmont is from England. He might be from London, the capital. We don't know--he never tells us.

A few scenes from beautiful downtown Boring.

Competent: Able to do something pretty well, but not necessarily as an expert.

Proximity: Close to.

Gregarious: Someone who likes to be with other, especially in groups.

Chinese Exclusion Act: A law that kept the Chinese from immigrating

to America from 1882-1943.

Black Exclusion Law: A law that forbid African Americans from living in

Oregon from 1857-1926.

Jim Crow laws: Laws throughout the U.S. after the abolition of slavery that

were designed to keep African Americans at a disadvantage in most if

not all areas of life. These were struck down by the 1960s.

The Northwest Passage: A belief common in America's earliest years that

a waterway crosses the entirety of North America. They looked and looked, but never found it, because it doesn't exist.

Abigail Scott Harvey, 1834-1915, was a suffragette. This means she fought for women's right to vote. It was illegal for women to vote in America up to about 100 years ago. She was the first woman to register to vote in Multnomah County. The circumstances of her life were not easy, but she carried on, writing about and championing the rights of women. Duniway School is SE Portland is named for her.

This is Harvey Scott, 1838-1910. He was Abigail's brother. He was the editor of the Oregonian newspaper and became quite wealthy and influential. He and Abigail didn't get along very well--their opinions on social matters were different. Abigail wanted women to be able to vote. Harvey disagreed. Today a school in Portland is named for him, as well as Mt. Scott. You can go see a statue of him at the top of Mt. Tabor Park.

This is the Snake River in Hell's Canyon on the border with Idaho. It's the deepest canyon in North America--yes, even deeper than the Grand Canyon. Crazy, right?

What is Harvey pointing at?

This is Crater Lake, known to Native Americans as Mt. Mazama. About 7,700 years ago it erupted and then filled with water. It is one of the deepest lakes in the world, and Oregon's only National Park.

This is Chief Joseph the Younger, leader of the Nez Perce in Northeast Oregon. The government decided to move them to a reservation. Joseph declined the offer and took his people on a long march to refuge in Canada, fighting as they fled. The U.S. military finally overcame the Nez Perce, who surrendered twenty miles from the Canadian border. Joseph gave his famous, "I will fight no more forever" speech. He became famous as a humanitarian and peacemaker, though his people to this day have not been allowed to return to their native land in Northeast Oregon.

Sacajawea was a Shoshone married to a French Canadian trapper named Charbonneau. The two of them were members of the Corps of Discovery. Many people think that Sacajawea was the guide for Lewis and Clark. In fact, her main job was interpreting and being a symbol of peace--when Native Americans saw one of their own with the Corps of Discovery, they were likelier to think that the White explorers were friendly, not hostile. Not much is known about Sacajawea. She was thirteen when she married and gave birth to a boy while on the trail with Lewis and Clark. It is generally believed that she died young, in her twenties, but well after the Lewis and Clark expedition.

Jesse Applegate (1811-88) built a house in Yoncalla. He was well-read and quite smart, earning him the nickname, "The Sage of Yoncalla." He came out on the Oregon Trail and was a key player in the politics leading up to Statehood in 1859. He advocated for everyone's right to vote, men and women of all colors. Not many people thought this way, or were brave enough to say it publicly. His house is the oldest house in Oregon that is still lived in. They say it's haunted.

John McLoughlin, 1784-1857, is the "Father of Oregon," a title given to him by the state government. It is difficult to summarize his many activities and contributions. He was a doctor and businessman. He founded Oregon City and Fort Vancouver. He was busy in politics. He was region's top dog of the Hudson's Bay Company, but angered his bosses by helping American immigrants on the Oregon Trail. Today he is buried outside his house on a hill overlooking Oregon City and the Willamette River. He was an Oregon original.

This is Thomas Jefferson, 3rd president from 1801-1809. One of his many projects was to send a group of people across the continent. It was called the "Corps of Discovery." The goal was to find out a good route to the Pacific, what the land looks like and who the Native Americans were.

Meriwether Lewis and William Clark were the leaders of the Corps of Discovery. The trip took two years and covered 7,000 miles. It was a long and dangerous journey, yet only one member died, probably from appendicitis. They weren't the first white people in the west, but they paved the way for American expansion to the Pacific. Without Jefferson and Lewis and Clark, today Oregon might very well British and we'd all be eating pizza with corn and tuna on it (which is fine, if you like that sort of thing).