public citizen theatre.
What is a "public citizen?"
Bold. Daring. Truthful.
Simply put, we want to produce theatre that engages our community, that doesn't shy away from difficult and controversial topics, and that challenges audiences with complex portrayals of human nature and society.
For us, the personal is political, and we choose plays that reflect that. From The Maids, where two sisters are trapped in a hopeless cycle of servitude, to Dealing With Clair, a biting black comedy examining our capability for selfishness, greed, and moral apathy, we've focused on pieces that bring humanity center stage.
reading Woman's Honor - part two of ...she wrote
Dealing with Clair
"Prepare to get drunk on a pleasurably stiff cocktail of comedy and cruelty... If you do know the play, you should still see this production for its provocative imagery and bracing performances, which bring Crimp's deliberately unlikable characters to grandly monstrous life."
Taylor Jean Grady & Joseph Workman in Dealing With Clair
The Maids
"The play, which is rife with ambiguity as characters slip in and out of their ritual acting roles, is a difficult one, but Public Citizen gets so much right... Public Citizen Theatre achieves the nuance and dark humor of Genet's classic play at a moment when wealth disparity and its effects are critically topical."
"...if you like twisted psychological portraits of disturbed people, then this show might be for you ... it was solid, especially for the inaugural production of a fledgling company."
cast and crew of The Maids
the team.
Aaron Filyaw
Co-Artistic Director
Aaron is a producer, director, and actor based in Portland, Oregon. A co-founder of Public Citizen Theatre, he directed and co-produced their inaugural production of Jean Genet's The Maids in 2016. Other producing and directing credits for PCT include 2018's ...she wrote, a staged reading series showcasing the works of playwrights Rachel Crothers, Susan Glaspell, and Zona Gale, as well as the Portland premiere of Martin Crimp's Dealing with Clair in June 2019. As an actor he has appeared with various companies throughout the area, including Chehalem Players Repertory, Polymath Art Theatre, and Theatre in the Grove. Favorite roles include Chris in Arthur Miller’s All My Sons, Eilert in Hedda Gabler, Macbeth in Macbeth: A Dark Retelling, and Orlando in As You Like It. He has studied acting and theatre at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting in New York City and holds a degree in English and American Literature from New York University. He believes that theatre is crucial in these precarious and unsettling times, and hopes that through our work as theatre artists we can inspire empathy and understanding in our audiences.
“Trust your own instinct. Your mistakes might as well be your own, instead of someone else’s."
- Billy Wilder
Amanda Mehl
Co-Artistic Director
A Portland native, Amanda left briefly to earn a BA in Theatre from the University of Southern California, but quickly returned. She's been active in the Portland theatre community ever since - acting, producing, and serving in various organizations, such as the Portland Area Theatre Alliance. Companies she's performed with include Northwest Children's Theater, Northwest Theatre Workshop, PDX Playwrights, Polymath Art Theatre, Magenta Theater, Twilight Theater Company, Hillsboro Artists' Regional Theatre, and more. She performed as Solange in PCT's debut production of The Maids, which led to the birth of Public Citizen Theatre.
"We all have a fight - some an easy one, and some a big one, and if you have formed the idea that there is a kind of dividing line in the world, and that on the one side is the good, and on the other side the bad, why, all I can say is that you have a wrong notion of things."
- Susan Glaspell
Aaron Kirk Douglas
Board Member / Executive Producer
Aaron Kirk Douglas is a Journalism graduate of the University of Oregon and has put his dynamic energy to work as a professional service marketing director for over 20 years. Most recently, in addition to working full-time marketing multifamily real estate, Mr. Douglas has produced several artistic works. They include documentary film projects such as the award-winning MONSTER CAMP and the writing and staged reading production of a new musical with Kurt Crowley, musical director of Broadway’s HAMILTON. In the nonprofit world, Mr. Douglas is a previous Oregon nominee for National Big Brother of the Year. He is the recipient of Oregon’s highest individual honors for outstanding personal achievement for his volunteer support of low-income children and families. He authored a book about that life-changing work, Growing Up Twice: Shaping a Future by Reliving My Past. He is honored to be associated with Public Citizen Theatre.