In the second production in its fouth season, 21Ten Theatre presents the world premiere of Madonna of the Cat by veteran playwright Sue Mach. The storylines of Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale are a jumping-off point that explores the missing years of Hermione, the long-suffering wife of the king, who is thought to have been dead for 16 years.

Mach’s Madonna of the Cat explores themes of friendship, motherhood, and forgiveness, as well as empathy for a certain bear, in reference to Shakespeare’s famous stage direction: “Exit, pursued by a bear.”  Dmae Lo Roberts visited the 21Ten Theatre and spoke with both Sue Mach and the show’s director, Gemma Whelan. 

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In this podcast you’ll hear:

About writing a play during the pandemic:

Sue Mach: “ And, and it was in the pandemic when I wrote it, too. So this, you know, we’re all in isolation and imagining this woman in isolation; it was really hard. That part of the play.  I’m writing a person in isolation. What does a person do on stage when you’re in isolation?

On filling in the missing years of Hermione in The Winter’s Tale …

Gemma Whalen: “ I love the idea of what these big spaces that sometimes appear in works in literature, and what happened? And then Shakespeare’s play doesn’t say anything about that, really. And I think, I mean, I would say Hermione is extremely shortchanged in Shakespeare, and I think Sue has remedied that in this play.”

Thoughts on opportunities for veteran women artists …

Sue Mach:  “There’s a wisdom that comes with experience. You start off when you’re young like that … the energy and the innovation of youth, but the, the wisdom of age is, is something that, I mean, I sound cliche just saying it because people say it all the time. It’s like we feel like, oh, I’ve gotten older. I feel like I have more to offer. I feel like I’m a little more grounded. And, but I don’t get the chance to, to say, to try it.”

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On leaving the company you founded …

 Gemma Whalen: “I passed it [the Irish-focused Corrib Theatre] on; it was coming outta the pandemic and I had, you know, personal reasons because of family and there was something about the 10-year mark coming up that I thought I was just ready for a change and I felt it was a good time to, to pass it on.  I don’t have regrets and I see it going on to become a different company and, and that’s okay.”

Madonna of the Cat
By Sue Mach
Directed by Gemma Whelan

Featuring actors Luisa Sermol, Bruce Burkhartsmeier, Maria Porter, Crystal Ann Muñoz, and Emma Greene.

• November 1-23, 2025
• Thursdays-Saturdays at 7:30 p.m., Sundays at 2 p.m.
• At 21ten Theatre, 2110 S.E. 10th Ave., Portland
• Pay-What-You-Will Previews: Oct. 30-31; learn more at 21ten.org/madonna
• Ticket Prices: $30-$35, available here

More about the playwright and director:

Sue Mach’s plays have been produced at Theatre for the New City in New York, the Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble, Portland Repertory Theatre, Artists Repertory Theatre, Third Rail Repertory Theatre, Icarus Theatre Ensemble, Portland World Theatre, CoHo Productions, and Clackamas Community College. She was awarded a fellowship from Oregon Literary Arts, as well as the Oregon Book Award for her play The Lost Boy, which was also part of Portland Center Stage’s JAW/West development series. Additionally, Sue has received grants from the Regional Arts and Culture Commission, the Oregon Arts Commission, and the Oregon Council for the Humanities. More at: https://suemach.com/

Gemma Whelan (she/her) is a director, novelist, screenwriter, and educator and the Founding Artistic Director of Wilde Irish Productions in the San Francisco Bay Are and Corrib Theatre in Portland, Oregon. She has directed at Artists Repertory Theatre, Profile Theatre, Milagro, CoHo Theatre, Boom Arts, and Portland Center Stage’s JAW Festival. She has taught at colleges, universities, and conservatories, including UC Berkeley, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, American Conservatory Theatre, and Mills College in the Bay Area; Pacific University, Portland Actors Conservatory, Portland State University, and Literary Arts in Portland. Through her company Shangana Press, Gemma and her husband Adam Liberman publish books and lead a theater tour to Ireland every summer. Her novels are Fiona: Stolen Child and Painting Through the Dark. More at: Gemmawhelan.com and shanganapress.com

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