Olga Kravtsova is a Russian-born movement director, performer, and interdisciplinary artist artist who lives in Portland. She is opening a new solo show called Harvest of Woman, which she describes as a “raw excavation of women’s unseen labor, endurance, and survival.” She first workshopped her piece at this year’s Fertile Ground Festival in April, and is now premiering it July 4–6, 2025 at Coho Theater.

Subscribe and listen to Stage & Studio on: Apple, Google, Spotify, Android and Sticher and hear past shows on the official Stage & Studio website. Theme music: Clark Salisbury. Music clip: Jason Okamoto

In this podcast Dmae Lo Roberts talked with Kravtsova about … 

Her immigrant journey: “ I start cleaning a waterpark, which is Wings and Waves in McMinnville, where I was hired as custodial. And I didn’t know I was hired as a custodial because I didn’t speak English and I was just smile and act as I am a American. (And) I graduated from University of Washington in Seattle last year.”

How Stanislavski differs in America:  I have been trained in Stanislavski system back home and I also have education in the Russian folk dance.  I didn’t know there is a difference before I moved here and Americans took it to the extreme.  In Moscow, where I’m from, there’s like five major schools. … You know exactly what each element means — what objectives objectives or what obstacles, what beats are. And here … they, they can mean totally different things.”

Why a potter, K.C. Renée, is onstage with her: “ This woman archetype that I brought to life … with all their problems and struggles, I try to create unique environment and world for each of them where their problem actually make total sense.  So this is theme of the potter and it’s, it’s cyclical, it’s returns and transforms through the performance. I was just, one day I was like, I need a potter … I had a picture sometimes in my head and I just know I need this. And I’m so grateful.”

Harvest of Woman
By Olga Kravstova

Sponsor

Premieres July 4–6, 2025
All shows at CoHo Theater, 2257 N.W. Raleigh S.t, Portland
Tickets at: Coho Theater or https://www.olgaskravtsova.com/harvest-of-woman

More about the show: Created and performed by movement artist Olga Kravtsova, this immersive performance is a raw excavation of women’s unseen labor, endurance, and survival — brought to life through movement, sound, and living installation. Harvest of Woman is a visceral solo performance excavating the unseen labor, silence, and endurance that women carry — across generations, cultures, and expectations. Rooted in raw physical storytelling, the work moves among ritual, domesticity, and surrealism, refusing spectacle in favor of something more intimate and unsettling.

Developed during Kravtsova’s CoHo Theater Residency and supported by the Regional Arts & Culture Council (RACC) and a Grow Grant from the Fertile Ground Festival, Harvest of Woman has evolved from a meditation on caregiving and sacrifice into a sensory rite where the body becomes archive. The work invites audiences into a space where persistence is both survival and defiance, and where the stories of women — often hidden or unheard — are given urgent, physical voice.

About the Creative Team:

Olga Kravtsova is a Russian-born, Portland-based movement director, performer, and interdisciplinary artist. Her work blends Russian theatrical tradition with raw, experimental practices. She has presented work at Fertile Ground Festival, OFF’24, Base, and 18th & Union (Seattle).

Jason Okamoto is a Portland-based filmmaker, musician, and photographer, known for evocative soundscapes and layered experimental visuals. His work creates a haunting sonic world for Harvest of Woman.