The Orchestra of the Moon is a Portland-based early music band, which was started as the house orchestra for Rag on a Stick Theatre, to get people playing medieval music together, as well as to bring the joy of early music to audiences who might not otherwise be exposed to it, for example, the pub crowd.
Jacob Breedlove (President/Executive Director, founding member, he/his/him) Jacob is a musician, puppeteer, artist and teacher, who is devoted to sharing his love of history and human culture, especially through performance and teaching. He is the founder and director of Rag on a Stick Theatre and the founder and co-director, with Laura Kuhlman, of Orchestra of the Moon, based in Portland, Oregon. Special areas of focus are: Medieval and Renaissance music, early dance and drama, puppetry, the construction, repair and playing of ancient musical instruments, particularly harpsichord, clavichord, hurdy-gurdy, vielle, viola da gamba, and capped reeds.
Stardust Doherty (Secretary and Treasurer, founding member, ze/per/herm) Stardust is a playwright, composer, and musician (oboe and English horn). Stardust is a co-writer (with Iryna Lymar) and director of the Theatre Makers plays “Animal Factory Farm” (2018) and “Ecopocalypse” (2018) and co-writer (with Iryna Lymar) of “You Too” (2019) and a co-writer (with Kari Barclay) and director of “20/20” (San Francisco Fringe Festival 2019 and San Francisco Free Library Tour 2020). Stardust began directing plays with per Shakespeare adaptation “A Midwinter Afternoon’s Nightmare” and the original “Bush Faeries: The Musical” (2018) staged at Breitenbush Community Hot Springs radical faerie gatherings. Along the way, there was an agit prop production of “Occupy San Francisco Employee Retirement System” (2013) in response to the bankster housing crisis. Stardust is a co-organizer of the Theatre Makers Meetup, as well as other playwrighting and composing projects. Stardust also serves on the Board of Directors of other non-profit organizations: Online Policy Group, San Francisco Composers Chamber Orchestra, and FaeNet. Stardust formerly worked at the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Verified Voting Foundation, as well as at various high-tech companies during a prior career.
Matt (joined March 28, 2018, he/his/him) Matt is a multimedia artist and virtual reality developer. He co-founded Virtual Bytes, an art, education and research collective creating virtual reality experiences and research that utilize neuroscience concepts to explore the mind/body connection. He is passionate about using his background in creative media and technology to develop virtual reality experiences that challenge our preconceptions about the world around us, and help us connect to each other in new ways. Matt acted and served on the crew for the Theatre Maker plays “Animal Factory Farm” (2018) and “Ecopocalypse” (2018), and “20/20” (San Francisco Fringe Festival 2019).
Jean-Paul Jones (aka JP) (joined October 5, 2018, he/his/him) JP has worked as a music director, actor, and countertenor at a variety of theaters and schools in the San Francisco Bay Area and greater Los Angeles. With a B.M. in Vocal Performance from California State University at Northridge, JP performed in the Al McNeal Jubilee Singers, the L.A. Opera Chorus, and the Pacific Mozart Ensemble during the first decade of the 20th century. During this decade, JP performed in Pacific Collegium, the Grace Cathedral Choir of Men and Boys, the Cathedral of Christ the Light Chorus, and still performs in the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra Chorus. Theater credits include the role of Jamie in “The Last Five Years” at the Moonlet Theater, Irving in “Babes at Arms”, an ensemble role in “No No Nanette”, and musical director roles for “Sweet Charity” at 42nd Street Moon, “Cabaret” at Abraham Lincoln High School, and “Seussical the Musical” at Mercy High School. JP has worked as music director of Young Performers Thatre and St. James School and recently starred in the West Edge Opera premiere of “Mata Hari”.
Emeritus Board
Emeritus Board Directors include the following:
Iryna Lymar (joined October 5, 2018, resigned September 15, 2021, she/her/her) Iryna was born in Ukraine, lived in China for 8 years, and eventually moved to California. She studied linguistics and speaks 4 languages: English, Chinese (Mandarin), Ukrainian, and Russian. While doing management and translation jobs in China, Iryna started exploring writing and the theater world. She wrote a compilation of stories about strangers called “Just some strangers on the way” (the book is registered in Ukraine) and a short script called “Robot Buddha”. She co-directed the “Robot Buddha” play in Shenzhen, China, in 2016. Besides that, she was an active member of improv group called “Planet Factory” and acted at monthly shows for a year. Now Iryna lives in San Francisco, teaches yoga and participates in local theater life. Iryna is a co-writer of the Theatre Makers plays “Animal Factory Farm” (2018), “Ecopocalypse” (2018) and co-writer and director of “You Too” (2019).
Mark Alburger (founding member, resigned March 2, 2018)
Join Us!
Ritual Art Troupe is always seeking new talent and experience for its Board of Directors. If you are interested or know someone who might be a good fit, please email info@ritualart.org.
The charming town of Sherwood, Oregon, has for 62 years been the home of a civic celebration called Robin Hood Days.
On July 15th of this year, it also became to host to Orchestra of the Moon and the Breedlove Puppet Theatre, and the first-time collaboration of those two groups.
The band and the theatre joined forces for a production of “The Wicked Sacristan,” in which the orchestra played all the musical cues for the play.
This joining of musical and dramatic forces was the original concept of the puppet theatre, and many audience members commented on the “magical” quality that the large musical ensemble added to the play.
Notable, too, was the contribution of Emma Rose, newest addition to the Breedlove Puppet Theatre, whose performance in the roles of Ydoin and the Miller were marvelled at by all, and whose general contributions to the smooth flow of the shows are unable to be expressed adequately here. Many thanks!
And while thanks are being handed out, let’s also acknowledge Ben Neubauer for many contributions that day.
Puppeteers and musicians of the Rag on a Stick Theatre (Jacob Breedlove, Puppeteer, Aage Nielson and Laura Kuhlman, Musicians) were pleased to perform at the final festival of the summer season, September 24 and 25, 2016, in Carnation, Washington.
They performed the play “Why the Sea is Salt”, and also several sets of medieval music, to general acclaim.
Jacob Breedlove is now at work on another puppet play, an adaptation of the 15th century play “Everyman”.
On the June 21st Orchestra of the Moon helped Portlanders celebrate the Solstice by playing a program of Medieval music in Laurelhurst Park.
We were the opening act at that location, of what was a city-wide and truly world-wide music-making event: Make Music Day.
Begun in France, in the eighties, (so I have been told), the day is an effort to get music played all over town, especially by groups which might not otherwise perform frequently.
