VANPORT
THE MUSICAL
An Original By Shalanda Sims
ABOUT THE MUSICAL
Welcome to Vanport, a city located between Portland, OR, and Vancouver, WA that thrived during World War II. On the heels of the Great Depression, people were eager to find work and make money. When Henry Kaiser put out a call for workers in his shipyard, people came from far and wide. But what was it really like?
ORGINS
Shalanda Sims created Vanport out of a quest, nearly 20 years ago, to find out more about how, when, and why Black people emigrated to the Portland area. Her mother shared stories about her great grandmother Dorothy who traveled from Texas to work in the shipyard and introduced her to elders who lived in Vanport as children. She heard stories about Vanport, the lost community in the north part of the city destroyed by flood in 1948. Sims felt a deep sense of responsibility to the elders of Vanport (who were children back then) to take what was in her hand through theater and tell this story that had been erased and hidden.
Originally debuted in 2013 at Jefferson High School, Vanport, has made a huge impact on the knowledge of this lost history within Portland. In 2022, World Stage Theatre partnered with Northwest Children's Theatre to produce an amazing show with new original songs, scenes and cast members. However, some cast members returned from the original debut, including those who are direct decendants of those who use to live in Vanport.
VANPORT 2013
Take a look at some behind the scenes footage of the debut of the musical back in 2013.
Film by Kate Szorm