Biography: Lorraine Portman
“Saving Sophie” Director
LORRAINE PORTMAN
Lorraine’s mother was an elementary art teacher and her father sold model trains, so she was born into a nexus of art, toys, and retail. Lorraine grew up forty miles north of New York City, on the Hudson River, and was exposed to Broadway and Lincoln Center as soon as she and her brother could sit still.
Playwriting adventures started in high school; but her first plays weren’t produced until she was a student at Smith College. She participated in two Playwrights’ Festivals in which student plays received staged readings and the playwrights worked with visiting artists. Lorraine spent spring semester of 1986 at the National Theater Institute (NTI) with fellow Smith student Hisa Takakuwa. During their senior year, Ms. Takakuwa directed a full production of “When the Mice Hit the Fan”, a collection of monologues, and the one act play “Bean’s Quest”, all written by Lorraine. Upon graduation from Smith, she won the Denis Johnston Playwriting Award for “Small Animals”, which had been given staged readings at NTI and Smith.
The Portman family moved to Saint Augustine in 1991.
A later draft of “Small Animals” was given a staged reading in Saint Augustine early in her association with Limelight Theater. Lorraine acted on the Limelight stage and served as stage manager before moving temporarily to Tallahassee to attend Florida State University’s graduate film school. Film was the natural next step as she continues her explorations of theater, writing, and photography. As a graduate student, she made four short films and worked in a wide variety of capacities on countless other student films.
In 1998, she won the Playwrights’ Theater of Denton New Play Competition with her full-length play, “Geek Girl and Cosmo Queen”.
After getting her MFA in Film in 1999, she started freelancing on film productions throughout the Southeast. She has worked on a PBS documentary on the history of Florida; indie films; music videos; “Flamingo Rising”, a Hallmark film shot in Saint Augustine; and Victor Nunez’s latest film, “Coastlines”.
Lorraine expanded and adapted a 15 page screenplay that she wrote while in graduate school for Limelight Theater’s first Playwright’s Festival in 2000. During the run, a family funeral inspired a second act. Lorraine wrote the second act and titled the now full-length version, “Saving Sophie”. She went on to adapt the play to screenplay form.
Limelight Theater produced “Saving Sophie” for their fourth Playwright’s Festival during the summer of 2003. Earlier that spring, Lorraine produced and directed a film version of “Saving Sophie” on location in Saint Augustine. She finished the film on May 27, 2004. “Saving Sophie” has been programmed in 26 film festivals and has won 8 awards, “Best Feature”, “Best Comedy”, “Best Emerging Director”, and two Audience Choice Awards among them.
Lorraine teaches Screenwriting & Playwriting at Flagler College.
