Artslandia at the Performance January/February 2016

JANUARY | FEBRUARY 2016 · VOL. 2 ISSUE 2 · THE FESTIVAL ISSUE

FESTIVAL SPECIAL

Two actors, a harpist, a sax player, and a film expert rep their festivals!

THE LAST LAUGH

Grammy-honored “Queen of Mean” Lisa Lampanelli

OUT THERE

One theater’s plan to conquer TV

AT THE PERFORMANCE

The Festival Issue

JAN FEB 2016

Welcome to Artslandia at the Performance—a city playbill and performing arts magazine.

ENJOY THE SHOW.

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I N THIS ISSUE 12

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Barry Johnson commends Sven Birkerts’ new book, Changing the Subject: Art and Attention in the Internet Age for identifying both a problem—diffused attention— and a solution: art.

Bill Foster has spent the last 37 years programming Northwest Film Center’s International Film Festival.

Artslandia asks: How do you choose your favorite movies from a world of options?

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The prolific theater poster designer shows off his home office and talks about his process. Some ideas take months and some mere minutes...but he always begins by reading the script.

Action/Adventure Theatre’s Pilot Season debuts plays that are formatted like pilot TV episodes and lets the audience vote for which one will “air” as a series next year.

FROM THE EDITOR-AT-LARGE

FROM THE DESK OF: MICHAEL BUCHINO

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TOMMY TUNE’S IN TOWN!

The legendary Broadway figure plugs his Valentine’s Day gig at the Winningstad Theatre with local musical theater maven Susannah Mars. “I’ll wear my red suit!”

THE LEAD: FESTIVAL SPECIAL

WHOLE WORLD, ONE SCREEN

OUT THERE: TV AS THEATER

Meet four stars: A saxophonist from PDX Jazz Festival, a harpist from Chamber Music Northwest’s Winter Festival, and actors from Oregon Shakespeare Festival and Fertile Ground.

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LAST LAUGH: LISA LAMPANELLI

The self-described “Queen of Mean” comes clean to PDX-pat comic Virginia Jones about insult comedy, frat boys’ money, TV with Trump, and “a joke that got out of control.”

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R EGU L A R F E AT U R E S 8 12 14 20

Out & About From the Editor-at-Large The Lead From The Desk Of

ARTSL ANDIA .COM

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Crossword Puzzle Tag. You’re It. Fun Facts The Last Laugh

Think you have arts smarts? Test your knowledge in our

CROSSWORD PUZZLE!

ARTSL ANDIA AT THE PERFORMANCE • JAN | FEB 2015

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AT TH E P E R FO R M A N C E

What is your resolution for the new year?

PUBLISHER + FOUNDER Misty Tompoles Learn to EDITOR-AT-L ARGE Make space for Barry Johnson

play the piano!

my own creative projects!

ASSOCIATE EDITOR A.L. Adams

Learn to play guitar!

Call my grandparents more often!

OPERATIONS Nina Chomak COPY EDITOR Kristen Seidman DESIGN Zelda Burk Lisa Johnston-Smith ADVERTISING ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Steven Sturgeon

MEDIA DIRECTOR Chris Porras See more

performing arts!

Live in the moment (and drink more water)!

PUBLISHING COORDINATOR Bella Showerman CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Barry Johnson Victoria Jones Matt Stangel

Look for the silver lining!

Laugh more!

Become a better cook!

Finish and

CONTRIBUTING launch the card ILLUSTRATOR game I've designed Carolyn Main and illustrated, Pitch Please!

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER Maddie Ettinger EDITORIAL INTERN Erika Murphy Artslandia at the Performance is published by Rampant Creative, Inc. ©2015 Rampant Creative, Inc. All rights reserved. This magazine or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher.

Rampant Creative, Inc./Artslandia Magazine 2240 N. Interstate Ave., Suite 200 | Portland, OR 97227

A R T S L A N D I A .CO M

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ARTSL ANDIA AT THE PERFORMANCE • JAN | FEB 2015

contributors MADDIE ETTINGER is a senior at Northwest Academy. She has created black and white, digital, and mixed media photography for five years. She enjoys visiting Portland landmarks like the Pittock Mansion.

BARRY JOHNSON, editor of Oregon ArtsWatch, has been an arts writer and editor since 1978, when he started writing about dance for The Seattle Sun. He edited the arts section of Willamette Week in the early 1980s and started at The Oregonian as arts editor in 1983, moving between editing and writing until leaving in 2009. He’s the founder and editor of culture critique website Oregon ArtsWatch, and serves as Artslandia’s Editor-at-Large.

VIRGINIA JONES started doing comedy in Portland, where she was working as “a bike-riding vegan cliché.” Now she tours the nation indulging her dark side as a “goth comic.” She appears in Portlandia and has been in six Bridgetown Comedy Festivals, as well as Boston’s Women in Comedy Festival, Austin’s Ladies Are Funny Festival, and Portland’s All Jane Comedy Festival.

Her debut comedy album, Gothic American, just dropped in November.

CAROLYN MAIN is an illustrator and Portland native with a penchant for the absurd.

She utilizes wild lines and color to depict the humor in everyday life. She’s currently writing a graphic novel and designing too many video games, along with one great card game. She’s also way into singing Billy Joel songs and wearing jumpsuits.

SUSANNAH MARS is thrilled to be a part of the Artslandia family. Based in Portland, Oregon, for over 25 years, Susannah is an award-winning actress who has appeared in more than 100 productions, concerts, and recordings around the country. She is a resident artist at Artists Repertory Theatre. Find out more about Susannah at susannahmars.com.

ERIKA MURPHY is a senior at the University of Portland, studying English and Spanish. She joined the Artslandia team for a few months as an intern and really enjoyed attending and reviewing Portland’s autumn shows!

MATT STANGEL is a writer and musician living in Portland, Oregon. His articles and essays have appeared in UTNE Reader, Portland Mercury, and online at IntoTheWoods.TV and Oregon ArtsWatch. His poems have been published by Sonora Review, & Review, Poictesme, and more. He composes music as “import/import” and performs with a band called No Phone.

CAITLIN WEBB moved to Portland from Georgia to immerse herself in music and art. She photographs bands for Eleven, NextNW.com, and Jambase.com. One of her images graces the cover of Phosphorescent’s most recent live album, Live at the Music Hall. Between gigs, she enhances her fashion editorial portfolio and shoots mysterious-looking models in uncanny locations like Hippo Hardware.

SW 6th between Oak & Pine hours MON–FRI 11:30am–Midnight SAT & SUN 5:00pm–Midnight reservation 503.688.5952 littlebirdbistro.com 215 SW 6TH AVE. PORTLAND, OR 97204

ARTSL ANDIA AT THE PERFORMANCE • JAN | FEB 2015

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THE BOOK OF MORMON

U.S. BANK BROADWAY IN PORTLAND

Two naïve Mormons on a mission to Uganda expect to delve into scriptures but are instead thrown into war, famine, poverty, and AIDS—in a funny way. Religious satire musicals are rare, but this nine-time Tony Award winner is a hit!

JAN. 12–24; KELLER AUDITORIUM

GREGORY ALAN ISAKOV

OREGON SYMPHONY

DANCE

THEATER

Based on their technical proficiency and poignant emotion, you’d never guess the dancers are in high school! Tonight all 150 of them perform a range of dance styles, which they’ve studied with world-renowned artists.

JAN. 14; JEFFERSON HIGH SCHOOL

THE ADVENTURES OF DEX DIXON: PARANORMAL DICK

STUMPTOWN STAGES

JAN. 14; ARLENE SCHNITZER CONCERT HALL

FERTILE GROUND FESTIVAL

JAN. 21–31; BRUNISH THEATRE

THE YELLOW WALLPAPER

PORTLAND AREA THEATRE ALLIANCE

Isolation isn’t exactly the best cure for depression. After a doctor confines Charlotte to a single room, she begins to obsess over the wallpaper and finds a woman trapped in the pattern.

The play is based on Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s 1892 short story but speaks profoundly to modern dialogues on mental health.

Do you like local? How about new? These are the only criteria for enjoying the Fertile Ground Festival, which includes works of all genres from large institutions to self-produced companies.

Art groups and audiences alike marinate in the ever-evolving creativity.

(Read more about Fertile Ground participant Grace Carter in The Lead, pg. 14)

GERONIMO STILTON: MOUSE IN SPACE

OREGON CHILDREN’S THEATRE

In this world premiere based on the kids’ book series, we travel with an adventurous mouse on a top-secret mission to save his town, first to New Mouse City— currently under the threat of an evil professor and his inventions—and then to outer space.

JAN. 16–FEB. 14; NEWMARK THEATRE

GREAT EXPECTATIONS

PORTLAND CENTER STAGE

As the orphaned Pip adventures through this Dickensian tale, he encounters all sorts of love: his furtive affection for Estella, his unlikely sympathy for convict Magwitch, and his ultimate forgiveness of the eccentric Miss Havisham.

JAN. 16–FEB. 14; U.S. BANK MAIN STAGE, GERDING THEATER AT THE ARMORY

FAMILY SHOW

WINTER DANCE RECITAL

Dex Dixon works as a paranormal investigator “across the dimensional rift” in Night Side, a town teeming with monsters from old movies, in this musical that’s both comedic and horrific.

JAN. 15–FEB. 6; COHO THEATRE

ONE NIGHT ONLY!

JEFFERSON DANCERS

After spending much of his life traveling, this indie folk musician sings largely about place and brings intimacy to any space— even The ‘Schnitz. He’s claimed he’ll “implode” if he doesn’t write and sing, but his poetic music is far from explosive.

COHO PRODUCTIONS

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MUSIC

Photo by T. Charles Erickson.

OUT & ABOUT

OREGON SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL OREGON SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL

Up for a trip to Ashland? The Oregon Shakespeare Festival opens with three world premiere adaptations from classic literature (Great Expectations, The River Bride, The Yeomen of the Guard) and one Shakespeare production (Twelfth Night). Strong male leads abound: an orphan boy, a stranger mysteriously pulled from a river, a wrongly accused man facing death, and one more man...who’s actually a woman!

(Read more about OSF actor Danforth Comins in The Lead, pg. 14) THROUGHOUT 2016; ANGUS BOWMER THEATRE AND THOMAS THEATRE

JAN. 21–31; CITYWIDE

IMPULSE! IMPROVISATIONAL TROUPE

OREGON CHILDREN’S THEATRE YOUNG PROFESSIONALS COMPANY

Despite being new to the discipline of improv, these young adults compete against professionals—and win! After a year away, they return to the OCT stage, bringing fasterthan-you-can-believe games and impressive wit.

JAN. 22–FEB. 6; YP STUDIO THEATER

LA COMPAGNIE HERVÉ KOUBI: WHAT THE DAY OWES TO THE NIGHT

WHITE BIRD

Twelve French-Algerian and African male dancers, under the direction of French-Algerian choreographer Hervé Koubi, integrate martial arts, gymnas-

ARTSL ANDIA AT THE PERFORMANCE • JAN | FEB 2015

tics, and contemporary ballet into their evocative, fiery dance.

JAN. 28–30; LINCOLN HALL, PORTLAND STATE UNIVERSITY

THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE

BROADWAY ROSE THEATRE COMPANY

Six quirky tweens vie for bragging rights in a spelling bee that isn’t always on track—or appropriate for middle schoolers. The official pronouncer and a little audience participation keep us all alert and entertained. Parental guidance suggested.

JAN. 28–FEB. 28; NEW STAGE AUDITORIUM

This musical is infused with jazz to play up the pizzazz of Lewis Carroll’s vibrant story.

JAN. 30–FEB. 28; NW CHILDREN’S THEATER

FOREVER

PORTLAND CENTER STAGE

Monologist Dael Orlandersmith visits the graves of legendary artists who inspired her as a kid in Harlem. As she investigates a fraught maternal relationship, her anger is tangible; so is the message that art helps us overcome adversity.

JAN. 30–MAR. 20; ELLYN BYE STUDIO, GERDING THEATER AT THE ARMORY

YOU FOR ME FOR YOU

ALICE IN WONDERLAND

PORTLAND PLAYHOUSE

Go behind the looking glass with Alice and visit the Mad Hatter, the Queen of Hearts, and a whole cast of other kooky characters.

A supernatural story flits between the U.S. and North Korea following two Chinese sisters who are experiencing life as foreigners. American culture is

NW CHILDREN’S THEATER

presented from an outside perspective, where American accents and customs are difficult to decipher.

FEB. 3–28; PORTLAND PLAYHOUSE

THE CALL

PROFILE THEATRE

As “perfect couple” Annie and Peter navigate international adoption, increasingly difficult circumstances cause them to reevaluate their relationship, their culture, and the sacrifices they’re willing to make for parenthood.

GALLERY GUIDE SPONSORED BY THE PORTL AND ART MUSEUM

Butterflies and Lightning Through Jan. 16 | Froelick Gallery

Miles Cleveland Goodwin’s impressionist landscape paintings typically feature humans and beasts, but this exhibit favors the more delicate butterfly, which he transforms into a haunting and darkly beautiful creature.

Goodwin is proud that, even in this age of digital manipulation, he’s an artist who intentionally creates by hand, for a canvas that’s textured and nuanced. (froelickgallery.com; 714 NW Davis St.)

Jim Lommasson: Exit Wounds and What We Carried Life After War—Soldiers’ Stories and What We Carried: Fragments from the Cradle of Civilization Jan. 6–31 | Blue Sky Gallery

Iraqi refugees and American soldiers each share their experiences in two separate photo exhibits by Jim Lommasson. In Exit Wounds, soldiers reveal the hardships they face reintegrating into daily life when they return from war through a varied collection of both staged and candid photographs paired with thought-provoking quotes from the photos’ subjects. In What We Carried, Lommasson highlights the humanity of Iraqi refugees by photographing personal items they’ve brought along in their escape from Iraq to the U.S. He’s also asked refugees to individualize their photos. Some added drawings or words, others collaged. Both exhibits express Lommasson’s earnest hope to foster connections between Iraqis and Americans. (blueskygallery.org; 122 NW 8th Ave.)

24 Hour Empire Jan. 7–16 | Upfor Gallery

Josh Michaels has created a 24-hour homage to Empire, Andy Warhol’s famous 1964 film that features eight hours of continuous footage of the Empire State Building. But Michaels sets his film within the context of today’s 24-hour security cameras. While it doesn’t include any of Warhol’s original footage, it does utilize a fixed camera and a single frame like the original. In one area of the exhibit, the film plays in real time, and in

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another, viewers can compress or expand the duration. Just once, Upfor will play the film in its full 24-hour duration. (upforgallery.com; 929 NW Flanders St.)

Rowland Ricketts Jan. 29–June 4 | Museum of Contemporary Craft

Trained in Tokushima, Ricketts harvests indigo pigment in the Japanese tradition.

This centuries-old process produces hand-farmed indigo instead of today’s petroleum-derived synthetic dye. It would seem the more sustainable method, but he explores the environmental costs and potential benefits of local, individual indigo production in his installation of dyed textiles and process documentation. (mocc.pnca.edu; 724 NW Davis St.)

David Slader and Phil Sylvester Feb. 4–March 2 | Gallery 114

Portland painter David Slader’s new work would be enticement enough to visit Gallery 114, but there’s more. Slader’s coaxed Phil Sylvester, his friend and “the best-known disappeared artist in Oregon,” out of hiding to unveil his last 15 years of drawings. They’re all of one subject who sat for more than 1,000 hours. (gallery114pdx.com; 1100 NW Glisan St.)

Contemporary Native Photographers and The Edward Curtis Legacy Feb. 6–May 8 | Portland Art Museum

PAM welcomes three contemporary Native American photographers, including Zig Jackson, the first to enter the Library of Congress in 2005. Alongside these works, PAM honors ethnologist and photographer Edward Curtis, who documented Native American cultural practices, languages, and traditions for over 80 tribes in The North American Indian, his 20-volume book set published between 1907 and 1930. This exhibit features highlights from his expansive collection of over 1,500 photogravures and 700 other large-scale images. (portlandartmuseum.org; 1219 SW Park Ave.) ABOVE: Zig Jackson, Untitled, 1998, from the series Entering Zig’s Reservation, gelatin silver print.

Courtesy of the artist.

ARTSL ANDIA AT THE PERFORMANCE • JAN | FEB 2015

FEB. 4–21; MORRISON STAGE, ARTISTS REPERTORY THEATRE

WHAT EVERY GIRL SHOULD KNOW

TRIANGLE PRODUCTIONS!

When a new girl arrives at a Catholic reformatory in 1914 with Margaret Sanger’s revolutionary pamphlets on birth control, a group of girls becomes obsessed. While they religiously follow the famous feminist’s life in the newspapers, they reveal a little about their own lives, including their hardships.

FEB. 4–27; THE SANCTUARY AT SANDY PLAZA

EACH AND EVERY THING

PORTLAND CENTER STAGE

Solo actor/playwright Dan Hoyle grapples with our unmet needs for community in this digital age, bringing us along in his world travels by impersonating real-life characters he met in a small Nebraska town, a Digital Detox retreat, and Calcutta.

FEB. 6–MAR. 27; ELLYN BYE STUDIO, GERDING THEATER AT THE ARMORY

MOTHERS & SONS

ARTISTS REPERTORY THEATRE

A mother whose son died from AIDS 20 years ago reconnects with his former partner, a man now married with a young son. The play is humorous, hopeful, and one of the first to bring 1980s dialogues about AIDS to the stage.

FEB. 9–MAR. 6; ALDER STAGE, ARTISTS REPERTORY THEATRE

SKINNER/KIRK DANCE ENSEMBLE

BODYVOX

Eric Skinner and Daniel Kirk founded their dance company to push boundaries, and their work is just as innovative nearly two decades later.

They’ll premiere two new dances about relationships and spirituality, choreographed to original music by Tim Ribner.

FEB. 11–20; BODYVOX DANCE CENTER

CONTIGO PAN Y CEBOLLA

MILAGRO

A R T I S T S R E P E R T O R Y T H E A T R E

Famous Cuban playwright Hector Quintero brings levity to 1950s Havana hardships. Plucky Lala can’t quite scrape together enough money for her family, but she excels at creating chaos. No matter what, this family will be “together through thick and thin,” as the title suggests.

Michael Mendelson

FEB. 11–MAR. 5; MILAGRO THEATRE

2016 PDX JAZZ FESTIVAL PDX JAZZ

One hundred events in 10 jazz-packed days include the Spanish Harlem Orchestra, Grammy-Award winner Dianne Reeves, flamenco-rooted pianist Chano Dominguez, the Africa Bass Ensemble, and tributes to jazz greats like Freddie Hubbard and Alice Coltrane.

(Read more about PDX Jazz Fest saxophonist Nicole Glover in The Lead, pg. 14) FEB. 18–28; CITYWIDE

2016 WINTER FESTIVAL

CHAMBER MUSIC NORTHWEST

CMNW, a group that’s filled 46 Portland summers with classical music, has themed its third winter offering “Masterpieces Reimagined,” bringing new instruments and arrangements to well-worn works.

(Read more about harpist Nancy Allen in The Lead, pg. 14) JAN. 27–FEB. 1; CITYWIDE

ROMEO AND JULIET

OREGON BALLET THEATRE

James Canfield was artistic director of OBT from its emergence in 1989 until 2003. Now OBT revives one of his original works, which unflinchingly translates the dark passion of Shakespeare’s poetry into movement.

FEB. 27–MAR. 5; KELLER AUDITORIUM

BAD KITTY: ON STAGE

OREGON CHILDREN’S THEATRE

You might have more in common with this cat than you think! When a new baby and a new dog encroach on Kitty’s territory, Kitty feels unjustly edged out and needs a plan. A new dog might not upset us, but we’ve surely all felt jealous or unsure of our place at some point or other.

FEB. 27–MAR. 27; WINNINGSTAD THEATRE

STUPID F#*@ING BIRD

PORTLAND CENTER STAGE

Riffing off Chekhov’s The Seagull, an aspiring director rebels against art from previous generations, and a younger woman vies with an older woman for the attention of one writer. The original play is from 1895, but we still confront its main dilemmas, namely the small group power struggle and the threat of infidelity.

FEB. 27–MAR. 27; U.S. BANK MAIN STAGE, GERDING THEATRE AT THE ARMORY

“…A T AUT PLAY… , TERRIFIC NEW TH CONS TANTL E TENSION Y HOWA PERCO RD SH LATES APIRO , NEW .”

MOTHERS AND SONS

by

SWOR KS.O

RG

Terrence McNally Jane Unger

directed by

FEB 9 - MAR 6 SEASON SPONSOR

RONNI LACROUTE

David & Christine

Vernier

ARTSL ANDIA AT THE PERFORMANCE • JAN | FEB 2015

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Distracted? Focus on Art. A new book says our modern attention is fragmented—and the arts can help.

BY NOW NEARLY ALL OF US ARE AWARE THAT SOMETHING ISN’T QUITE RIGHT,

at least those of us who were up and running before the Internet.

“We feel it as anxiety, as self-detachment, as a sense of incompleteness, a private distress to which we respond, if we do at all, by turning to therapy, to prescriptions, to meditation and endorphin-releasing exertions,” writes Sven Birkerts in his new book Changing the Subject: Art and Attention in the Internet Age. I’ll pick up another sentence, almost at random from the first essay in the book: “Modern living finds us enmeshed in systems that we think we require, that require us, from which it is every day more difficult to extricate ourselves.”

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We are swamped—with information, sales pitches, entertainments, a cacophony of voices and arguments, with images, increasingly seductive and fast moving. If we want to participate in this culture of data excess, we have to be available to it all the time. But you know this, unless you’ve had the fortitude to pass on the past two decades of technological evolution. And really, even if you don’t have a smartphone, a smart TV, a laptop with high pixel density, a tablet that’s the same as a laptop only better (!), you know about the anxiety we’re talking about because you’ve made a conscious decision to be a refusenik.

Since writing The Gutenberg Elegies in 1994, Birkerts has focused on the changes our new

technology enforces on us. Maybe this observation is just an extension of the old Marshall McLuhan dictum: The medium is the message. Except that the medium has become plural and more pervasive than McLuhan, who died in 1980, could have imagined. Maybe.

After all, he also said, “We shape our tools and thereafter our tools shape us.” And his imagination was a powerful tool.

If your attention is waning at this point, I understand completely. Attention Deficit Disorder is our common cultural complaint.

I’m fond of quoting Simone Weil: “Culture is the formation of attention.” But what does a culture look like that struggles with forming attention? Well, it’s as fractured, confused, and overwhelmed as ours is. It’s a condition, not a culture, really, except in the broadest anthropological description.

Is resistance futile? Would a little more RAM cure what ails us? Hey, virtual reality is just getting warmed up. Maybe our tech will save us, after all? Except that Birkerts mourns our increasing remoteness from physical reality.

What, then, is the remedy for repair, besides complete resistance? Maybe you’ve already figured this out yourself, because most of you have picked up this magazine at an arts event.

“Works of art are feats of concentration,” Birkerts writes. “And imagination is the instrument of concentration.” And not just for the artist: “Our involvement with a genuine work of art not only gives us the human experience, it also asks from us some of the same attention that first triggered the artist’s creative impulse.”

CONTINUED ON PAGE 33

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ARTSL ANDIA AT THE PERFORMANCE • JAN | FEB 2015

Gerding Theater at the Armory 128 NW Eleventh Avenue

503.445.3700 pcs.org

Chris Coleman Artistic Director

2015–2016 Season

SEASON TICKET PACKAGES ARE STILL AVAILABLE! To order, visit pcs.org, call the box office at 503.445.3700 or drop by at 128 NW Eleventh Avenue

PDX JAZZ FESTIVAL

Nicole Glover

THE LE AD

Saxophonist releasing her debut solo album, First Record THE FESTIVAL I’ve been attending since I was young, and I’ve played for the past four years. My top two favorite memories are seeing my friend and mentor George Colligan perform with Jack DeJohnette when Jack sang and played Jim Pepper’s tune Witchi Tai To, and the Lee Konitz show in 2014 when he invited the audience to sing along. It was an incredible feeling to make music with Lee in that way.

MY SHOW This is my first time headlining! I couldn’t be more excited to be playing my original compositions and releasing my first album with my closest friends, for the people of my hometown.

I’ve already played extensively with my band— who are also three of my best friends—but since I moved to New York City, we haven’t had the same opportunities to play together. This show will serve as a reunion concert for me, where I get to play with my favorite musicians again.

SHOWS I’LL SEE Puttin it Together: A Tribute to Elvin. My teacher Alan Jones, an absolute authority on all things Elvin, leads a group with Jonathan Lakey, my best friend and up-and-coming bassist in Portland, as well as Azar Lawrence and Sonny Fortune, two music legends. Universal Consciousness: Tribute to Alice Coltrane. Each musician in this group is individually incredible, so it’ll be an unbelievable experience to see them together, performing the music of someone whose spirit they all embody. Gary Bartz. Any lover of jazz music needs to see him at some point in their life. He represents a certain era of the music that can only be witnessed in person to experience the full impact. He’s irreplaceable.

PHOTO BY CYPRESS CHVATAL-JONES.

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ARTSL ANDIA AT THE PERFORMANCE • JAN | FEB 2015

LAST SEEN

Before moving to New York, playing in Portland with the George Colligan Quartet & Theoretical Planets, Alan Jones Sextet, Ural Thomas & the Pain, Thomas Barber’s Spiral Road, Kerry Politzer Quartet, and the Thara Memory Superband DEGREES/AWARDS

Bachelor of Music from Portland State University, William Bradford Mersereau, Jr. Endowed Scholarship FAVORITE JAZZ PLAYERS

John Coltrane, Wayne Shorter, Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, Lester Young, Ornette Coleman, Thelonious Monk, Louis Armstrong OFFSTAGE INTERESTS

Science fiction, dreams, Hesse, chess, creative writing, Taoism

LAST SEEN

Acting onstage in the last 12 seasons of Oregon Shakespeare Festival DEGREES/AWARDS

Master of Fine Arts in Acting from the University of Illinois FAVORITE PLAYWRIGHTS

Eugene O’Neill, William Shakespeare, Lynn Nottage FAVORITE FAMOUS ACTORS

Steve McQueen, Mark Rylance, Katharine Hepburn OFFSTAGE INTERESTS

Hiking, playing guitar, painting, watching sports

THE LE AD OREGON SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL

Danforth Comins Actor playing Hamlet in Hamlet and Sir Andrew Aguecheek in Twelfth Night THE FESTIVAL I’ve acted in the OSF company over the last 12 seasons. I think Ashland’s unique destination experience allows theatergoers to really focus on the art. Their daily concerns melt away under the picturesque backdrop of the beautiful Rogue Valley. I know I sound like a travel agent, but I truly believe it!

MY SHOWS Very excited to be working on two of Shakespeare’s most acclaimed works, and I’m playing such contrasting characters! I’m in a comedy in the afternoon and a tragedy in the evening. The difference between them keeps both performances fresh and alive. The trick is to focus solely on the moment—to know exactly where each character is in his journey in each moment and commit fully to that moment.

SHOWS I’LL SEE I’m looking forward to Lisa Loomer’s new play Roe, as it grapples with one of the biggest social issues of our time, as well as Sean Graney’s adaptation of Gilbert and Sullivan’s Yeomen of the Guard. Sean’s company, The Hypocrites, has been tearing it up in Chicago for years... Also anticipating Desdemona Chiang’s direction of The Winter’s Tale. She’s a brilliant up-and-coming director.

PHOTO BY JENNY GRAHAM.

ARTSL ANDIA AT THE PERFORMANCE • JAN | FEB 2015

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LAST SEEN

As a co-founder & company member at Defunkt Theatre, playing Ruth in The Homecoming, Martha in The Children’s Hour, and Roma in Glengarry Glen Ross

THE LE AD

DEGREES/AWARDS

FERTILE GROUND FESTIVAL

Drammy Award (Best Director) for 4.48 Psychosis, Defunkt Theatre

Grace Carter

FAVORITE PLAYWRIGHTS

Sarah Kane, Harold Pinter, Sam Shepard, Sue Mach FAVORITE FAMOUS ACTORS

Crowdfunded, helped devise, and plays main character, Charlotte, in a new adaptation of The Yellow Wallpaper THE FESTIVAL I’ve been in the Portland theater community for quite a few years, so I’ve known of Fertile Ground for quite some time. I’ve seen a few pieces, and I’ve enjoyed the program for fostering new and innovative local work. My impression is that Fertile Ground has the ability to draw an eclectic and experimental audience—and I’d say the same of the talent. There’s a kind of invigorated energy around the work.

THE LEAD

MY SHOW Charlotte from The Yellow Wallpaper is a fabulously energetic and bright woman, with a quick wit and a fast-paced intellect.

This is by far the hardest I’ve ever worked on a character or a show! The long-form process has been really rewarding, but also a stamina challenge. I get to be particularly physical and to interact with a complicated score and video installation, and the show allows me to use a range of vocal activity—voice-over work, singing, and several different “states” of speaking.

It’s a small ensemble (with Christy Bigelow and Chris Harder), which is satisfying; three is actually my favorite number of characters onstage.

A SHOW I’LL SEE Bob #middleschool #tweensandteens by Rogue Pack. I saw some of Rogue Pack’s work with p:ear homeless youth, and it was very well done! An excellent way for youth to have their voices heard through art.

PHOTO BY OWEN CAREY.

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ARTSL ANDIA AT THE PERFORMANCE • JAN | FEB 2015

Naomi Watts, Katherine Waterston, David Oyelowo, Gong Li, Robert Downey, Jr., all the ladies in Kill Bill OFFSTAGE INTERESTS

Working with youth in schools, spending time with my son, collecting LPs, listening to records, eating tacos

SCIENCE

ART

MUSIC

ATHLETICS

BOARDING

SMALL CLASSES

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LAST SEEN

CHAMBER MUSIC NORTHWEST WINTER FESTIVAL

Nancy Allen

THE LE AD

On and off at CMNW Winter Fest for 35 years and teaching masterclasses DEGREES/AWARDS

Master of Music from Juilliard, studied in France with Lily Laskine, Grammy nominee

Harpist and masterclass teacher THE FESTIVAL I’ve played at Chamber Music Northwest intermittently for over 35 years.

When I first performed, it felt almost like a surreal extension of my graduate music studies. There used to be giant swings perched up on the hill by Anna Mann dormitory. I spent hours there swinging away all the tension after long rehearsals. There’s a camaraderie there that’s unmatched anywhere, and I learned so much about music making.

MY SHOW

THE LEAD

The harp is essentially a French instrument, and the works I’ll play in January are all French and all transcriptions.

Both Ravel and Debussy orchestrated many of their own piano works, expanding their colors, giving them a new dimension. I’ll be arranging the piano part for the harp in Debussy’s Prélude à l’ apres-midi d’un Faun. Ravel’s Sonatine, originally for piano solo, will be joined by flute and viola. I’ll also play Debussy’s two Arabesques, originally for piano. Obviously, the harp is a more delicate instrument, and I use this quality to the gently illuminate the notes. A special arrangement is being made of Ravel’s Le Tombeau de Couperin, and I have no idea yet which parts I’ll play.

That’s a bit daunting! French music is warm, playful, and very sensitive, and adding new voices to old masterpieces is a reason to come hear it.

SHOWS I’LL SEE I would try to see/hear CelloPointe: The Magic of Music and Dance, because it sounds absolutely out of this world—a combination of musical and visual beauty and creativity.

I would also recommend Tailored For Two: Peter Serkin and Julia Hsu. The only thing better than one pianist is two artists playing one piano.

PHOTO BY CHRIS LEE.

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ARTSL ANDIA AT THE PERFORMANCE • JAN | FEB 2015

FAVORITE COMPOSERS

Schumann, Brahms, impressionists Berg and Schoenberg, and lesserknowns Hasselmans, Tournier, Renié, Salzedo, Grandjany OFFSTAGE INTERESTS

Cooking, my two Turkish angora cats, following horse races, hiking, cross-country skiing, playing squash quite badly

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7

years designing for PCS

15 years in the theater design industry

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Worked full-time to design 12 theater posters a year but now works part-time to design 3 a year...with time for 10 personal projects

size, in feet, of Buchino’s largest design ever printed (a billboard!)

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“My drawing of our mascot, an eagle, was plastered on the basketball court, sweatshirts, hats...everywhere!”

age at which he created his first logo design

Cheap guitar, painted and used in a play poster

Design process: Sketch, scan, manipulate in Illustrator, lay out in Photoshop

FROM THE DESK OF:

MICHAEL BUCHINO Behold graphic designer Michael Buchino’s specific niche: creating theater posters for some of Portland’s biggest plays from the comfort of his Northeast Hollywood District home. “First, I read the script to get a feel for the story,” he explains. Then he scours the internet for imagery. Then comes hand-sketching, scanning, outlining in Illustrator, and doing the layout in Photoshop.

And finally...showtime. “One of the biggest rewards is seeing a play onstage,” he says.

“Actors and directors constantly surprise me.”

BY A.L. ADAMS. PHOTO BY CHRIS PORRAS.

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50 number of posters designed for Portland Center Stage to date

25 book covers created

ARTSL ANDIA AT THE PERFORMANCE • JAN | FEB 2015

Shortest time to design a poster

38 Can say “Cheers” in

30 MINUTES

languages

Handmade Romanian rug, a souvenir from his parents’ travels, heavy on his favorite colors: black, white, red

Pencil sketch for An Iliad, Portland Center Stage

Longest time to design a poster

2

MONTHS

Opus, Portland Center Stage

January 21-31 Portland Artist-generated New Work in Theatre, Dance & Multidisciplinary Arts

Creative Adventures for 11 days every January

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QA

TOMMY TUNE’S Broadway’s longtime true love, TOMMY TUNE, dances his way into Portland hearts...just in time for Valentine’s Day. INTERVIEW BY SUSANNAH MARS.

SUSANNAH MARS: What can you tell us about your show, Taps, Tunes, and Tall Tales, Tommy?

TOMMY TUNE: It’s sort of an arc of my 55year career in show business. I worked with a lot of famous people. I do songs, dances, and stories, and it all connects. And I do a lot of Cole Porter and Carole King. It’s very eclectic, from Kurt Vile to Burt Bacharach, a lot of Gershwin; they’re my favorites.

SM: Have you been in Portland before with any other shows?

TT: I have! I have a wonderful memory of the first time I came to Portland. I had a matinee show, and after I left the theater I went right across the street, and there was this wonderful kind of man-made waterfall.

Do you know? Is it still there?

SM: Keller Fountain Park!

TT: There we are. I came out, and I just had to roll up my pants, take off my shoes, and climb up that waterfall. Also the food in Portland, I remember, was really delicious.

SM: What’s your favorite type of food?

TT: Everything! I love Mexican food. I just came back from Thailand and had three wonderful meals there. In Vietnam also. And in Singapore, I had a great Chinese lunch. I’m a foodie.

SM: Do you like to cook?

TT: Oh yeah.

SM: Did you ever choreograph anything that had a cooking theme?

TT: I put on a show in high school that was set in the kitchen. I was a carrot, and the chef came up and cut off my top green part—my headdress—and I sang, “All of me, why not take all of me?” Or maybe I was celery, because I sang, “You took the part that was my heart...”

SM: What else are you working on this season?

TT: Probably about the middle of next year I’ll

be directing Grand Hotel in Tokyo and Osaka.

SM: Will you do that in Japanese, or will it be in English with surtitles?

TT: It’ll be in Japanese. It will have to be translated.

SM: Is it difficult to make a translation?

TT: They have their own version. They use the word “dream” a lot. I’ve asked, “What exactly are you singing here? Because it doesn’t seem to be matching the English lyric,” and it would be something like, “Happy dreams and beautiful times we are having.”

SM: What do you like to do in your spare time...if there is any such thing?

TT: Well, I have an art studio, and I love to paint. I don’t take photographs, and I don’t have a cell phone, and I don’t use the internet. I’m totally unplugged. I write notes, and I talk to people on the telephone. I’m very “old school.”

So, what kind of a theater am I playing in Portland?

SM: The Winningstad Theatre at Portland’5.

It’s a beautiful three-tiered stage, tall and very intimate.

TT: Tall is good for me.

SM: It’s red. It’s a lovely, intimate “hugging” space, where you’re surrounded by audience, and they’ll be close to you to see your work and hear your stories.

TT: Oh good, because this show is expandable and contractible. I’ve played very large and very small theaters, intimate cabarets, and everything in between. I’m using pianist/ director Michael Biagi—he’s been with me for 47 years—and then we’ll have bass, drums.

Maybe we’ll pick that up locally.

Do you know when my show is? It’s on Valentine’s Day. I’m going to love that.

SM: That’s perfect, because you’re going to be in the red theater.

TT: Oh good. I’ll wear my red suit.

THERE’S MORE! Read the rest of our Q+A with Tommy Tune on artslandia.com 22

ARTSL ANDIA AT THE PERFORMANCE • JAN | FEB 2015

PHOTO BY FRANCO L ACOSTA.

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ARTSL ANDIA AT THE PERFORMANCE • JAN | FEB 2015

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MARCH 24–27

MUSICAL THEATRE INTENSIVE for Teens and Adults with Susannah Mars & Rick Lewis

ACROSS

1. Ghosts playwright considered the father of prose drama.

2. Shakespeare play in which Polonius makes an appearance.

3. This Glass Menagerie playwright would have celebrated his 105th birthday this year.

6. She originated the role of Maureen in Rent.

7. This Dame is one of five actresses to ever win a Tony and an Oscar in the same year.

9. The Tony-award winning play with the shortest title (1978).

12. Brahms composed 21 of these Dances.

14. In Peter and the Wolf, this instrument represents the cat.

15. This man is the choreographer with the most Tony awards.

18. This British playwright was a friend and neighbor of James Bond creator, Ian Fleming.

CALL 503.922.2110 TO REGISTER OR FOR MORE INFORMATION.

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ARTSL ANDIA AT THE PERFORMANCE • JAN | FEB 2016

19. Playwright who wrote For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When The Rainbow is Enuf.

DOWN

1. A line run where actors speak their lines as fast as possible is called this kind of rehearsal.

4. Romeo’s last name.

5. Theater district in London.

6. This day of the week is considered a “dark night” for Broadway shows in NYC. 8. The English word for “battacio” comedy.

10. Most ballet terminology is spoken in this language.

11. Carmen composer.

13. The title of Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun comes from this Langston Hughes poem.

16. Judy Garland’s original first name.

17. Theater term for a stage that is slightly tilted toward the audience.

Think you got ‘em all right?

Find the answers to this crossword puzzle online!

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FEATURE

NWFC Director, Bill Foster, has all types of films at his fingertips.

Turning Watchers

Photo by Caitlin Webb.

into

Seekers

NW Film Center presents the 39th annual Portland International Film Festival.

BY A.L. ADAMS

Bill Foster wants to make one thing clear: He isn’t playing favorites.

The longtime director of the NW Film Center may have helped winnow the selections for Portland International Film Festival from more than 900 submissions, but he insists that singling any of those films out would be “stupid.”

“The intent is to get people who are pretty much bludgeoned to death by commercial movies to dig a little deeper and see that there are all kinds of other filmmakers, and all kinds of other cultures for them to explore. We’re not dictating, ‘This is a work of genius!’ We’re not approaching this as film critics. Not trying to persuade you that it’s anything other than interesting.”

Foster has a habit of rattling off lists of genres as he speaks (“Chinese, French, or Italian...” “documentary, experimental, or narrative...”

“Japanese, Czech, or Scandanavian...”) and it’s no wonder. Among the Film Center’s 30 series—PIFF and the Reel Music Festival (on this month), the Northwest Filmmakers’ Festival (each fall), and so many more—they manage to screen just about every type of film, all with the same goal of turning watchers into seekers.

“You might see an Italian film, and then go, ‘I really enjoyed that! I’m going to look for more Italian films!’ or you might say, ‘Gosh, that Northwest filmmaker lives right in my neighborhood,’ and then you get more interested in their work.”

PIFF, in particular, offers another perk: a chance for diverse Portlanders to see films

26

in their first language or from their country of origin. “We show films from about three dozen countries, if not as many languages,” explains Foster. “If you’re Hungarian, Chinese, or French, you might hear of a film being heralded in your own country and want to see it, and it may or may not be shown at other theaters in Portland. It may never make it to Netflix.”

And regardless, Foster insists stay-home movie watching falls far short of the theater experience and the festival adventure. “Anything that’s epic—sound, landscape, scale—is better in the theater. So is having your senses taken over by images and sound. Your cat’s

ARTSL ANDIA AT THE PERFORMANCE • JAN | FEB 2015

not jumping in your lap; the phone’s not ringing; you’re giving yourself over 100%. There’s a power that comes from being in that kind of space, with your attention undistracted. And to share that experience with an audience and feel their vibe... that’s the ‘magic of film’ everybody talks about.”

And now in the form of a list: “There’s excitement; there’s urgency; there’s a community experience; there’s juxtaposition, and there’s context.” .

NW Film Center’s Portland International Film Festival will present more than 140 feature films and shorts from around the world from Feb. 11–27. For more information, visit nwfilm.org/festivals/piff.

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OUT THERE

All the world's a stage! "OUT THERE" spotlights offbeat performance styles and surprising or unusual arts happenings.

enough knockout runs and sold-out nights of this quasi-TV, Action/Adventure earned an underground reputation as the place for original shows with the life and personality of Portland, a place that eases younger audiences’ transition from TV to theater, while offering the “Kill your TV” crowd a grassroots pure entertainment alternative. And then, suddenly...there were too many new ideas.

“2014 was the year when just about every company member had a great idea for a serialized show, and we were wanting to find a place for each of them,” recalls Action/Adventure’s Associate Artistic Director, actor, and writer Noah Dunham. Though the wealth of ideas was a source of happy contention, “Doing, like, eight serials in a season would be just about impossible for a small company like us to take on.”

Time for another trick of the TV trade.

A/A asked would-be show creators to jump through a hoop: submit a “pilot episode,” the speculative first show in their series, for the company’s consideration. A/A collectively billed these shows as a “pilot season” and put them onstage, inviting audiences to watch them all and vote for whichever one they wanted to see more of. The winning show would be staged the following season. The runners-up would get a thumbs-up for trying, but they’d be shelved.

Photo by Pat Moran.

THEATER IMITATES TV

Action/Adventure Theatre shows serial weekly plays and an annual festival of new work, Pilot Season. BY MATT STANGEL What’s going to happen when the first humans colonize Mars? What’s it like to try a role-playing game like Dungeons & Dragons for the first time? How does it feel to go to an all-girl Catholic boarding school?

Themes like these may be okay in a two-hour play...but don’t you think they’d each be even better as a TV series?

Cue Action/Adventure, a scrappy theater collective by the train tracks that’s spent their last several years (or seasons?) presenting serial comedies described as “theater for TV audiences.” After settling on a theme, they “air” a series of hourlong episodes—a new one each week—until a given series is complete.

Like TV, the same main characters return each week and a few supporting ones come

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and go. Individual episodes each have a plot, while the season as a whole completes a larger storyline. “Wow,” you might say, “That must make for a lot of dialogue,” and A/A agrees— so they don’t write it. Instead, series creators outline characters, plot points, and “beats,” and then let actors decide what’s actually said onstage. This ensures that (unlike some improv) the pacing stays on-point, but no two nights of the same show are ever alike.

The prototype for this model was A/A’s Fall of the House, a hipster housemate comedy which saw six seasons and great local acclaim.

Then there was Fall of the Band, a two-season sendup of a rock band in constant flux, complete with an EP’s-worth of original music.

Then there was Sidekicks, which answered the question, “What happens when all the superheroes die and only their sidekicks with limited powers are left to save the day?” After

ARTSL ANDIA AT THE PERFORMANCE • JAN | FEB 2015

That’s how A/A got to Mars—Nick Fenster’s pilot, Mars One, was chosen for a full season and reprised for a second year as Mars Two. It’s also how they decided to eavesdrop on a girls’ school this spring—Brenan Dwyer’s No Man’s Land pilot was chosen. And ultimately, it’s how A/A reluctantly decided against a season of vicarious D&D—Ben Coleman’s Punching and Wizardry, along with many other fun ideas, was felled in battle.

Fenster credits the win of Mars One to “the obsessive level of world-building we put into the first episode. This idea had been bouncing around in my head for several months before Pilot Season came along, so by the time we presented, we had a fairly polished piece of work in place.”

Brenan Dwyer says “having a wealth of characters in a well-defined scenario” helped her No Man’s Land stand out from the pilot pack, also touting its female perspective (sadly still under-represented in the entertainment arts) and her dedication to presenting “a performance that felt as final and thought-out as a regular season show.” In anticipation of its March 2016 series debut, Action/Adventure gives the show a hell of a plug: “Three misfit friends adventure through Catholic high school, dodging the watchful eye of a mysterious nun, competing with the popular girls,

and contending with the crippling absence of boys in the hallways.”

Having effectively combined the focus-group intentions of the pilot with the immediacy and wit of live, improvised theater to find new works they want to show, A/A is busily prep-

LIKE TV, THE SAME MAIN CHARACTERS RETURN EACH WEEK, AND A FEW SUPPORTING ONES COME AND GO. INDIVIDUAL EPISODES EACH HAVE A PLOT, WHILE THE SEASON AS A WHOLE COMPLETES A LARGER STORYLINE.

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And you? If you can clear four evenings and leave your remote at home, you can help decide which show is most worthy of a fourweek run in 2017. May the best production win! .

Action/Adventure's Pilot Season runs Jan. 21– Feb. 14. Each weekend features one of the four total pilot plays eligible for audience voting.

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ARTSL ANDIA AT THE PERFORMANCE • JAN | FEB 2015

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“SOME OF THE BEST DANCERS YOU WILL EVER SEE” -CALGARY HERALD

Tag. You’re It. TAG

CMNW EDITION

Artslandia’s twist on the timeless chasing game of “tag” is a pay-it-forward series of compliments between members of Portland’s performing arts community, championing good work and generating good will at every stop. For this installment, Artslandia visited a CHAMBER MUSIC NORTHWEST event to gather orchestral accolades. BY SUSANNAH MARS.

CURTIS DAILY

PRINCIPAL BASSIST, PORTLAND BAROQUE ORCHESTRA ON

DAVID SHIFRIN

ARTISTIC DIRECTOR, CHAMBER MUSIC NORTHWEST

He’s absolutely awesome and an inspiration! I’ve never seen anyone with such an indefatigable energy for music.

DAVID SHIFRIN ON PETER SHICKELE

COMPOSER EXTRAORDINAIRE

It’s been a great honor to have him here for his 80th birthday and the 50th anniversary year of his discovery of P.D.Q. Bach. Peter is one of the great musicians of our time. A great humanitarian and a heck of a guy!

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He’s a real phenomenon of nature. He just sits down at the piano and plays anything you put in front of him, and he has such spirit the way he plays.

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PETER SCHICKELE ON YEVGENY YONTOV

ARTSL ANDIA AT THE PERFORMANCE • JAN | FEB 2015

YEVGENY YONTOV ON EVANNA CHIEW MEZZO-SOPRRANO, YALE SCHOOL OF MUSIC

Evanna, if you’re reading this, you’re amazing! I’ve been playing with her this year, and more intensively in CMNW’s Summer Festival, and it’s been an amazing experience.

I’m so thankful to have met her.

Joshua Bell

Saturday, February 20 | 7:30 pm Sunday, February 21 | 7:30 pm Monday, February 22 | 8 pm Robert Spano, conductor • Joshua Bell, violin Wagner: Parsifal Prelude to Act I Sibelius: Symphony No. 6 • Bruch: Violin Concerto No. 1 Wagner: Die Meistersinger Prelude to Act I The consummate Joshua Bell returns to perform what renowned turn-of-the-19th Century violinist Joseph Joachim declared the “richest, most seductive” of all German violin concertos.

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The Swigert Warren Foundation and ESCO Foundation present O R E G O N B A L L E T T H E A T R E ’S P R O D U C T I O N O F James Canfield / Sergei Prokofiev

Feb. 27 - Mar. 5, 2016 Keller Auditorium

Featuring the OBT Orchestra for all performances

obt.org | 503.222.5538

Xuan Che g & Brian Simcoe. Photo by Tatiana Wills.

Tickets start at $31 Groups of 10 or more start at just $15!

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ARTSL ANDIA AT THE PERFORMANCE • JAN | FEB 2015

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FUN FACTS To treat mental illness in 5000 BCE, Neolithic populations chipped holes into the skulls of afflicted people to release problematic “evil spirits.” Surprisingly, some patients survived this procedure!

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CoHo Productions [January 15–February 6]

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CHARLES DICKENS KNEW A THING OR TWO ABOUT HARD TIMES. HE HAD TO DROP OUT OF SCHOOL AND START WORKING AT AGE 10

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oregon arts commission

Bad Kitty On Stage. By Min Kahng. Adapted from the books by Nick Bruel. Co-commissioned by Bay Area Children’s Theatre and Oregon Children’s Theatre.

BECAUSE HIS DAD WAS IN JAIL. STILL, HE FORGED ON TO WRITE 15 NOVELS AND OVER 100 SHORT STORIES. GREAT EXPECTATIONS

Portland Center Stage [January 16–February 14]

Lewis Carroll suffered a bad stammer—except when he talked with kids. Alice in Wonderland emerged as he regaled kids with the imagined adventures of one child in particular, Alice.

ALICE IN WONDERL AND

NW Children’s Theater [January 30–February 28]

A happy end to Shakespeare’s tragic Romeo and Juliet? That’s what Prokofiev first envisioned! In his original final act, the lovers didn’t die but ambiguously wandered off. The approach was a bit too optimistic for Stalin’s Russia in 1935; Prokofiev was forced to rewrite it.

ROMEO AND JULIET

Oregon Ballet Theatre [February 27–March 5]

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ARTSL ANDIA AT THE PERFORMANCE • JAN | FEB 2015

DISTRACTED?, CONTINUED FROM PAGE 12

He continues: “But more than a refuge or a sanctuary, it is also an inoculation; it is a preemptive engagement undertaken on behalf of the individual and it keeps the ideal of individuation, so threatened, still viable.”

Birkerts believes that we’re risking our very selves, our individual capacity to think, imagine, create, experience, on our own without the mediation of the Internet voices (or those on talk radio). Art leads us first to attend, then to imagine, and then to develop a distinct sense of self. “Art serves the soul not least by demanding and creating attention. This same attention in its early stages allows us to winnow the meaningful signal from the distracting noise, and ultimately rejuvenates the connection of the self to the world.”

Writing about the arts helps to do the same thing. OK, that sounds self-serving. But over at my usual digs at Oregon ArtsWatch (orartswatch.org), we’ve been discussing the various ways that arts writing (analysis, commentary, reporting) can help the process along. It can direct us to arts experiences that could be important to us. It can provide the context that kindles that experience. It can describe the “feats of concentration” it took to create art. It can model the attention that art requires for its full effects to take place.

It can encourage the formation of your own ideas and opinions, based on the trip your imagination takes you on.

Maybe that last one seems odd. Arts writing, especially what passes for arts criticism, can seem to be all about browbeating you into thinking the same way the critic thinks. It can be all about assertions of (very subjective) “standards” instead of providing useful descriptions of the art and the process in question. It can stop the conversation, instead of encouraging it to flourish.

Clearly, I’m arguing for something else. Our considerations of art are most fruitful when they are open-ended, whether we’re writing them for publication or not. They can be invitations to ourselves, even, to debate art further, imagine it differently, think new thoughts.

I’ll close with Birkerts, because he started us off: “More and more I believe that art—via imagination—is the necessary counter to our information-glut crisis.” Here at Artslandia, we agree completely. .

BARRY JOHNSON is the editor of Oregon ArtsWatch and the Editor-at-Large of Artslandia.

ARTSL ANDIA AT THE PERFORMANCE • JAN | FEB 2015

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LAST LAUGH THE

ILLUSTRATION BY

CAROLYN MAIN

ARTSLANDIA: OK. Insult comedy. Don Rickles has been doing it forever, but for a woman to do it is kind of revolutionary, right? Which other women came before you in insult comedy? Joan Rivers?

LISA: There was a comic named Pudgy, who

was never super famous, but she was a genius.

She was a great insult comic, on the level of where I think 99% of her material would be off the audience. I watched a Showtime special of hers. I also think Totie Fields did a little...but Rickles is definitely the man.

I just did it despite my gender because it’s kind of who I am. I kind of make fun of my friends in real life, and they don’t seem to take offense, so I’m just going for it!

A: One thing you and Joan Rivers have in common is an amazing gay following, and you’ve been amazing back to your following, including a large donation to Gay Men’s Health Crisis that you credited to the Westboro Baptist church—how did you build that audience?

34

Holding forth at countless Friar’s Club Roasts, sitting in with radio scather Howard Stern, and capturing the enviable web domain insultcomic.com, LISA LAMPANELLI has forged a solid reputation as the “Queen of Mean.” By the time she hits Oregon’s Spirit Mountain Casino Feb. 20, she may even have scored a Grammy for her nominated comedy album, Back to the Drawing Board. Artslandia asks Lampanelli about her favorite insult-slingers, her loyal gay audience, and her surprisingly kind take on Donald Trump. BY VIRGINIA JONES

L: I think I’ve always felt like I didn’t belong in life. I would never have been in a sorority; they wouldn’t have gotten me, and I wouldn’t have gotten them. I think gay people feel they don’t fit in either (or at least they did back when I started), so I feel like they sense I’m kind of like them in a way. We’re all just dented cans going through life, trying to find people whose dents fit our dents, and I kinda love that. I would rather be the person that misfits come to see than frat boys—even though frat boys’ money is good, and I’ll take it! I do feel like people who don’t belong, belong at my show.

A: Which comics influenced you growing up?

L: I’ve never watched standup, but I used to watch the old roasts with Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra and Lucille Ball, and they’re having such a great time making fun of each other. That got stuck in my head; that’s what comedy looks like. Probably that’s why I gravitated to that form of comedy. That’s why I’m not a monologist, getting up there with a microphone telling stories.

ARTSL ANDIA AT THE PERFORMANCE • JAN | FEB 2015

A: You got to know Donald Trump on your turn in Celebrity Apprentice. What do you think about his presidential bid? Where do you think this is headed?

L: I mean, I just thought it was a joke that got out of control. He just wanted to see what happened for publicity, and it took off, so I blame America for this! Ha! I got to know him better after Apprentice, doing charity work for St. Jude’s Hospital. When you see someone in a charity light, you look at ‘em a lot nicer. He was always a gentleman to me, so I’ll never say a bad word about Trump. Do I joke around about him? Of course. You know, c’mon, he’s just like me. We can take a joke, but it’s crazy, and who knows what’ll happen.

Hopefully, I’ll be dead soon and won’t have to worry about who gets elected. .

Catch Lisa Lampanelli at Spirit Mountain Casino, Feb. 20.

This sneak peek behind the scenes comes to you from Portland Opera s costume and prop shops. The sets from the Maurice Sendak production of The Magic Flute were destroyed by a hurricane years ago, but we are rebuilding them for the opening work of our inaugural Spring/Summer Season. Plan today to join us for the world re-premiere of this sparkling masterpiece!

2016

Portland Opera

EXPERIENCE

THE MAGIC FLUTE Mozart May 6, 8m, 12, 14 Keller Auditorium

SWEENEY TODD Sondheim

June 3, 5m, 9, 10, 11 Keller Auditorium

EUGENE ONEGIN Tchaikovsky

July 8, 10m, 14, 15, 17m, 23 & 26 Newmark Theatre

THE ITALIAN GIRL IN ALGIERS Rossini

July 22, 24m, 27, 29, & 31m; August 4 & 6 Newmark Theatre

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