Oregon daily emerald., September 29, 1977, Section B, Page 10, Image 21

ORT
(Continued from Page 1B)
It would be unfair to
state absolutely that Randi is
the energy behind ORT. But
then it would be just as unfair to
play down her role in its forma
tion. Randi is a charged kind of
person — magnetic, hard
working and lucid. A late starter
in theater, she had never acted
in a play until she was 22.
Nevertheless one of her strong
points is a definite attachment
to a project she feels dedicated
to, and once theater had set
tled in her bloodstream she
could never leave it.
Years of wavering between
the instability of a professional
theater life and the stability of
the teaching profession fol
lowed her acting debut. As she
neared completion of her Ph D
at the University of Oregon two
changes began to happen ,
simultaneously. “The job mar
ket for college professors got
absolutely jammed,” she nar
rates, as if it was going to be
any more secure than going
into theater.” And the other?
“The other is that my heart has
really been in theater all the
time,” she answers with con
viction.
Now conviction is a power
packed word for theater folks.
Basically it’s the fuel on which
they live, breath and work, and
when it's lacking they tend to
lapse into clerk-typist or civil
service jobs. An actor or ac
tress bent on fulfilling goals of
living off of the noble art has
always been up against a lot of
back doors, dead ends and,
until this last century, social
stigma. Many a Shake
speare-spouting janitor can
be found on the cruel isle of
Manhattan and many an aspir
ing actor has wasted away on a
diet of canned com. Unfortu
nately, the Pacific Northwest is
notable a few notches lower on
the scale of sustenanenance
for actors than the larger cities.
In the spring of 1974, when
Randi had returned from pres
enting Molly Bloom to the in
ternational James Joyce Sym
posium in Dublin, an important
and fateful event took place.
Several women who had
worked with the University of
Oregon Theater Department,
Marcia Dahlquist, Suzanne
Stassevitch and Betty Bern
hard got together a troupe
they dubbed the Eugene
Theatre Company and pro
duced Brecht’s Threepenny
Opera at Maude Kerns Art
Center.
It was a beginning, crude
and shaky, but still it was a de
finite launching point for a
groqp that is now aspiring to be
the first professional theater
company in the state of
Oregon. Several productions
followed: John Guare’s House
of Blue Leaves, staged at the
Atrium, an evening of one acts
by Chekhov and Harold
Pinter’s Old Times at Scar
borough Faire, Joaquin Millers'
49, Anna Cora Mowat’s
Fashion, Tennesse Williams
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Of
Thee I Sing.
During this period there were
floundering moments and
there were moments of
triumph. For the most part ETC
was a nomadic, hard-working
and insistent bunch of theater
devotees who were willing to
withstand the lack of financial
encouragement. But the incen
tive to go beyond that sort of
existence — to become a sta
ble, guaranteed environment
for acting — remained only a
bantered-about idea.
Enter Randi. ETC had gone
to Randi to ask her help in put
ting together a production of
Under Milk Wood. Randi, who
had been somewhat involved
in ETC since the beginning,
gave them not only an excel
lent and exciting production,
but also the stirrings of an in
centive to shoot for the moon
— to become a Eugene based
professional repertory theater.
The company produced
three more plays in this interim,
Slow Dance on the Killing
Ground, Androcles and the
Lion and Bus Stop During this
time, however, there was a
concentrated energy going on
elsewhere. _
“There had always been talk
going around in the Eugene
Theatre Company about how
people would get paid," Randi
remembers, “but there wasn't
a tight enough organization or
a strong enough commitment
in the management of that
company to bring it about.”
With commitment, that other
powerful word that goes hand
in-hand with conviction, the
road to going professional had
begun. Several key tasks
faced the members of ETC;
one was to get money and the
other was to get a permanent
space to perform in.
“The most outstanding need
that I felt the company had was
for space, so that they would
quit touring constantly. Our
biggest commitment now is try
to stay in the same place for a
period of one year and produce
there. That’s about the only
way you can create a profes
sional theater. People have to
understand that they can come
to a place and see theater regu
larly.”
This new concept of perma
nence was like a brick wall to
ETC — something to ding to
for support and grow upwards
on. Having situated them
selves at the the beginning of
summer in the second floor of
the Atrium, with a lease that's
still being negotiated, they
started to undergo some in
ward and outward changes.
First came the name trans
formation —to the Oregon Re
pertory Theatre. Altogether a
more appropriate title in accor
dance with their designs, it
places them a few steps higher
in the eyes of benefactors.
Second came the budget — a
blessed surprise was bes
towed on the company when a
federal CETA (Comprehensive
Employment and Training Act)
grant came through in June.
Randi, acting as producing
director of ORT, designed a
system whereby this money
would best be put to use. She
hired 15 full-time staff mem
bers, with a certain amount of
enjoyment. “It felt very good to
be able to pay these people,”
she exclaims. “Most of them
had never experienced this
combination of being able to
work and live off of what one
wants to do in life.”
The seven acting positions
that were created illustrate
what Randi terms “ecological
theater.” Each actor, having of
ficially been assigned to per
form two duties, is unofficially
expected to do three, and it is
this doubling up of roles that
has kept ORT alive during
some ot its bleaker moments.
“In many ways, in putting to
gether the production end of
our show, we're kind of
scavengers, or recyclers; we
borrow and we take things
back so that we re not con
stantly discarding them. ”
That consciousness applies
to people also. “I would ra
ther take the money that the
theater makes and hire more
people than invest it in a lot of
lumber and props that we re
going to throw away.”
In a sense this budget
mindedness is bringing
Eugene more into contact with
ORT. Their last production, A
Thousand Clowns, had a set of
concocted 50s nostalgia items
from places like Salvation
Army and local junk shops.
Death of a Salesman, their
next production which opens
October 13, brings borrowed
furniture from private homes
for its meager set. A Christmas
Carol, which will be updated
and set in Appalachia, will draw
on local sources for sets and
costumes.
The office of ORT bespeaks
the zealous nature of its mem
bers. On any given day it buz
zes, literally, with the multi
directional energy of a
creatively-charged crew. To
keep that group active and to
give Eugene a regularly per
forming repertory theater will
take a lot more resources in
funds and local support.
It's easy to keep a city enter
tained by the offerings of travel
ing troupes from larger cities,
but to to seek out and nurture
the talents indigenous to
Eugene it’s going to take a bit
of attitude changing. Sell-out
crowds for the last productions
have encouraged the mem
bers, but they still are turning
over every possible stone in
their search to extend their
guaranteed income and to
further their goal.
Randi sees ORT’s growth
“as directly related to the de
sires of the people in the com
munity to support the theater."
A seven year growth plan,
which includes the goal of
being established in their own
600-seat theater, has been
made public. However, "with
our growth cycle the way it has
been," says Randi, "that goal
could possibly be reached in
five years."
As the members of ORT con
tinue to question the Eugene
community a very subtle
change is taking place in their
working structure. Normally
when one acts in a production
one is constantly working to
gether with a group of people
for a few weeks. By the time a
rapport begins to develop,
though, the play has finished
its run and the whole process
has to start all over again for
the next one.
ORT's success would be yet
another landmark for a city that
ranks first in livability polls.
There have been attempts to
establish professional theater
in Oregon before, but they
have all failed. ORT is giving
Eugene another chance, and
they're doing it with uncanny
optimism. Why?
"Because we like the value
system here," Randi answers.
"Any city that would sell-out a
one-man show on Baudelaire
is a city that cares about its cul
ture." Can Eugene respond to
this dedication? Randi Doug
las and ORT think so.
By Cheryl Rudert/Photos
by Erich Boeltelheide
THE FIRST ANNUAL EUGENE FILM ORGY %?
EVENING SHOWS OF 1950’s TEIEVISION MASTERPIECES:
SPECIAL TRIBUTES TO ELVIS PRESLEY AND GROUCHOMARX!
Livid rioicf uh cu oumvdii
(1956)
E'vs *as censcxed Irom the »ais: down as He
pouroed OK OON T 8E CRUEL LOVf ME
TENDER AND LOVE ME' A duty legendary film
perhaps me only one m exrsience *o complaely
capture me Presley magic
Elvis on Steve Allen (1957)
Elys *ears tits blue suede shoes and sings
HOUND DOG PHENOMENAL DYNAMITE'
Groucho Marx in You Bet
Your Life (1958)
Features Groucho George Fenamon and she
Mad Duo who pops if1- when the secret word is
sa»o Groucho s insane contestants tonight in
clude *ne Sar Francisco *eept> who sleeps
moth the animals
The Lone Ranger (1952)
The very tusi episode’ We learn »r>, Ihe heroic
Texas Ranger dons hrs mast ar n ho* he meets
Tomo A camp riassc
Amos ’n Andy (1952)
Perhaps ,our om* chance to see this absolute
masterpiece a riotously furr*y ep<sode w which
Andy a?>d th< K ngfsn thro* d monkey wrench into a
United Stale', dele' se taciory thatu■ the bomb
manufacturing business
Sergeant Bilko (1958)
Hysterically wild as Phil Silvers leads Colonel
Hai'andhisnoopsioai AWOl *rtirtu-g .r'slead
ut if re Same site of The *ar games
The Mara Brothers in The
Incredible Jewel Robbery
(1954)
A ran ter’ ■ dee*! the ttwee hrotht-n only
ienvsnr appearar • e a- Harpi* ami Chn « rdK»
or 'he forces ot <a* a: : ord»"
Superman (1955)
Stars Geoge Reeves LOIS lane and Perry
While Superman lells youngsters Ihe virtues ol
buying government savings bonds A howl'
PLUS
SURPRISE BONUS
Out-Takes and
Bloopers From
Star Trek
Never belore seen on I v
f—*UiiiM*Lwwyn m
Fri.-Sat.-Swi.
SENS Auditorium
7« S 9:30 $2.00
SPECIAL MATINEES FEATURING
THE WORLD S GREATEST
CARTOONS!
Walt Disney’s
Wind in the Willows and
The Legend of Sleeoy Hollow
Don l tail lo see anarchy
prevail as J ThaddeusToad \
does battle with Mr Wmky
and the weasals and
Ichabod Crane loses his
head on Halloween Night1
~*o
-and
A Short History of Looney Tunes
Specially selected vintage animated insanity featuring Daffy Duck,
Baft Danny, Porky an4 Elmar FihM. I Minor masterpieces in
glorious Technicolor
BRm KIDS! LOSE YOUR RUUD
IR A RIOT OF CARTOOR MAYHEM!
Satarday * San day at Saatk
1*3 p.a. |
Children $1.90 Malts $2
nigh Aaditoriam
^VVv
* * v*