Und
erground at Club Arena
Getting down
and dirty
to the
rhythms
of techno, rap
and rave.
I
►
t's not much past midnight Sat
urday. and my girlfriend
grinds in close. gets us just
about dead-center on Club
Arena’s dancefloor, takes
my oar, says,"Check hint
out" and tells me to scope
around, slowly, because
she’s sure that someone right
behind me is either the guv
from last term's Chant l.nh that
never gave her back the notes he
borrowed or the guy we pulled a threesome
with two, mavis’ three weekends hu< k
I scope, sijinn! through the crowd, levs
lights, high let hno, smoke. Obsession. Drakkor
Noir and all the other scents-to-get-laid going
on, retching the night’s notables Drama boys;
three drag-queens, a hiilfvvay-OUT-uiighl-as
well-be OUT tnu k star; my pharmacist: a shv.
hi. University loot hull player: and a fourth
drag-queen makes it a full house. The lights go
up - bright and la-fort* I cart find who she's
been talking about, my girlfriend shakes her
head, mouths a "No — I was wrong —1 don't
know him" and then pulls us tight — as close
as the club will allow while grinding us into
his spar «. just as the tot hno turns into svnth.
tunes into Shamen. that song that starts, 'A
great philosopher once wrote Naughty.
naughty — very naughty.
Not so subtle night move*
naturally nudge into the
nigni scneme ot every nigntciun nut i.iun
Arena. located downstairs at Perry's restaurant
on fist) Pearl, promises the i itv's most varied
players Ostensibly n gay club. Club A has
enough attractions and distractions to keep all
kinds busy The underground Arena hosts gov.
straight, hi and things-in-between. although
management only barely ai knowledges the lat
ter three categories.
Qi there in spite of management Go down
stairs to dance. to jam on the best pre-record
ed muse in town or to vovGuristn alh v iew the
latest episode of The Slither Game Or to star
in your own.
Downstairs is done in black and white
(apparently paralleling the owners'
gay/straight-only view of sexual orientation.)
New multi-colored, light-spewing ceiling halls
barely rescue the design from being a bi-chro
matlc nightmare. There's a pool table and a
Pac Man machine parked by the stairs, and
Eugene's biggest condom bin parked by the
bathroom, but the definite crowd-draw is the
dancefloor. It's lugger than the shellacked
sluifflehoard court Guido’s calls dance-space,
and here people actually dance.
The music, too, is downstairs' salvation. The
Story by D. Lee Williams
formal is dance hut it's
fiercely varied early
evening disco gives way to
mp-nop, notice, rap, rot x, anti ai me rin.t‘
of midnight — techno and rave This is the
only club outside Portland with any solid, set
time for techno. (A brief "rave" at Springfield's
Mill Camp n few weeks back was justifiably
unsuccessful. Huh Putting on a rave in Spring
field and hoping for success is like putting n
Tii Tnc in cow dung and hoping for fresh air.)
t»o upstairs, too. Upstairs holds the quiet
lounge, and there are huge booths, poker
machines, another pool table and a second,
cheesier bar. The main n< tivities are dissing,
dishing and eaves dropping Screw ambiance.
It's all about attitude.
There's a split of talent in the club’s wait
staff. Order only from the women because, just
like life, the men don't care The barmaids
work, the hartleys pose. The males are annoy
ing and un-tipworthv. always looking like they
have something or someone better to do.
As always, there are simultaneous rumors of
closure and expansion. New changes include a
few weeknight hours of non-smoking, and Sat
urday night Afterhours. What keeps Club A
from being one of the coolest clubs at the end
of the Western world is an obnoxious, inexcus
able "No overt heterosexual behavior" rule.
In a recent club survey, management verifies
in writing that "this is a discriminatory poli
cy," yet discusses no plans to change it. This
policy is based on a survey of ‘Hi customers
and mimics.in absurdity, the city of Eugene's
recent attempt to forge a municipal tax policy
for a city of 110.000 based on one survey com
pleted by just 700 people. (The restaurant tax
— fallout from this survey — was not support
ed by Perry VClub Arena, but Club Arena nev
ertheless sees no barm in imposing the city's
flawed methodology on its clientele.)
This policy merely darkens the typeface on
societal labels Either str.cght or gay. Anyone
caught blurring these lines is subject to dis
crimination. Caught in its own sexual solip
sism, Club A thus casually and hypocritically
dismisses the very valid question of to In or
not to hi
But go anvwav Go for the musi< Go to
dance. Go for a thick slice of attitude served by
a wav-too-prettv-for Eugene, spandexed Eng
lish major who's probably spent a helluva lot
more time studying the contents label on his
newest squirter of Paul Mitchell than a bar
tender manual or anything by (seats
Watch the lights Wnti h the action And
watch your drinks upstairs I made the mistake
Turn to ARENA. Page 8
Trilogy
M A T TERS
Community theater
production portrays the
vulnerability of gays in a
harsh setting of intolerance
By Frey a Horn
Oepon Only tmoiaKI
Playwright and din*< tor Hea Souza Harpham
make", the most of low-budget, hare-bones
community theater
"I do theater anywhere and everywhere I
t an. If the st rip! is good, it doesn't matter
where you do it,” she said
llarpham's latest play. “Elia Preta 111.” is
being presented us a benefit for the Mi Kenzie
Theater in Springfield.
With only five black boxes and a coal rack
as props, the play requires the audience have
an active imagination. Yet llarpham's skillful
script compensates for the mlnimalistic set
design
All card-carrying (X!A memliers are invited
to s«« the play fnee-of-charge, Harpham said.
The play is about the vulnerability of gays in
a harsh setting of intolerance, she explained
The protagonist Elia Preta. a Portugese
woman raised in a strict flatholit environment,
is unable to accept her sexual predisposition
wh«n she falls in love with her music teacher,
a nun.
Her struggle to realize her self-worth takes
her through a doomed marriage, motherhood, a
bitter divorce and losing ( ustody of her son
"The play is basically about the ownership
of children, about custody, and a trout how gays
are not really automatically bad parents."
Harpham said at the Women's Legislative
Forum Tuesday.
Redeemed by her musical genius ns a com
poser, Elia's only fortification against life's
onslaught is her art.
At the peak of tier self-discovery. Kliu creates
a musical masterpiece thut is represented as a
37-minute dream sequence on the movie
screen. The visuals, created by Cable Access,
and the music, composed by Fern McArthur,
took two years to coordinate.
"It looks like I spent Si0.000 to produce the
video, but I spent only $500," Harpham said.
Harpham earned a Masters of Fine Arts in
playwriting at Tokyo University and was a pro
fessor of drama at l C'l.A before retiring and
moving to Eugene. She is now the director of
the Oregon Academy of Dramatic Arts, a the
ater training school for the non-academic stu
dent .
Her play, a trilogy centered on the life of Kliu
Preta, has elements of the Japanese Noh tradi
tion. which is loosely paralleled to the Greek
tragedies in form. Miine. music and dance are
integral to the Noh style. Ilnrpham said
The trilogy began with a 1 'IHH WOW Hall
performance of "Elia Preta I" and is now at its
dramatic conclusion. However, each part is
understandable without the framework of the
trilogy.
With low attendance at last weekend's
shows, Harpham said she hopes the 500-seat
theater will see a better turnout this week.
"We really hoped that the CXIA would picket
so we could gel publicity." she said.
The play ends this weekend with H p in.
shows Friday and Saturday and n 2:30 matinee
Sunday. Admission is a suggested $7.
Bea Souza Harpham
t*¥ OM«H)
A Latino family's struggles ant portrayed metaphorically with a dramatic cockfight in Roosters," a University
theater production directed by Rachel Chipman Waite and opening April 21 at the Arena Theater In Villard Hall
Play delves into family issues
Ming Koarigues
fty fie Oegon n.*\ f -'ss.r.l
With cot k fighting its the bin k
drop to its ethnic slant. "Roost
its" is Itoth a coin11 and poignant
look by playwright Mi him
Sanchcz-Scott into the story of a
Latino family torn between the
past and present
The story is an ensemble piw e
The setting is New Mexico The
characters are (numbers of a fami
ly of cockfighters Life turns
around for the family when Gallo,
the father tailed for killing anoth
er man whose stag he borrowed to
breed prize coc ks. returns.
Conflict arises when Hector, the
son. intends to sell the rooster to
pay his way out of the valley
Meanwhile. Juana, the mother,
wants to keep the family together
in harmony, and Angela, the sis
ter, seriously believes she's an
angel and walks around with
wings talking to God.
The struggle of the family roles
is played out against the rhythm
of drums, and the dreams of a cul
ture are portrayed metaphorically
through a tlramahi cocMight
'Roosters' exc ites me like no
other play I've read hi a very long
time," said theater arts graduate
student Rachel Chipmnn Waite,
director of the play. It is an
impassioned piny uhmit family
bonds. love struggle, i onipotition
and the eternal. As a director, I
am enticed In the theatrical ele
ments of the play the dam mg
lighting and the muxii (performed
by Nandungfl) "
I'he play, though in English, is
stimulating in its poelti language
and Latino flavor, added Waite,
who speaks Spanish and has
lived ill Spain for some time and
traveled through Mexico. Real
roosters will strut around on
Stage, hut the cor klighting scenes
will In* played out by the ali-Liti
nn cast
"The play has proved to he a
cultural experience for the
actors," said Waite. "They have
come in closer touch with their
heritage ns a result — even
through the little things they had
'ft is an
impassioned play
about
family bonds,
love struggle,
competition
and the eternal
— Rachel Chlpman Waite,
rfir(K:tor
Id learn. lik*! rolling their Ks and
working on their a* < tints."
"Roosters” opens Wednesday.
April 21, <tl thi’ Arena Theater in
Villard Hall, til)1) Old Campus
Lone. Additional performances
are scheduled for April 22-24;
April 2H-3()and May 1 All perfor
mances liexin at H p in. Tickets, at
S t for students and $5 general
admission, ore available at the
University Theater Box Office in
Villard Hall. .146 41111
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