Reviving ‘Lives’
By Jack Clifford
Oregon Daily Emerald
There’s a well-worn adage in show busi
ness that says you should give the people
what they want. Well, the Actors Cabaret of
Eugene has heard the clamoring and this
weekend brings back a local favorite.
“For some time now, all I’ve heard from
people is ‘When are you going to do ‘Paral
lel Lives’? When are you going to do ‘Paral
lel Lives’?’,” the play’s director Joe Zingo
said. “This is one that people really love.”
Theatergoers get a chance this weekend
to reconnect with “The Kathy and Mo
Show: Parallel Lives,” as it begins a run Fri
day night at ACE in downtown Eugene.
Kathy Najimy and Mo Gaffney first
wrote and produced “Parallel Lives” in
mid-1985 while living in San Diego. After a
wildly successful stint there, the women
took their show to New York City in No
vember of that year. The play has been
staged in Philadelphia, Baltimore, Chicago,
Los Angeles and San Francisco, among
other cities.
Gaffney and Najimy each won Obie
Awards for their performances and last
year the show became an HBO special.
For the ACE gig, Eugene actors Erica
Krause and Becky Croson-LaChapelle
reprise the approximately 30 roles, ones
they know well. They were the first two ac
tresses besides Gaffney and Najimy to do
the show.
“The play sort of takes a slice of life from
a lot of different characters that are almost
cartoony, yet you’ll find a lot of realism in
every single one of them,” Krause said.
“Even though they’re outrageous and
they’re very ‘out there,’ with just about
every character, you’ll say, ‘I know some
one like that’ or ‘That reminds me of my
uncle.’”
The two actors gender-bend throughout
the play and one scene might have them as
’* " a_ms
Scott Barnett Emerald
Erica Krause and Becky Croson-LaChapelle bring back their multitude of roles in “The Kathy and Mo Show: Par
allel Lives,” opening this weekend at the Actors Cabaret of Eugene, 996 Willamette St.
angels discussing creation, while another
portrays them as young girls. Switching
from role to role can be draining, Croson
LaChapelle said, but her partner pointed
out that a lot of the play depends on famil
iarity just as much as energy.
“We don’t have a lot of costume changes,
only because it goes so fast, but sometimes
it’s a simple matter of putting on a hat,
some glasses and carrying your purse fun
ny and the transformation happens,”
Krause said. “Putting on a real simple cos
tume piece is almost like muscle memory
— you feel the weight and it becomes really
natural, because we’ve been doing it for so
long.”
Croson-LaChapelle and Krause have per
formed “Parallel Lives” off and on for sev
en years, and the last time was in Oct. 1995.
Since then, Croson-LaChapelle, a nurse
with PeaceHealth Medical Group in the pe
diatrics unit, got married and Krause re
turned to George Fox University to finish a
bachelors degree she started at the Univer
sity. The two have also kept busy in vari
ous plays.
“Last year I moved back to Eugene,
called Erica and I said ‘Mattie — that’s one
of her favorite characters in the play — I
think it’s time to do the show again,’” Cro
son-LaChapelle said, using the voice of
Syvie, short for Sylvia, her favorite charac
ter in “Parallel Lives.”
Zingo has been far from a slacker him
After a much anticipated wait,
two Eugene actors bring the
nationally-acclaimed ‘Parallel
Lives’ to town
self. He’s currently working on three other
productions, and just finished with “Wiz
ard of Oz” at South Eugene High School.
That play utilized 186 actors, ranging from
elementary school age to high schoolers.
Now he’s down to two actors for “Parallel
Lives.”
“It was sort of like herding people there,
because [‘Wizard of Oz’] is that large a
scale,” he said. “When you get to two, you
can really home in on what they’re doing,
rather than on what ‘it’ looks like. We’ve
done the show before, so they know what
I’m after.”
Zingo said that while people may think
that he can go on cruise control, consider
ing the smaller cast, he instead has a more
defined and just as crucial job.
“What happens is that the director needs
to really focus in more because there’s fewer
things for the actors to be distracted by,”
Zingo said. “I’m pulling it back, because you
give two very competent actors the reins and
they’ll go with it As we all know about ac
tors, actors sometimes have a tendency to do
their own things, and sometimes it’s not
‘the’ thing that should happen.”
For Croson-LaChapelle and Krause, one
may not always know exactly where the
other one is going, but with such a close
working relationship, they know how to re
cover.
“We work so well together that if I screw
up a line, Erica’s right there,” Croson
LaChapelle said. “If she misses something,
I’m right behind her.”
With or without miscues, “Parallel
Lives” has returned.
Performances this weekend are Friday
and Saturday at 8 p.m. The show continues
Nov. 26 and 27, and additional perfor
mances will be added in December.
Ticket prices are $14 in advance, with a
limited number of student and senior tick
ets at $10. Call the ACE box office at 683
4368 for more information.