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Staying alive
a town where performers get rich, but other
qualities attract and keep artists here. Says
Westerwelle, “I went to Los Angeles and I saw
people doing the worst theater I think I’ve ever
seen in m y whole life— just horrible."
“In L A it’s who you know. Most people
w on’t even touch you: you’re dirt,” she says.
“You have to know someone or be some­
one’s k id . . .. You have to decide whether you
have the ego and stamina for Los Angeles,
and I d o n ’t have either one.”
Portland’s bush league status as an enter­
tainment center has saved it from the less
savory aspects of the industry, such as
nepotism and dehumanizing treatment of
actors, but continuing progress in improving
the artistic environment will assure the city of
continued excellence and variety on the
stage. .
“Public awareness is really important,”
says Horenstein. "Th e public is beginning to
realize that it really is a pretty inexpensive way
to spend an evening, and I think it can be
enlightening.”
b y J im H unger
“There are fewer starving actors here in
Portland than there are in Mew York or Los
Angeles," says local actor Ja y Randall
Horenstein. Conversations with local
performers indicate that the notion that ac­
tors must migrate to one of the country's
performing arts hubs — Mew York, Chicago,
or Los Angeles — is largely false. Th e image
of the starving actor barely surviving between
gigs appears to be largely illusory, at least in
Portland.
W endy Westerwelle, one of the most suc­
cessful local actors, com m ents, “I think we
have it m uch better here than any place else.
We can work all the time here."
“Th e re ’s a lot of work here, and it’s not as
competitive and vicious as it is in the big
cities. You do n’t sit around waiting for jobs
night and day for months at a time," says
Westerwelle.
Local talent Arthur Harold agrees: “I think
that Portland m ay be different in that there is
actually m ore theater going on here."
Echo ing these sentiments, Horenstein
says, "The re really is a lot going on here,
m ore than people realize, really worthwhile
stuff, too. You d o n ’t have ti
to an Equity
house to see good theater."
O re g o n Contem porary Theatre, Portland's
only recent professional theater employing
Actors’ Equity union m em bers has been dark
for som e time. Since union members must
play for union houses, or be granted waivers,
m ost local actors consider membership in
the union to be unwise, at least for now.
Although salaries are lower in non-union
houses — at times nonexistent —
opportunities are great Says Westerwelle, “If
yo u ’re an actor and you care more about
acting than money, Portland is a fabulous
acting town; the theater is qreat here.”
Westerwelle is one of Portland's latest m a­
jor success stories; her last production,
14
Processing
Lily Tomlin
b y Sandra de Helen
W e n d y Westerwelle as Soph.
Soph: The Last of the Red Hot Mamas,
played to sold-out houses through most of its
run this winter. Plans to move the play, written
by Westerwelle and Vana O'Brien, to Los
Angeles, have been delayed due to complica­
tions, possibly until next fall. In the meantime,
Soph reopens in Jun e at the Storefront
Theatre.
O f her recent success, Westerwelle says,
“Portland is a funny town, you know; when­
ever you get a certain degree of popularity,
people always want you to leave. Th e y’re al­
ways saying, ‘W hen are you going?’ or How
com e yo u ’re still here?’ "
Westerwelle explains that Portlanders as­
sum e that success on the stage must lie else­
where. "I do n’t know why people think that
But I feel like I am a success here and I love it
here, and if Soph doesn’t go to L A I have no
intention of leaving. I mean, I may tour m y
show, but I’m not going to leave town."
Horenstein and Harold also express a
willingness to remain on the Portland scene.
Horenstein says, "I think a lot of us stay be­
cause it really is pretty comfortable here, and
if you go someplace else, you have to start all
over again." Harold expresses similar senti­
ments: “Well, I like the town; it’s cheap here,
and I’m kind of chicken.”
Most actors need supplemental income,
and this is true for Portland artists as well.
Because of the unpredictable nature of the
profession, actors need to find situations that
will be flexible enough to allow them to m o d ­
ify their work schedule on short notice,
perhaps even to take leaves of absence from
their secondary jobs while they are engaged
in a production. Tw o favored areas for addi­
tional part-time employment are in other
phases of entertainment and in restaurants.
Harold has done both: when I was out of
college the only job I could get was a C E T A
job costum ing at Storefront I’d done a lot of
costum ing in college; that was m y work
study, and so that's basically where I got more
or less journey-level skills in seamstery."
Harold, whose most recent role was as
Solange in Genet’s The Maids at the Sum us
Theatre, has formed a designing business,
Realizations, with partner Robin Chilstrom.
Recently they worked on Th e Portland Civic
Theatre production of F u n n y Girl.
Horenstein works in a less typical trade for
actors. "I'm fortunate enough to have a pretty
terrific job — not a big paying job — I work for
m y cousins. Th ey have a coupon newspaper
and I’m a paste-up artist for them — I have a
back-up person, and if I have to go to an
audition they have that person fill in."
Says Horenstein, “Th e y realize that what I
do for them is not one of m y num ber one
priorities, but I try to make it num ber one
because they’re real special people.”
“! just make a living performing," says
Westerwelle. "I do commercials, so I can live
off what I make from commercials and per­
forming. Also, people call me all the time to
do something: fashion shows, or co m ­
mentary, or guest apperances. I just sang with
the Som etim e Jazz Band.”
Com m ercials can be a lucrative sideline,
but they aren’t dependable, as Westerwelle
points o u t “Comm ercials are really few and
far between. Th e y pay great when you get
them . So one month I may make a lot of
m oney and another I may not work.”
Am bitious Portland actors can find work in
the theater on a fairly consistent basis if they
are ambitious, though few are able to survive
solely on what they make on the stage. “I’ve
been really lucky,” Horenstein remarks. “For
the past two years I’ve been working practi­
cally full time. More than half of m y income
cam e just from theater alone.”
Says Horenstein, “I’m really proud to say
that I’ve bought m y groceries, paid m y car
insurance and m y rent with m oney from the
theater."
T h e Portland theater scene has m uch to
recom m end itself to aspiring actors, and
that’s no doubt why so m any talented
performers remain here despite the lack of a
professional theater. Th e num ber of produc­
tion houses and the attendance at individual
performances have increased steadily over
the last few years. Says Horenstein, “I think
it’s really exciting to know that there can be
anywhere from sixteen to thirty shows going
on, and there’s always someone who will
co m e and see you. Th a t’s really encouraging,
and the numbers are getting bigger."
Actors generally agree that Portland is not
Lily To m lin has a new show which is on its
way to Broadway. She stopped in Portland for
three weeks in Ju n e with her “Works in
Process.”
T h e format is more play-like than her pre­
vious work, particularly the second half.
Trudy, formerly Tess, the bag lady with outer
space chum s, ties the whole thing together
with her eccentric philosophy. Other char­
acters, new and old, make their appearances
and play out their scenes.
Fo r the second half, we meet several
feminists, some of whom are Lesbians. Th e
main character here is Lynn, who has a rela­
tionship with a Lesbian; however, after they
break up she meets and marries Bob. A Les­
bian couple figures largely in Lynn’s life, and
they are not left behind when Lynn marries,
but continue to be her most important friends.
Lily To m lin is a talented, creative genius.
She is so skilled at Mime, her invisible props
becom e real to the audience. She is so effi­
cient at changing character that three or four
characters can play out a scene right before
your eyes without the audience getting lost
Each character has its own voice, walk,
mannerisms. A nd Lily Tom lin brings all the
characters to life. I caught myself thinking
about Lynn’s twin boys a few days after I saw
the show. Th e n I wondered who those kids
belong to. Th e n I remembered the twins are
children of a character, not even characters
themselves! Th a t’s how real she makes her
people. She refers to them as her family, and
it’s easy to see why.
In addition to all this skill and talent Lily
To m lin possesses a political consciousness.
A nd I know, because it’s right out there for
everybody to see. She manages to cover an
incredible am ount of political issues in an
incredibly short time. This doesn’t mean she
tosses out politically correct phrases from
time to time, when it’s convenient What it
does mean is her characters em body her
philosophy, her politics, her awareness. And
that shows up over and over.
Tom lin moves people: T o laughter, to tears,
to new understanding of old issues, and to
deeper understanding of current issues. For
all I know, she covers future issues as well.
Som e people put their m oney where their
m ouths are, Lily Tom lin puts her mouth
where her heart is — and it works.
Just Out. July 1986