Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (April 1, 1988)
Lou Harrison, musician, philospher, gay liberationist Nature produces us as roughly 10 percent of the population in every generation, and we are absolutely non-assimilable . Religions can get changed, money can get redistributed, race can get diffused in bloodlines, but being gay is renewed by nature in every generation. B Y R I C H A R D B R O W N Tchaikovsky. And Lully, for example, was apparently outrageous — yet his music is part of he Portland Gay Men’s Chorus will pre French tradition. sent the first full-scale production of Young “ I know that some gay people are eager to Caesar, an opera by Lou Harrison, on Saturday have an entire culture behind a wail, isolated. and Sunday evenings, April 9 and 10, in the I don’t feel that way. Nature produces us as Intermediate Theatre of the Portland Center for roughly 10 percent of the population in every the Performing Arts. The composer will be generation, and we are absolutely non- present for the performances. assimilable. By that I mean, religions can get Young Caesar is an unabashedly gay opera. changed, money can get redistributed, race can Its composer is an unabashedly gay man. get diffused in bloodlines, but being gay is Lou Harrison is one of America’s leading What are you going to do about gay rights, and renewed by nature in every generation.” composers. His works are performed world about changing the laws? That was the basis of Does that mean that rights for gay people will wide. and his influence on other composers is SIR — to be political and direct. have to be won anew in every generation? far-reaching. This year alone, there will be “ People who were up for election got in “ Let me put it this way: Straight people seven or eight new recordings of his music on vited, and in San Francisco it was becoming would like to think that they have it all made. the Nonesuch, New World and New Albion evident that there was voting power. So it mat But of course we are a bom caution to them. labels. tered to the politicians. This was many years Even if they know that justice must be done to before Stonewall. And there was no violence. He was bom in Portland in 1917 and lived nature’s works, still there’s a little oh-I-wish- here until he was nine years old. He lives now in We went about it in a forum rather than a riot.” they’d-go-away feeling on the part of a lot of Aptos, Calif. A man of wide-ranging intellect, Harrison them. We must make it clear to — how can I put “ From very deep inside myself,” he said, “ it has pursued many interests in his 70 years. He it non-offensi vely? — the dumber of the straight is wonderful to come back to the place where I speaks and has taught Esperanto; he is an people that we exist and we are a primary was bom and to a life fully open, with warm accomplished painter and calligrapher as well caution, and we’re also not so bad as society fellowship. And I had no idea that PGMC’s as a poet. He has mastered not only the tradi members. As a member of the early gay rights organiza tional musical forms of the West but also those production of Young Caesar was going to be as tion Society for Individual Rights (SIR) in San of the Orient, particularly Korea, China and brilliant as it is. It’s going to be terrific.” Francisco, Harrison was a pioneer in the gay Indonesia. He has composed a large body of It was Harrison’s lover of many years. Bill rights movement. music for the gamelan and for combinations of Colvig, who first suggested that he compose an Western and Eastern instruments. “ SIR was a good organization. Wehadasort opera on a gay subject. of support group. And we had lots of fun. There Earlier in his career he composed serial ' I immediately thought of the episode in was a dance every weekend. I remember teach music, but many years ago he began to simplify <• ’aesar’s life witli the king of Bithynia.” Harri ing Ned Rorem how to Charleston one evening. his music and return to tonality. He is considered son said That was nearly 20 years ago. He I took many friends there. Virgil Thomson a forerunner of the minimalist composers, such wrote the first version for a puppet theater pro visited, and Nicolas Nabokov — a great as Philip Glass and Steven Reich. duction with an orchestra of only five members number of people came from the East, awe “ In some sense, I see myself as an instigator playing a wide assortment of instruments; it was struck at all this developing in San Francisco. of that,” he said. “ The dates show that some of performed at the Cabrillo Festival and in The main thrust was that we invited politicians my works precede the minimalists, and also the Pasadena in 1971. — some of whom are still in the public eye — return to tonality. I am thought of now by some “ It got the most widely differing reviews of to come and talk to us, and we confronted them: people as a sort of historical figure. But I’m not any work I’ve ever done. Some reviewers thought it was absolutely marvelous. And some were outraged — how dare I?” It was the subject matter— a gay love affair between Julius Caesar and the king of Bithynia — that caused the outrage. “ Most of the reviewers didn’t know about that part of Caesar’s life, and they were Portland Women s Theater Company is looking for scripts that horrified, They all hurried back to their encyclopedias to look it up.” reflect today's issues: health,child care, alcoholism, Straightforward gay stories are practically problems of professional women today unknown in standard opera literature. "When it has been done,” Harrison said, “ as to 30 women in the company, compared to B Y S A N D R A D E H E L E N in Benjamin Britten’s Death in Venice, the gay Family Circus’s four women and one man; a subject is more alluded to than actualized. omen’s theater is alive and well in Port member is defined as someone who has worked Robert Gordon [the librettist) and I didn’t stop land! Family Circus Theater, although in any capacity on a production. The company is at alluding to it — we wrote it out.’ not strictly women’s theater, is back in action committed to performing plays about women, and currently is running Have a Heart, a play but other objectives and goals are still evolving. “ The king is the dominant character in the about women’s issues, and the Portland The current production is a classic lesbian play second act. In the end. he is left alone on the Women’s Theatre Company is firmly ensconced by Jane Chambers about love, death and dock when Caesar sails away. I suppose Lorca alternative family. in its space in the Hollywood district, producing would have called it a tragi-comedy. The story Last Summer at Bluefish Cove. Portland Women’s Theatre, now that it has is fun. and it’s a true part of history. But if you Deborah Heasley Rodney, one of the original its own theater space, hopes to set a hill season, think about the poor king, after all. he gave up members and current director of Family Circus including children’s theater, for 1988-1989. his whole kingdom Apparently he loved Caesar Theater, said that the company’s objectives are Both companies are committed to non- very much There is an interesting fact about to reconnect with its previous audience, gen oppressive theater. Cherise Millhouse said that that that’s not mentioned in the opera. Caesar erate a new audience, eventually to do touring PWTC wants to present ‘ ‘a positive image of became so attached to the court of Bithynia that theater, and to provide good entertainment with women, to avoid stereotyping, and to avoid he returned several times as legal defense to a social conscience. friends that he had made there. Aside from that typecasting.” Kathay Duff, the director, said Family Circus is dedicated to finding and trip up the Nile with Cleopatra, I suppose it was the company “ still wants to have fun. that is maintaining that balance between art and poli about the only time Caesar took time out ” stillagoal ” It’s easy to see why. when produc tics which sometimes eludes alternative theater The story is gay. but is there such a thing as ing theater is nearly a full-time job and. as Faith companies. Its actors are trained and experi McDevitt pointed out, “ nearly every woman gay music? enced. and the company strives to create “ I really doubt it.” Harrison said “ We all here has a career. It used to be that we had jobs, material that advocates social change and is have a range of emotions and can express them. and our real life started when we got to rehear inspirational and affirming, rather than We can be fenx'ious. we can have angst, we can sal. Now we have women who are lawyers, oppressive. be delightful and frivolous The works of gay counselors at drug rehab centers, in the medical The Portland Women's Theatre Company is field, like that. composers throughout history are integrated into a larger and looser group. There are currently 25 the major literature Everybody knew about PWTC is looking for scripts that reflect T Women's theater motivated by social change W Just Out • 16« April 1988 a minimalist. I’m a simplicist. I like simple music.” What he likes most is melody. He has been called the greatest melodist of his generation. Last fall, when the Philadelphia Orchestra played his Third Symphony, he was asked to address the audience. “ I explained to them,” he said, “ that what I do is make up tunes.” Right. And what Rembrandt did was make lines. • •• New Albion Records announced the release on compact disc and cassette of a collection of three works by Lou Harrison. The title work, “ La K,oro Sutro,” is for 100 voices and Ameri can Gamelan. The American Gamelan is a percussion orchestra, built by longtime Harrison associate, William Colvig, and inspired by the Indonesian percussion orchestras generically known as gamelan. The famous Buddhist text, ‘ ‘The Heart Sutra,” is set to song in nine movements in an Esperanto translation. The second work, “ Varied Trio,” in five movements, is scored for violin, piano and percussion. The third piece, in seven movements, is the Suite for Violin and American Gamelan. • today’s issues: health, child care, alcoholism, problems of professional women today, plays about younger women and their particular concerns. “ People want to go to the theater to be entertained,” Rodney said, “ but they also want to be inspired, to be motivated, to have hope. They have to get up and go out and change the world, and the problems are serious social problems.” Both companies are looking for community support. PWTC has a newly formed fund-raising committee. Family Circus wants to stay small so it can keep costs down, and it wants to tour. It can bring a play into a classroom or put it on a proscenium. Local traditional theater companies also are struggling for funds, but the difference is that their community is larger, their costs are higher and some of them pay their performers and workers. Alternative theater companies strive to bring us theater that is particularly meaningful, actively seek our feedback, and provide an evening’s entertainment at a reasonable price. They must seek and receive additional support from the alternative community if they are to survive. Have a Heart is playing at Columbia Theater on Tuesday nights through April 12. Last Summer at Bluefish Cove will play at PWTC on Friday and Saturday nights from April 15 through June 4. See Out About Town for details. •