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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 1, 1990)
Just out T D tcim b tr 1000 ▼ 2 3 M . Butterfly A visual and intellectual feast from Broadway tours Portland \ Butterfly, in production at Ore gon Shakespeare Festival-Port- land through Dec. 1, is billed as a visual and intellectual feast. It is all of that, and more. Oregon Shakespeare Festival-Portland was able to obtain the rights to this Broadway play be cause the national touring company will not be stopping in Portland this year. Producer Dennis Bigelow has ensured that the Portland production is every bit as pro- _____ * fessional, exciting, and authentic as any touring company could hope to be. M. Butterfly is based on a true story published in the New York Times in HELEN 1986. A former French diplomat and a Chinese opera singer were sentenced to jail for six years for spying for China. The trial disclosed that the diplomat passed along classified information to his Chi nese lover of twenty years, whom he had be lieved to be a woman. People everywhere were talking about this case, and asking the obvious question: how could he not have known? M Playwright David Henry Hwang, a 33-year- old genius, chose to write a fictional play that does not document the “real” facts or people. Instead, this brilliant script explores the differ ences between East and West, fantasy and real ity, men and women, homosexuals and hetero sexuals. Hwang had noticed the parallels be tween the affair and Puccini’s opera, Madama Butterfly. He then took the archetypal East- West relationships (submissive “Orientals” vs. dominant Caucasians) and explored every inch of them as well as the relationship between women and men. As the play demonstrates, white men in West ern society think of themselves as powerful, and of women, particularly Asian women, as meek and malleable. Hwang brings out the nuances of Western society that allow — maybe even force — men to think this way, by showing the peer pressure Rene Gallimard (portrayed by Laurence Ballard) endures from his school mates, co-work ers, even his boss. One scene, which shows Rene at age 12 has him discover “girlie” maga zines and realize that instead of feeling lust, what he feels is incredible power over women. He has discovered the ability to get women to do any thing he wants — at least in his fantasies. This scene was accompanied by a live dem- onstration as actor Liisa Ivary appeared in black lace undergarments and peignoir, then proceeded to shed them down to her black high heels. The tension in the audience was palpable, for times have changed. No longer is it acceptable for men to enjoy such a scene by whistling, catcalling, or even uttering a single sound. Twenty years ago the women in the audience would have had to endure such exhibits from the surrounding men. Today, men and women alike sat still, barely breathing, until the naked actor left the stage. Near the end of the play, a male actor also strips to the skin, for the same reason: to dem onstrate the power Rene has over another human being. The tension lessened, and the play seemed more balanced. Still, the play would not have suffered had the woman not undressed. ^ Again and again throughout the evening we are confronted with our cultural biases, our gen der biases, our heterosexual assumptions. Rene falls in love with — and lives twenty years of his life in — a fantasy. As he says, “only a man could have created the perfect woman.” And the perfect woman is: a man. When Rene questions why his mistress re fuses ever to fully undress, why it is that she does all the work in their sexual pleasuring, she feigns shyness. At the moment he is ready to strip her clothes himself and exhibit his dominance over her, he realizes that perhaps he doesn’t really want to know the truth — the truth, which as it turns out, would cause him to face the reality that he was in love with another man. In the end, when Rene is forced to face real ity, he understandably chooses fantasy. This production employs Luo-Yong Wang as the man/woman of Rene’s dreams. Wang has been in the United States since 1986 and is cur rently an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He is trained in classical Peking Opera, and he serves as choreographer for this production as well as playing the title role. Three men are cast as Kurogo Dancers. They appear throughout the production in stylized movement and dance, becoming living stage decor. These men, Paul Keoni Chun, Man Wong, and Ding Mei-Kui add depth to an al ready superior cast. It is encouraging to see that Oregon Shakespeare Festival-Portland is willing to spend the money to ensure authenticity in the cast. All this production’s actors are excellent. Of special note is Jeanne Sakata in the roles of Comrade Chin/Suzuki/Shu-Fang. The characters challenge her to move from a servant in Madama Butterfly to Butterfly’s servant to a comrade for Chairman Mao. Hwang’s play is directed by Philip Killian; set designs by William Bloodgood; costumes by Deborah M. Dryden; lighting by Robert Person; and David de Berry composed the original mu sic and serves as musical director. Mention just out when supporting our advertisers Working Toward a Just Society EMILY SIMON Susie Bright comes to Portland , Also known as Susie Sexpert she speaks on ”Sex in Public G irlfriend Productions and Powell’s Books band together to present Susie Bright aka Susie Sexpert speaking on “Sex in Public: Erotic Representation, Censorship and Sex in the 90’s” on Friday, Dec. 14, 8 pm at the Northwest Service Center. Bright is best known as the editor of On Our Backs, the magazine for the “adventurous” lesbian. She is also the author of the recently published book Susie Sexpert's Lesbian Sex World, a collection of her essays that first appeared in On Our Backs. The writings contained within the Lesbian Sex World create a portrait of the lesbian sex world over the last six years. Running the gamut from butch/femme role playing to sex toys to AIDS and safe sex to re-election of Jesse Helms and the constant lesbian sexual images. Bright is a cheerleader for homophobic restrictions about National Endow “lesbian desire” in all its forms. The book takes ment for the Arts funding, the expression of les an honest look at the sexual and social lives of bian sex and sexuality is an important part of the lesbians — what lesbians really do, not what the First Amendment, not just from a political point censors and sex police say lesbians ought to do. of view but also from a cultural one. Censorship Bright’s essay on women with AIDS and HIV is a very real weapon which continues to be used has much needed information on how lesbians against lesbian poets, authors and artists. We with HIV negotiate sex and sexual desire. Bright must fight against this wave of oppression and celebrates the lesbian nation “from lipstick lez- celebrate our lives, every part of our lives. 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