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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 1, 1995)
ju s« ou« ▼ d o c o m b o r 1, 1 9 9 5 ? 31 T ravel th e w o rld , b u t c a ll u s first... BLUESTONE HOCKLEY R E A L T Y I N C. Commercial sales Ä leasing A proud member of the community fo r more than 26 years RICHARD C. LEVY Vice President Associate Broker 232-5944 1 800 232-5944 4445 SW Barbur Blvd. Portland, OR 97201 (503) 222-3807 - - 1939 SE Hawthorne Blvd, Portland C (Ç) O rganic Produce (Ç) Bulk Foods ¡V) Ethnic & G ourm et Foods Q N atural Body Care From left: Michael Mendelson, Cristine McMurdo-Wallis and Cameron Watson in Portland Center Stage’s Comfort and Joy Él Food Front We now accept V IS A and debit cards! C O O l> lì I? AT I V I: G lì O C I: lì Y A n L.A. (X mas ) S tory Cozy up to the wit and 80-degree warmth of a gay couple ’s first holiday with the folks ▼ by C. Jay W ilson Jr. es, it’s Christmastime again. It’s daunting. This hasn’t affected the content of the script, however. Heifner expects that this play will time to rally around those holiday traditions and tap into the collec upset some people, but he finds it more important tive Yuletide euphoria. For most to say what needs to be said. He wishes the play to of us, this encompasses flocking to express as little bias as possible, preferring to such perennial diversions as The Nutcracker “present and as many sides of the argument as I can.” Handel’s Messiah. But for those more adventure He has promised that no one will be spared in the some souls desperate to break out of their I t’s a production. Wonderful Life routine, Portland Center Stage is Heifner chose the setting of Los Angeles for offering theatergoers an unconventional entry into Comfort and Joy and has unofficially subtitled it the slew of holiday entertainment possibilities. his “Revenge on L.A.” play. As a resident of Los Angeles for the past several years (he is on his way back to New York via Texas), he has concluded that “nothing makes sense in Los Angeles,” and, since this is a play about inappropriate behavior, Christmas in L.A.’s 80-degree heat offers the per The commissioned play Comfort and Joy, by Jack fect setting. The facade of Hollywood ideologies Heifner, promises to be the production most likely and their influence upon the country’s collective consciousness is fertile ground for a playwright to reveal some of the season’s concealed absurdi ties and hopefully add some heat to the proverbial who wishes to expose artifice. Heifner promises to chestnut-infested fire. re-examine our perceptions of family, home, and the “picture-postcard Christmases” that we have Elizabeth Huddle, artistic director for PCS, has taken on a brave challenge with the commission all been told to expect. ing of Comfort and Joy, for the play features a When Heifner began writing Comfort and Joy he knew that he wanted more than a “bedroom homosexual couple in the central roles— a subject that conservative viewers farce” fate for the play. He may find objectionable. wanted to accomplish a political comedy that en Huddle is faced with a deli The added influence o f a serious issues using cate dilemma that fre mean fairy to the plot fuels gages methods that continue to quently confronts artistic pull the audience back to directors of theater com the comedy and enables the laughter. The added influ panies: Do you risk upset action to progress in a ence of a mean fairy to the ting a subscriber base (sig plot fuels the comedy and nificantly influenced by nonlinear way. the tenets of a more con enables the action to ventional contingent) to progress in a nonlinear produce important works that may have a provoca way— a device recently employed in the success tive political or social commentary? Huddle’s an ful gay-themed Broadway productions of Tony swer is yes. She has dedicated herself to a project Kushner’s Angels in America and Terrence that may raise a few eyebrows, or leave a few McNally’s Love! Valour! Compassion! vacant seats after intermission, but she is deter With the combined efforts of Jack Heifner, mined to stirs things up a bit, in hopes that the OCA director Cliff Baker (who has directed Heifner’s may begin to lose its grip upon Oregon political past five shows), PCS’s impressive production perspectives. team and a cast of talented actors, all working As the playwright of a commissioned piece, together to bring to life Elizabeth Huddle’s con Jack Heifner feels as if he has shouldered a certain ception, Comfort and Joy will undoubtedly be the amount of the responsibility concerning the suc most talked-about holiday affair since “The Living cess of the show. Heifner is used to seeing his Christmas Tree.” shows performed in more intimate theatrical set Comfort and Joy runs Dec. 8-30 at PCPA’s tings, and even though his off-Broadway play Intermediate Theatre (previews are Dec. 2-7). Vanities ran for four and a half years, he finds the Tickets are $ll-$33, call (503) 274-6588. task of filling a 900-seat theater nightly somewhat Y M 2375 NW Thurman St. Portland, OR 97210-2572 (503) 222-5658 Fulfilling your needs naturally since !lJ72. D on t S ay Y ou C an t G et A L oan U ntil Y ou ’ ve P honed H ome f w e handle all conventional and nonconventional loans. a First Time Home Buyers Programs a Self-Employed Borrowers a Manufactured Housing/Land a Credit Problems a Bankruptcies & Foreclosures a Debt Consolidation a Complicated Borrowers a 3% Down Programs a Investment Properties a Pre-approvals for Purchase f w e 'r e your full service mortgage company. C a ll today for a free qualification over the phone 503/<5S>8-S42S> P a g e r 503/870-1666 Christine C. Hall M o r tg a g e B r o k e r HOME M O R T G A G E CORP. Garden Statuary • Soaps • Icons 3707 SE Hawthorne Portland, Oregon 97214 5 0 3 -2 3 5 - 1 2 5 7