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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (March 1, 1996)
2 8 ▼ m arch 1. 1 0 9 0 T ju st ou t PEACE OF MIND WITH $ 5 0 OFF McË’Miniblind MARK HUCKINS Founder FREE M E A S U R IN G FREE IN S TA L L A TIO N O n p u rc h a se over $ 5 0 0 C hannel S urfing Not valid with any other offer In Word of Mouth, James Lecesne flips through the bands o f a metaphysical shortwave radio Expires 3/31/96 ▼ iniblind by C. Jay Wilson Jr. • Pleated Shades • Silhouettes * Duettes • Wood Blinds • Vignettes • Verticals FREE MEASURING • FREE INSTALLATION Portland • Beaverton Washington Co. Lake Osw ego »W est L in n * Clackamas Co. «Tualatin Gresham # Happy Vancouver* Clark Cty. Valley (206)256-6622 Multnomah Co. Salem «M a rion Co (503)292-6464 (503)636-6588 (503)667-0354 (503)363-7993 B e r n a d e t t e B reu A n t iq u e s & o r n a m e n t Mon - Sat 1 lam - 6pm (503) 294-1812 214 SVV Stark Street Portland, OR 97204 PARKING AVAILABLE BUY • T R A D E • C O N S I G N M e n ’ s D esig n er C lo th ing K Jt U coK&iy* <fawi (u ^re * d ciat&Ou} fat cm A W ell * Suited 2 4 1 5 NE B r o a d w a y ♦ 284-5939 S T A B R T S FR ID A Y M A R C H 8 T H S L loyd cinemas roadway metro 225-5555-4600 T igard cinemas 11 I [ ,IW iÆ r ^ [ E vergreen pkwy 7 I RATH A C yFBG M CEN PKW Y C lackamas tow n ctr INSIDE THF. MALL mmmmmmmimL G rand parkway M A T STAFFORD KXIT outhgate H W Y 224 A T 99E 22S-S5SS«46l8 of apparitions of the Virgin Mary in hopes o f curing t’s hard to believe that James Lecesne’s her terminally ill daughter. Perhaps his most endear Word o f Mouth is a one-man show. The ing portrayal, however, is his animated depiction of performance features an effortless succes Trevor, a gay teenager desperately in love with sion o f diverse characters, each distinctly Diana Ross, who attempts suicide by swallowing accomplished physically through the strate aspirin only after his self-inflicted shock treatments gic employment o f a minimalist costume arrange fail to deliver him of his nascent homosexual feel ment— a hat, scarf, or suspended wig. The depth o f ings. In a brilliant display of flamboyant gesticula Lecesne’s characterizations is fulfilled through tions, Lecesne captures the hilarious drama of marvelous conversions o f tone, gesture and vocal Trevor’s exaggerated plight, while still managing to delivery, all o f which provide the framework for a communicate the sobering reality of gay teenage suicide that exists as a visible backdrop to the projected comedy. Lecesne’s performance is part o f his cathartic response to the loss that he has encountered in his own life. Lecesne confesses that not only did he compelling evening of theater that has amazed want to answer questions for other people, he really critics and audiences alike on both coasts. The same wanted to answer those questions for himself. Word is in store for Portland. o f Mouth acknowledges the brevity of existence and Having completed a successful off-Broadway emphasizes the universal need to tell our own sto run with his show— which garnered him the 1995 ries. Lecesne tries to convince us that we must “not Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Award for best solo performance— Lecesne mounted a “magic let the time go by without having said what [we] c a rp e t’’ to u r o f Word o f Mouth, which landed him in San Francisco for another extended run. He will make his way to Portland via As pen, Colo., where his show is being produced for an HBO comedy special. Word o f Mouth, subtitled “The Story o f the Human Satellite Dish,’’ opens in the B rooklyn apartm ent o f a rather vociferous Italian fam ily, where the voices of dead relatives are being channeled through a shortwave radio. This setting establishes the central narrative that offers the cohesion of the perfor mance along with an array of colorful characters, the dis tinction between whom is ex ecuted often solely w ith L ecesne’s quick pivot on stage and instant development of another role. We are intro duced to the hot-blooded Frankie, Frankie’s equally volatile mother, who hasn’t quite abdicated her “ M iss Coney Island” throne, and a c h a in -sm o k in g Jew ish woman with a penchant for delivering her raspy-voiced commentary. The shortwave radio ex ists as the metaphysical me dium through which the au dience is propelled on a jour ney across the globe and into the soliloquies of four char acters, each coping with the u n iv ersal o f death and alien a tio n . A p ro p e r e ld e rly woman— one o f Lecesne’s more startling characteriza James Lecesne as Shirley in W ord o f Mouth tions— unfolds her story, in terrupted by a discourse with her dead servant, as want to say in life,” an agenda that he communicates she prepares to leave Africa. Brian communicates effectively through the memorable characters of his his story, first from a hospital waiting room as his comically poignant show. wife undergoes chemotherapy and later as a janitor of that same hospital after his w ife’s death. W ord o f M outh runs March 8-10 and 14-17 at Even as Lecesne chooses to explore subject Echo Theatre, 1515 SE 37th Ave. in Portland. matter of a serious nature in many o f his sketches, Sunday shows are at 7 pm, all others are at he strives to approach it with his most entertaining 8 pm. Tickets are $13-$ 14 from Fastixx, flair. Through another characterization he deftly 224-8499, Music Millennium and unfurls the comic nuances o f Shirley, a woman Jelly Bean Cards, and $15-$16 at the door. from Georgia who dedicates her life to the pursuit I