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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 21, 1997)
30 ▼ »«b in a ry 21. 1007 ▼ just out T ▼ T T ▼ ► ◄ ► ◄ ► ◄ 107E m ◄ W A A A 1^1 ◄ M ► ► ► A Public Dialogue A bout Lesbians, Gays and Family Values ► ► 7 - 9 a.m. Wednesdays ► Call in (503) 222-5539 o r (360) 693-5539 ► ► ► ◄ Love Makes A Family, Inc. PO Box 11694 Portland, OR 97211 ▲ ◄ ◄ 5 0 3 / 228-3892 ▲ 720 NW 23rd A ve. • 228-4388 ◄ Parent Teacher Project a ◄ ◄ Advocacy fo r Safe Schools a Jay Wilson Jr. ◄ For Parents and Kids a C. ◄ Monthly Meetings ► by ◄ KKEY 1150 AM ► The monologue commands the spotlight for triangle ys repertory run of Three Viewings and Waiting for Vern ◄ ◄ Weekly Talk Radio Prosram ► and gifts from the world over O ne V oice , M any H ands C lapping ◄ "Love Makes A Family" ► ► W S ilver • F urniture PHOTO BY RICK ADAMS ► ► exoric T Nicholette Reid as Mac in “Thief o f Tears, ” one o f Three Viewings n actor speaking alone on stage, free from com petition with another per form er for the attention o f the audi ence: In this action- and spectacle- fueled entertainm ent age, the m ono logue retains the capability— like no other theat rical expression— to rend the imaginary veil be tween actor and audience. Proving the transcendent power o f a solitary perform ance, triangle productions! is producing A ◄ ◄ ▲ COMMON CONCERNS Long Distance Classic Value, Uncommon Vision y 1 2 c /m in . L o n g D i3 la n c e For OnLvÉ 24 hrs a dá j¡ a n y w h e r ^ in th e U.S, ed! Ca (»a> o w iii’d and a id s a\ailahlc. 5 f/t of o c ‘i\ call (nmm ed to AII^ S-rc latc d c h a ritie s! 2-SAVE Portland’s Newest and Highest Capacity Li • Sterophonic Sound • Complimentar • TV/VCR 281.0096 LITAN LIMOUSINE two plays in repertory that offer various ranges o f the solo voice on stage. In the one-man show Waiting fo r Vern, v e te ra n a c to r M ich ael M endelson delivers a comical piece about an actor who appears on stage to find that he is unexpectedly without the assistance o f the other cast member. Three Viewings combines the ef forts o f three perform ers in unrelated monologues set within a M idwestern funeral parlor. Borrowing the theme o f an anticipated guest who never shows from Samuel Beckett’s Waiting fo r Godot, Waiting fo r Vern owes its action to the elusive character. Playwright James De Vita, how ever, steers his play from Beckett’s absurdity and directs it into a comparatively straightforward ac count o f an actor’s seemingly unrehearsed succes sion of impressions, blathered in a frenzied effort to keep the audience entertained. The nervous and giddy chatter with the audience alternates between the prosaic and the sincere, with a rather weighty subtext concerning the gray area that exists be tween an actor and his or her dramatized persona. M ichael M endelson offers a convincing per formance o f a neurotic actor, creating a character who possesses aplom b commingled with uncer ta in ty — se e m in g ly in c o n g ru o u s tra its th at M endelson effortlessly carried off. Mendelson infused his perform ance with enough intensity to make the most trite issues o f his character’s over worked mind seem fraught with significance. In contrast, some o f the more introspective moments of the play, particularly a section that portrays the character’s father, revealed a surprising paucity o f energy that, despite the sincerity o f the deliv ery, gave me the feeling that an alternate charac terization was at work. As this play is essentially a dialogue with the reticent audience, the tone o f the performance is generated by the dynamic established by that entity. Consequently, Waiting fo r Vern will de velop and strengthen throughout its run as Mendelson sharpens his improvisational instincts. Death is the galvanizing force within the three monologues that comprise Jeffrey H atcher’s ef fective Three Viewings. The three portraits cap ture lives propelled into a heightened self-exam i nation upon their respective involvement with ceremonies honoring the dead. The three charac ters share the basic commonality o f setting, along with the need to unfold their personal accounts of their unpredictable tragedies and disappointments. Eric Hull delivers the opening piece, involving a funeral director who finds it impossible to muster nerve to protest his love for one of the parlor habitués. His emotional paralysis affords him the privacy to speculate on the romantic inclinations of his beloved and the development of his own con vincing discourse on fear and inactivity. Hull’s rendering of the character’s pathetic fate attacks the audience with dramatic force enough to leave it stunned by the end of his piece. A woman who makes her living as a corpse robber and has her eyes on the prize that rests on her dead grandm other’s finger is the subject o f the scenario presented by the second monologue. Played with sultry electric veracity by Nicholette Reid, the character nonetheless has so many trunks full of emotional baggage, and the plot is given so many unexpected twists, that we fail to latch onto a consistent developmental pattern. R eid’stim ing was impeccable, however, and she mirrored the image I’ve had in my head concerning the appear ance o f corpse robbers from the L.A. area. The final and by far the most exquisite mono logue was offered by the incomparable Mary Marsh. This scene was the most facile o f the three, but left me absolutely transfixed on M arsh’s splendid de piction of a woman who reflects upon the life of her recently deceased husband and his unpaid debts. While not once moving from her perch on a sofa. Marsh manages a remarkable characterization through subtle movements and vocal inflections. Three Viewings is what theater should be: a good old-fashioned drama about the stories en twined in the way we live and die. W aiting for Vern and Three Viewings play through March 9 at ihe Main Street Theatre, 904 SW Main St. Tickets are $13 from Jelly Bean, Music Millennium and the triangle box office, 223-6790, and $14 when charged by phone from Fastixx, 224-8499.
