3 S Ju st
m a t • aprii 16. 1999
▼
1ST A N N U A L N O R TH W EST
TRANSGENDER FILM FESTIVAL
Play time
Sandra de Helen savors her cu rren t successes
and ponders the future of theater
THE EVERGREEN STATE
COLLEGE
ifc.
OLYMPIA WA . 1
by
W ill O ’B ryan
or Portland playwright Sandra de Helen,
April started on the right foot. Her play
The Clue in the Old Birdbath, a musical
Nancy Drew parody co-written by Kate
Kasten, opened Friday, April 2, in Eugene.
Opening night was sold out, as was the April 3
performance.
“The script is usually well received,”
de Helen says confidently. “It’s actually done
well everywhere. I think it’s because so many
women like Nancy Drew.”
The plays success could lead one to believe
that de Helen is on a roll. After all, she was
recently named the International Center for
Women Playwrights’ new membership director,
which she’s excited about.
F
THURSDAY MAY 1 0
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FILMT:
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sented at the festival, as only her play had
queer content.
De Helen says she and, she imagines, most
women of the 1CWP feel a kinship to Geller
and her situation. “However successful people
have been, there’s still that element of being
rejected,” de Helen notes, explaining that vul
nerability, like Gellers, is something to which
all playwrights can relate.
To further her aim to involve more young
people in theater and also support Geller,
de Helen plans to produce Life Versus the Paper
back Romance once it reaches its final form. “I
will produce something for Portland,” de Helen
insists. “1 want to do it as a benefit for our local
youth.”
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Sandra de Helen
“Our membership is increasing weekly,”
de Helen boasts. Currently, the center has
more than 1,100 members in 33 countries.
But for all de Helens theatrical success and
involvement— she’s also a member of the
National Writers Union and founded the Port
land Women’s Theater Company in January
1981— does it mean much in a world increas
ingly dominated by two-dimensional moving
images? How does a playwright who lives and
breathes theater regard theaters standing in
modem society?
“1 think plays are going to he the salvation
of this type of culture,” de Helen theorizes. “So
much of what we do is technologically pro
duced, as opposed to humanly produced....
Plays can be more interactive. It’s different
from looking at a big screen or TV. It’s more
thought provoking. To see a live person is just
different. You can hear them breathing, see
them sweating.”
The future of theater, observes de Helen,
depends on young people getting involved. She
cites young people’s street theater that she con
siders “just wonderful.”
Samantha Geller is an example of theater
simultaneously changing society and involving
young people, and de Helen is closely monitor
ing her situation.
Geller is a 17-year-old student in Charlotte,
N.C. Her play Life Versus the Paperback
Romance was one of five plays that won Char
lotte’s annual Young Playwrights Festival con
test. O f the five, only Gellers play was not pre-
De Helen herself doesn’t recall much
involvement with theater when she was young.
“I didn’t see a live play till I was in my early
20s,” de Helen laments. “If I had, I’d have been
writing plays, believe me.”
But eventually she did start writing plays,
her first in 1976. De Helen says she began writ
ing plays as part of her involvement in the
feminist movement. Apparently, writing had
quite a cathartic effect— she came out as a les
bian less than a year after she began her new
endeavor. “Feminist play writing and being a
lesbian go hand in hand,” she states matter-of-
factly.
Twenty-three years later, being a lesbian is
still reflected in her plays. De Helen posits:
“Not every one of my plays has a lesbian char
acter, but every one of my plays was written by
a lesbian.”
Soaking in de Helen’s relaxed demeanor,
today the politics don’t seem quite as impor
tant as the craft. And the craft doesn’t seem
important unless she’s enjoying herself.
“Why do you think they call it play?” she
queries. “If you’re not having fun, don’t do
it.... I have a memoir 1 want to write, but plays
just keep getting in the way. They’re more
fun.”
■ Little Apple Productions presents T he CLUE IN
the O ld B irdbath weekends through April 25,
at Tsunami Books, 2585 W illamette St. m
Eugene. For more information, call
(541) 465-9240.