IS. 2000
36
Equal time
I ■ I
i
dust Out gives Portland critic a chance
to clear the overheated air
by
O riana G reen
1 1 | think it’s gotten dramatically out of
hand” is how Willamette Week theater
critic Steffen Silvis begins our interview.
I He’s referring to the tempest in a barbe­
cue that’s been heating in recent months con­
cerning his feud with Don Horn’s triangle pro­
ductions! company.
“There’s a lot of misunderstanding. I don’t
deny the fact that I called the grant organiza­
tions. As far as I’m concerned, that falls within
the boundaries of criticism. I did not call to'
have the grants rescinded.... I did not ask for
them to reconsider the grants,” he says
emphatically.
Earlier this year, Horn received multiple
grants totaling almost $100,000 for triangle,
and Silvis became incensed.
“My concerns were basically aesthetic con­
cerns. I’m not a great fan of triangle produc­
tions! ...1 find a lot of it shallow and deriva­
tive,” Silvis explains.
He lists among his complaints poor acting
and directing (except when Horn employs a
guest director) as well as questionable choice of
material. Silvis describes triangle plays as “din­
ner-theater quality without the diversion of
dinner.”
He does, however, point out that he has on
rare occasions found some merit in their work.
He cites Lesbian Vampires of Sodom as a play he
enjoyed, calling it a “fun romp.”
“It’s not that I want triangle to disappear; I
certainly think there’s a place for triangle in
the scheme of things. W hat I’d like to see is
triangle improve,” Silvis explains. “For me, to
receive an award of $100,000 sends a mixed
message to the theater comm unity.... I think
Mr. Horn thinks he is producing great profes­
sional theater, but I don’t think any description
of professional could actually fit what goes on
there.... W ithin the theater community itself,
triangle is sometimes considered a hit of a joke.
The majority of the plays tend to be focused on
low sex farces, something titillating.”
Silvis thinks it’s demoralizing for other
struggling companies to “see work that is sub­
standard be so richly rewarded. I know too
many artists in this town who are struggling. I
go to too many theaters that would love
$1,000, let alone $100,000, to keep them on
their feet.. .so it seems like it’s part of my job to
watch how grant money is given.”
Responding to Horn’s fear of a vendetta
against him, Silvis says, “I sup­
pose I can understand that he
would he nervous if he was given
$ 100,000 and he heard that
someone was asking questions.”
Silvis also refutes the accusa­
tion that he contacted and com­
plained to any of the companies
that license plays to triangle,
although he does admit he has
suggested in print more than
once that such an action might
have merit. He claims an actor
from triangle’s recent production
of The Most Fabulous Story Ever
Told contacted him, upset
because Horn had tampered with
the script of Paul Rudnick’s play
to effectively erase the subplot
dealing with AIDS.
“I thought this was a very
serious charge," Silvis says,
adding that a discussion with a
colleague who had seen the play
confirmed the accusation. (Silvis
has been banned by Horn from
triangle plays for some time.) So
in his calendar listing, Silvis
mentioned the omission and
wrote, “1 wonder what Drama­
tists Play Service would say
about this.”
Someone did contact the
company, but Silvis insists it
Steffen Silvis
wasn’t him. “I think he’s [Horn]
on some kind of probation now because of it,”
Silvis adds. (Horn was contacted for this article
but declined to respond, other than to say, “I
really think this bickering just needs to end.”)
Silvis also thinks some of Horn’s dissatisfac­
tion with him stems from an inability to distin­
guish between a calendar listing and a review.
“To me, the entire institution is rather hyp­
ocritical... in his mission statement he [Horn]
declares that he is running the largest avant-
garde theater in the Northwest...well, most of
it is passé.”
As a gay man, Silvis doesn’t believe in sup­
porting Portland’s only theater company devot­
ed to gay-themed work just because it’s queer.
“Surely it’s for all of our best interest to have
good theater, and as homosexuals it would also
behoove us to have good gay theater. But I’m
M en T alk : W e have things to talk about .
-
not seeing that at triangle.”
Only one other exception comes to his
mind: “Three years ago he did Angels in Ameri­
ca, and as far as I’m concerned that’s the last
serious gay play that he’s done.”
Silvis is also worried that many lowbrow tri­
angle plays send the wrong message. “I scan his
audience sometimes, and I see a lot of white
suburbanites from Gresham who are slumming
at some titillating theater...and you’re perpetu­
ating gay stereotypes, which I find personally
offensive.”
The challenge Silvis continues to issue to
Horn is: “Why aren’t we seeing some really
valid gay work that’s addressing our issues now?
1 don’t think he’s truly serving us...there’s a
wealth of good gay playwrights and plays out
there that Portlanders are ignorant of because
no one has the nerve to stage
them.”
Silvis began his career as a
theater critic just four years ago
and jokes, “I’ve been causing
death and destruction ever
since.” T hen he counters with, “1
think I’ve given every theater
company in town at least one
good review.”
But after all the dissection is
over, Silvis sees himself as a con­
sumer advocate, asking himself,
“Was this evening worth $25 or
not?”
Silvis does have a good sense
of humor about himself and his
role as a pariah in the theater
community. “I come from a long
background of Jewish scholars
and Presbyterian m inisters...so I
feel like I’m constantly com ­
muning with the prophets, dam n­
ing here, damning there. I have
not made a lot of friends here in
the theater com m unity...but I
think it’s part of my job to not
make friends.”
So what about the notorious
Web site, the “Steffen Silvis Bash­
ing Room,” where he posts his
own replies to his naysayers? “I
respond to them. I think it’s
healthy for critics to have critics.”
That site is now defunct, but the
conversation continues among the
actors on the message board at
www.theatrevertigo.org.
The “Bashing Room" was also
a forum for an ongoing dialogue
about triangle. To one writer who
posted a defense of Horn, Silvis
wrote, "How undemocratic to
voice the opinion that someone who directs his
nude actors to swing their cocks toward the
audience if they look bored may not be further­
ing the cause of theater in Portland.”
Silvis also manages a chuckle over The Ore­
gonian, which that very morning had shot a
poison dart at him: “A t times, the theater com­
munity seemed to put more energy into dishing
out Internet potshots at a secondary drama
critic than into its performances.” Displaying
some humility, he agrees—“I think they want­
ed to stress the fact that at the end of the day
I’m probably not that important, which is
probably the God’s honest truth.”
He pauses to laugh again, then adds: “But
did they have to broadcast it? My mother reads
that rag!” j [ 7 ]
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