September 1 5 .2 0 0 0 »
Ju st out 3 7
S
ince he was a child, Chris
Coleman knew in his heart
of hearts what he wanted
to he when he grew up: a
Baptist missionary.
A true believer, he chose
Baylor University in Texas as a
way of fulfilling his spiritual call
ing. Then he fell in love with a
man. Oops.
Renouncing his faith, Coleman
took all of his religious fervor and
channeled it into his other love: theater.
From the time he and a sixth-grade classmate
wrote, directed and starred in a musical version
of the Civil War (complete with production
number about Fort Sumter), he has shown an
aptitude for creating dynamic theater.
In 1988, he returned to his native Atlanta
to found his own theater company, Actors’
Express, whose first home was in a building
behind a strip mall and across the street from—
you guessed it— a Baptist church. In this
unlikely setting, his company began to explore
the spiritual territory that religion won’t ven
ture near, giving life, he says, “to stories that
bring us closer to the mysteries at the center of
our lives.”
Some of that exploration involved nudity
on stage (oops again!), and the company lost
its lease. But under Coleman’s tireless commit
ment, Actors’ Express grew from a budget of
zero to $700,000 and garnered excitement from
critics and audiences alike.
After overseeing more than 33 productions,
he felt he had pushed every envelope he could
and had bucked every trend. The time had
come to move on.
The motion implied in the name Actors’
Express speaks to Coleman’s theatrical philoso
phy. Admitting a “low tolerance for boredom,”
the wiry and intense artistic director promises
to stir things up in his new role at the hereto-
fore-conservative Portland Center Stage.
“So much in our culture puts us to sleep,”
he says. “When I go to the theater, 1 want to sit
forward. I want the experience onstage to
breathe with life, to grab me by the scruff of
the neck and hold my attention.”
There’s nothing routine
about the new season
at Portland Center Stage
The play’s the thing
ut in a culture that seems impervious to
shock, how can Coleman possibly hope to
wake us up? By letting theater do what the
ater does best: engaging our imaginations.
Noting that American theater has been
stuck for the past 100 years trying to compete
with the cinematic experience by replicating
it, Coleman looks to European theater,
which uses a distinctly theatrical vocabulary,
for his inspiration.
B
by
M a r c A cito
“Films and television are
photographs. They have to look
real. In the theater, you can
stand on a bare stage and say,
‘I’m crossing the river now,’ and
the audience will take that jour
ney with you. You can see
Raiders of the Lost Ark 10 times,
and nothing you do sitting in
the audience will affect Harrison
Ford’s performance— but in the
theater, there’s a real give and
take between audience and per
former that changes the energy
of the performance. Most people
don’t pay attention to the other
people in the audience at a
movie, but a theater audience
sniffs out each other’s mood. It’s a communal
experience.”
Coleman promises to provide a sweeping
emotional experience, one that takes the audi
ence to extremes. Portland Center Stage’s 2000-
2001 season kicks off with The Devils, an explo
sive adaptation of the Dostoevsky novel The
Possessed. Coleman originated the production in
Atlanta, where it proved so popular, dozens of
people had to be turned away each night.
The season also boasts the sublime (a radi
cal retelling of Sophocles’ Antigone) and the
ridiculous (the irreverent Irish farce The Cripple
of Inishmaan) as well as the company’s first-ever
musical, A New Brain, another nutty and neu
rotic gay-themed show from the Tony Award
winning composer of Falsettos.
At first, Coleman didn’t think Portland was
ready for his edgy style. “All I knew about Ore
gon was the anti-gay measures,” he says.
So, when Portland Center Stage’s board
asked him during the interview process to sub
mit a three-year plan, Coleman deliberately
wrote down a wish list of the most provocative,
outrageous stuff he could think of, telling them
in no uncertain terms, “Do not hire me unless
you’re ready to support the work I do." Sensing
the community’s hunger for something fresh
and exciting, the board backed Coleman’s
vision and hired him— and even will allow him
to transform the company’s seasonal mounting
of A Christmas Carol from its usual Hallmark
card to the more haunting ghost story atmos
phere of the original novel.
“You may be challenged, but you won’t be
bored," Coleman says. “You will be engaged.
You will be entertained."
A man for all seasons
he breadth of the season reflects Coleman’s
universal outlook on life as well as his job. In
the few short months he’s been here, he’s made
a sincere effort to connect with Portland’s com
munity, gay and otherwise.
Whether talking to the head of the Port
land Chamber of Commerce about urban
growth or speaking to PABA, Portland’s unoffi
cial Gay Chamber of Commerce, about gay
support for the arts, Coleman has, with the
help of the Center Stage board, enrolled in his
own intensive Portland Immersion Program.
“Never have I met so many people in such a
short time,” he says.
But it’s more than rubber chicken lunches.
To be an effective artistic voice here, Cole
man understands the need to connect with
the community. He enjoys living and working
in the heart of downtown and appreciates
T
Portland’s “earthier, friendlier
atmosphere” compared with
Atlanta’s “L.A.-style, prissy gym-
queen scene.”
Still, the move west has not come
without its sacrifices. Coleman’s part
ner of five years, Lonnie, will remain
in Atlanta for the time being to con
tinue to run his successful catering
business.
When asked how his sexuality
has affected his work, Coleman
becomes coy, admitting that perhaps
his being gay has brought a certain je
ne sais quoi to his work. Sounding
just like Suzanne Sugarbaker on
Designing Women, he drawls, “After
all, honey, would you hire a straight
man to cut your hair?”
And he dismisses the idea of homophobia
within the theater. “Its not like that whole
Hollywood thing—since the days of Dionysus
and the Greeks, the theater has been the place
for straddling boundaries.”
He continues by quoting director Stephen
Daltrey: “It used to be called the love that dare
not speak its name— but in the theater it’s the
love that won’t shut its fucking mouth.”
Coleman expresses gratitude for the solidar
ity of our “tribe.” “It saddens me when I hear a
young gay man say, ‘I hate gay men— they’re so
bitchy, they’re so superficial.’ To them I simply
say, ‘That hasn’t been my experience.’ ’’
A practitioner of Siddha Yoga for 10 years,
Coleman has left the Baptist Church in his
past, but his zeal for theater reflects the mission
ary spirit at his core. Musing on his new life in
the Northwest, he can’t help but use a word
that reveals the hoy who wanted to preach the
gospel. “It’s heaven,” he sighs.
in
Chris Coleman's inaugural production with Port -
land Center Stage, T he D evils , opens Sept. 29
and runs through Oct. 22. The special GALA
(Gay and Lesbian Audience) night is Oct. 3. For
tickets call the box office at (503) 274-6588.
Wtt Ut M fcaftw yWll tut h tti.
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