42 J“ »* «H* •march 1.2002
Enviable women
at Four Wall
this playfulness,
which infuses
the textual and
n a regular basis, the folks at Four Wall
visual compo
nents of the
Cinema Collective give adventurous Port
film, along with
land audiences the chance to experience
film as contemplation, as personal expression
Rainer’s ironic
hut joyfully
and as a starkly visual experience.
The term “experimental” is taken at face
cinephilic use of
old Hollywtxxl
value here, which means the programming has
film clips, that
been as consistently intriguing as it has been,
makes The Man
at times, willing to challenge to the point of
exasperation.
Who Envied
Their presentation March 4 and 5 of The
Women such
Man Who Envied Women, however, is perhaps
vital, enjoyable
their least rarefied program yet. Yvonne
viewing for any
Rainer’s 1985 work is a 16-millimeter sound
one of any sexu
al orientation
film about issues that could he simply described
! interested in the
as “feminist,” hung on a skeletal narrative
involving a menopausal artist leaving her hus ! paradoxes of sex
band of four years. Tackled from myriad angles,
and gender.
the work includes frequent and provocative
Four Wall
mention of the place of gay men and lesbians
Cinema is locat
in gender politics.
ed at 425 S.E.
i Third Ave. All
Rainer depicts poststructuralism— the pre
screenings are at
ferred philosophical mode of many feminist
7:30 p.m. The suggested donation is $6.
and queer theorists— as concocted by men as a
—Christopher McQuain
sort of intellectual masturbation inadequate to
real-world problems of homelessness, imperial
ism, class, sexuality and, Rainer’s own
unanswerable grievance, infidelity.
It’s a work of exploration, of contradictions:
h, woe is Portland! Oregon Ballet T he
She reads on the soundtrack from a treatise
atre founder and artistic director (not to
proposing that heterosexual sex is by definition
mention the hottest queer tattixied hoy
a diminishment of the woman, only to sarcasti
ever to don tights) Jam es Canfield has
cally add, “Gcxxl grief, and here I’ve been
announced he will depart O B T when his
thinking all these years that sex was fun.” It is
contract expires at the end of June 2003.
According to a press
release, he wants to
Filmmaker Yvonne
pursue other creative
Rainer questions the
interests. “I am proud
paradoxes of sex and
that O BT now ranks as
gender in The M an
one of the premier
Who Envied Women
repertory dance compa
nies in the United
States,” the quirky
artist says. “I feel it is
time for a change, both
for myself and for this
company.” Canfield has
not said whether he
plans to leave Oregon.
The former Joffrey
Ballet dancer moved to
Portland in 1985 to
Canfield exits OBT
Everything’s
coming out Rosie
“O ’Donnell and one of
the families we represent in
the case talk about their
lives, their families and how
they are affected by Florida’s
law,” said Matt Coles, A C L U
Lesbian and G ay Rights Proj
ect director. "We are eager
for Am erica to see and hear
why Florida’s law prohibiting
adoption by all gay people is
discriminatory— and how
that bigotry hurts families
and children.”
—Jim Radosta
A
nd you thought “The Puppy
Episode” on Ellen was must-
see TV: Rosie O ’Donnell will
reportedly come out of the closet
during an interview with Diane
Sawyer airing March 14 on ABC.
The program will center on the
gay adoption ban in Florida,
where the mother of four lives
when she isn’t filming her New
York-based talk show.
She has been working with
Rosie O ’Donnell
the Am erican C ivil Liberties
Union since 2001 on its fight against the
law. T he suit was taken Feb. 14 to a federal
appeals court in A tlanta, which is expected
BO and N B C compete for the best
to hear arguments later this year.
Matthew Shepard movie this month. Both
A lso profiled by Sawyer is Oregonian
were originally slated to air March 16, but
Steven Lofton, who is raising five children-
HBO trumped the network by changing theirs
to March 9.
including three Florida foster kids— with
HBO’s version, The Laramie Project, is an
his partner, Roger Croteau. Although they
adaptation of the off-Broadway production by gay
never have known another family, they
cannot be adopted by the couple because of
playwright Moisés Kaufman. The channel had the
foresight to hire him to adapt and direct the fea-
the ban.
Dueling Shepard Stories
H
Theatre and entered
Ballet Theatre, which consolidated with
front and center in
Oregon Ballet in 1989, creating OBT.
the same role for
He has been O B T ’s only artistic director
Portland’s Third
and has choreographed a majority of the
Angle New Music
company’s critically acclaimed work.
Ensemble.
Setting himself apart from other ballet
A fixture at Echo
culture, Canfield has embraced and com
for the past 1 5 years,
bined an eclectic and experimental mix of
Baggadonutz simply
styles, including hip-hop, jazz and mcxlern
decided he “wanted
dance, to create more accessible (and, let’s
to do something else”
face it, really cool) ballet theater.
and split the gig as
O BT presents the annual Jam es
well as his general
Jam es Canfield will say
Canfield Signatures, a trio of contempo
manager position
goodbye to O B T next year
rary rtx:k ballets showcasing his choreog
with the Portland
raphy, March 2 to 9. The highlight is the world
Symphonic Choir, all effective as of now.
Founded in 1985, Third Angle is a contem
premiere of Alta Cienega, featuring the music of
the Doors. Also offered is Jungle, an abstract
porary chamber ensemble that performs mod
dance experience with colorful, unconvention
em classical music. Baggadonutz is irs first
al sets and costumes, and Coco, an intimate
executive director. “ I hope to bring my non
hx>k at the life and times of fashion icon Coco
profit arts experience and general PR savvy and
Chanel. For times and tickets, call
chutzpah to the job in an effort to build audi
ences, financial support and international
503-222-5538.
exposure,” he says. “All this from a 160-square-
foot office!”
The exec also promises not to disappear
hat queer theater mover and shaker
completely from the performance art scene,
Howie Baggadonutz has exited stage left
noting he’ll still “have some time to do my
as executive director of Do Jump! at Echo
own productions now and then.”
Howie exits Echo
ture, which focuses on the
Wyoming town in the after-
math of the murder. Filmed in
Laramie and Denver, it show
cases a stellar ensemble cast,
including Steve Buscemi, Clea
Duvall, Peter Fonda, Janeane
Garofalo (as a lesbian profes
sor), Laura Linney and Christi
na Ricci. Mark Webber,
recently seen in Storytelling as a
gay teen-ager, plays one of
Shepard’s killers.
The N B C version, so
originally titled The
M atthew Shepard Story,
counters with its own
impressive cast— Stockard
Partial cast of H B O ’s The Laram ie Project
Channing and Sam Water-
ston at Matthew’s parents and Shane Meier as
attention as compared to the other reported 20
Matthew, who is blessed with shockingly simi
to 30 queer homicides committed in the Unit
lar features. Directed by Roger Spottiswoode
ed States each year, which might help set it
(And the Band Played On), this one plays up
apart from the creepy bandwagon feel of these
the emotionally effective biography angle,
"sensitive issue” television projects. Still, it’s
including Shepard in his own story.
hard to imagine many Americans won’t take
Laranue is an exploration, in part, of why
such focused attention as a kind of permission
this event in this town sparked international
to consider Shepard an isolated incident.