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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (March 7, 2003)
42 J*«** Mit » march 7. 2003 eatingout ealingout eatingout THEJITEil eatingout ¡F ea tu rin g O rg an ic C o ffe e & E spresso. ¡F u ll B reak fa st an d Lunch M en u using l O rg a n ic ingredients .............. ▼............... Love! Death! Betrayal! 1 The Brody Theater dishes out life off the cuff by Serving fresh panini sandwiches. C a fe Buy 1 lunch e n t r e e , g e t th e 2 n d f o r 1 /2 p ric e expires 1 2 /3 1 /0 3 • one per customer Delicious homemade soups & bold salads. Local hormone free beef burgers 1740 SE Hawthorne 503-233-4244 Many specialty & breakfast items too! Using local & organic ingrediants. Local organic beer, wine, & fresh juices. Spacious booths for groups and always quick service. Yummy kids menu! Now Open 10-5 Weekdays & 8-5 Sat. - Sun. Expanded breakfast menu When your passion is pizza 2 9 3 4 N E A lberta S tr e e t P o r t l a n d , O R 9 7 2 1 1 5 0 3 .2 8 2 .0 6 0 0 P a tio D in in g • T a k e -o u t Available 3024 NE Alberta + 503-335-8233 Hours: Lunch - M-F 11-5 Supper - Tue-Sat 5-2 Sun & Mon 5-10 Breakfast - Sat & Sun 8-3 FOR A GREAT STEAK, LOOK FOR THE REVOLVING STEAK SIGN EXCEPT IN BEAVERTON, WHERE THE CITY WOULDN’T LET US HAVE ONE ki,3ni>,8 «II sin n ,i/le.s '"'ce °//a ¡ o 46 .. ' Our revolving steak sign has become a landmark in Hortland A sign o f quality. Where you know you can get a great steak dinner at a fair price Unfortunately, we couldn i get that same sign in Beaverton But honestly, we re not that hard to find. 105th & SE Stark • 503-252-417 / - SatfUrtA OLD CODTO? KITCHEN home o f the 72 oz. steak Beaverton-f /illsdale Hwv at Griffith Dr. - 503-644-1492 castagna f/iy V castagna C V nit in ami taste heaven in your mouth. Free iz oz. heve raye when you fitrehase a si tee of our fabulous poundcake with this coupon j 3969 It rtMTin limi» fane Jv kro • 50 M 6 Î3 4 • llon-Sm 7-7 • Sun P-7 | d in n er W ednesday through Saturday • 231.7373 café castagna now open 7 nights a week (5 0 3 ) 231.9959 1752 se haw thorne boulevard h r is t o p h e r M c Q u a in t was a bit of serendipitous misfortune that first t brought Brad Fortier, a charter member of The Brody Theater, to Portland hack in 1995. After plans to tour the States and Mexico with a friend fell through, the Milwaukee native agreed to help another friend with her move to Portland. After checking out the scene, he decided to call the Rose City home, t(X). “I want- cd/needed to get out of the Midwest," he recalls. “I was tired of th e .. .fairly closeted queer culture in Milwaukee, and 1 was just stagnating cre atively." Admitting he was “immediately charmed by the Northwest and Portland specifically,” Fortier “went about setting up a new life." Eventually he signed up for improvisation ortier is fairly unique in being at ease with his sexual orientation in a world where, in classes from Brody and performed in the then- fledgling groups first production, The Damn contrast to traditional theater and acting, Dirty Apes. The grueling initial work of estab not many openly gay voices are heard. He is the only gay member of Brody. lishing a theater company has paid off. “Early “T h e re are very few gay improvisers w ho on, we would perform for two to four people,” Fortier remembers, “hut as we improved, word m ake it to this level o f c o m m itm en t, d edi of mouth spread, and we were packing houses.” catio n and notoriety," h e says. “In Am y Brixly performances are conceived as “long- S eh am ’s W hose Improv Is It, A nyw ay! the form” improvisation; in this respect the group claim is m ade th a t im prov is for straight, was, according to Fortier, the first of its kind in w hite, upper-m iddle-class guys, and they Oregon. The form “uses a few suggestions to decide w ho m akes it up th e ladder." create a longer piece of theater through the Fortier doesn’t necessarily subscribe to exploration of patterns, connections, themes th a t theory. “I think drive and talen t is all it and character relationships,” he explains. takes to ascend th e ladder— th a t’s been my “Short-form improvisation is the more com experience at the Brody and o th e r improv mon—short games that set up a laugh hut don’t theaters. I also th in k my being gay makes me really go beyond that," Fortier continues, citing a more em pathetic teacher because I under the show Whose Une Is It, Anyway! as an example. stand the notions o f being caught off guard “We try and follow the teachings of Del Close, i or looking had from my closeted days. Those who was essentially the founding father of long- are some of th e biggest hurdles to conquer form improvisation.... Del considered a laugh gar w hen starting out in im provisation.” nered hy wit to he a ‘cheap laugh’ and a laugh got The BrcxJy’s upcoming show is Fortiers own ten hy recognition of a truth to he the best." brainchild: the latest installment of Generic Fortier cites Comedy C entral’s now-defunct Hospital, which enjoyed a previous run a couple Upright Citizen's Brigade and Chicago’s revered of years ago. But, because it’s improv, no two Second City troupe as personal inspiration, shows are ever alike. along with Portland improviser John Breen. T his one is, Fortier says, a serialized, satir Background also has something to do with ical “union o f the bastard child of ER and it. "Most of the Wisconsinites 1 know have the m elodram atic spirit of daytim e soap dark senses of humor,” he notes. “Long, cold operas. T h e m edicine cabinet in Generic winters will do that to you. We have a saying Hospital is filled w ith love, betrayal, hope, in Milwaukee: ‘You can’t drink the water, hut loss, joy, sorrow and just plain fun.” you can eat the people.’ It’s a grim reference to In the end, though, Fortier hopes that the the cryptosporidian outbreaks and Jeffrey Dah- Brody’s (and his) sense of humor goes beyond mer hysteria in the early ’90s.” what we’re used to. “If you’re looking for por So, clearly, audiences can expect some ir trayals of famous or infamous people, you won’t reverence from a Brody performance. “We don’t see that on our stage necessarily,” he says. “If go out of our way to...depict bigots, racists and you’re kxiking for portrayals of people who are misogynists, but we never write off the possibili dealing with fame, death, love, anger, fear, ty of those types of characters emerging,” Fortier betrayal and redemption, th a t’s what you’re says. “Exploring those realities can he dangerous going to see. ” j n and rewarding. T he important thing is to play it real and expose it for what it is— ignorance and T he B rody T heater , 1904 N.W . 27th A t* ., misunderstanding. Audiences love to see per presents Generic Hospital at 8 p.m. Friday and formers put themselves in dangerous situatioas Saturday from March 14 to April 12. Tickets are and get out of them." $10 from 503-224-0688 or www.hrodytheater.com. The Brody’s last show, The Living Newspaper, Visit the Internet site to learn about Brody’s improv which used headlines of the day as its spring- classes and workshops. hoard, was depicting the Columbia space shut tle disaster and satirizing its incessant media C hristopher M c Q u a in is a Seattle free-lance coverage by the end of the day it occurred. writer. F P H O T O B Y T O M JO I D a y d re a m UITH CHFE C
