42 J*«** Mit » march 7. 2003
eatingout
ealingout
eatingout
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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
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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
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