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here’s no better person to be at this partic
ular moment in Portlands theater scene
than Wade McCollum.
T
In the role of a lifetime, McCollum is
the energetic, vivacious star of triangle produc
tions’ massively successful Hedwig and the Angry
Inch. His performance is a juggernaut of rock
’n’ roll wit and emotion, and it hasn't escaped
the notice of the local theater community—
the Portland Critics Circle recently rewarded
McCollum with its Drammy Award, the
region’s most prestigious theater honor.
“I’m humbled and very grateful to have the
honor of receiving recognition in my field,"
McCollum says. "I was there at the awards cer
emony, which was really amazing—to see and
feel the powerful and supportive interconnect
edness of the Portland theater community, so
palpable and celebratory.”
Tire Portlander was prepared for his current
rocker persona early on—his family lived some
thing of a rock ’n’ roll lifestyle. He was “bom
on the road," he says. “My father is a drummer
and met my mother on the road. She joined
him and adopted this nomadic and adventur
ous lifestyle. 1 was conceived in Valentine,
Neb., I came out in Chico, Calif., and two
weeks later we were in Alberta, Canada. So
when Hedwig says, ‘The road is my home, my
home the road,’ I can relate."
The roving family landed in Ashland when
McCollum was 5, and his parents divorced
when he was 7. His summers with dad were a bit
more glamorous than those of most. “1 would
spend the schixil year in Ashland and the sum
mers on the road with my father,” he recalls.
His teen-age years found McCollum an inde
pendent, poetic free spirit carving out an oasis
for his introspection and creativity. “I left home
at 15, inspired by Thoreau’s Walden, and moved
into a one-rwm half of an A-frame cabin in rhe
woods. It had no electricity or water and was
right on the bank of a small creek. I read and
wrote by candlelight and began to paint. 1 look
back at this incredible time of life and think
that’s when I tapped into the real me.”
His theater rixits, though, can be traced
back to junior high. “1 have always told sto
ries,” he explains. “1 was in seventh grade when
1 realized there was a formal place to do that
called ‘the theater.’ I was cast by two eighth
grade girls as Demetrius in A Midsummer
Night’s Dream...! was hixiked!"
He g<x?s on to talk about his first “legit”
show with Kirk Boyd, then of rhe Oregon
Shakespeare Festival and now the pnxlucing
director of Willamette Repertory Theatre.
Iioyd directed George Herman’s A Company of
Wayward Saints during McCollum’s sophomore
year, and “it was by far the most magical show 1
have done to this day," he admits. “It was all so
Wham, dram, thank you ma'am
Hedwig. “I do have to say there ate.. .layers of
socially programmed behaviors and collective
agreements we’ve made as a culture that.. .are
not in right relationship with all the elements of
this diverse human race, and this imbalance did
contribute to my feeling ‘outside.’ This feeling of
being a sexual anomaly is fuel for Hedwig's rage;
when you don’t fit at all, anywhere, then where
do you go? She gix.*s to music, and so do 1."
The actor’s interest in music is also reflected
in the upcoming premiere of One, which he
completed during his time off from Hedwig last
year. The musical will be prixluced by Insight
Out Theatre Collective, a nonprofit McCol
lum recently co-founded.
In addition, he has acted in and composed
music for a film and will be acting in Portland
Center Stage’s Merchant of Venice as well as
starring in its production of the much-
acclaimed tabloid-satirizing musical Bat Boy.
“I’m passionate about becoming human
together; I'm passionate about listening to my
fellow humans’ stories,” McCollum shares. “I
believe it’s time for the world to come together
to address the issues at hand; we must listen to
the women and children again, we must restore
balance, we must repair some wounds.”
Stoking his myriad
endeavors is McCol
lum’s underlying
devotion to affect
ing the world
through art. “It's an
exciting time to be
alive on the planet,
and 1 am so grateful
to be part of the
process of us coming
together. I see my
career and all the
media I’m working
in—film, stage, writ
ing, acting—as keys
to open paths to be
of greater service to
humanity.” JM
Wade McCollum takes home a Drammy
and restores our belief in musical theater
by
C hristopher M c Q uain
new, and the magic of
ensemble felt like a
true miracle."
After attending
Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts
in California and graduating in 1997, McCol
lum worked with Boyd again in another pro
duction of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, this
time as Puck, in collaboration with the
Eugene Symphony. “The exhilaration of an
80-piece orchestra supporting the action of a
play—yum,” notes McCollum. Then came
his star turn in triangle’s Hedwig prixluction
last summer.
The play was such a smash that, in addition
to his Drammy, McCollum was asked back for
a revival run of Hedwig this summer, with the
same band and director, which will run
through Aug. 2. It’s selling out again.
think that all people, regardless of sexual
identity, go through feeling other than nor-
femal,” states McCollum. “There is a core-
indigenous human feeling of being an outcast,
different or misunderstood. The search for
wholeness is a lifelong pilgrimage that all
humans undergo, so Hedwig speaks to many
different people.”
McCollum says, apropos of revisiting his
role: “I did receive several offers for this sum
mer, but none that could match a summer
doing an
awe-inspiring
show with an
amazing
group of peo
ple in an
incredible
city. What
specifically
drew me back
to the show?
Getting my
whole IxxJy
waxed again.
Just kidding."
Which
brings us to
the question,
though, of
whether
McCollum’s
sexuality has a
bearing on
his interpreta
tion of
gender-bent,
sexual-outsider
_ _
H edwig and the
A ngry I nch runs
through Aug. 2 at
Theater! Theatre!,
3430 S.E. Belmont St.
Tickets are $23-$3O
from 503-239-59/9 or
Tickets West.
C hristopher
M c Q uain is a
Seattle free-lance
writer.
r
;
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