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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 1, 2004)
34 JlU t Olit ». October 1.2004. satingout natiti gout out THEATER out GROLLA ■ Restaurant & \f^ine Totally Terence L) Theater dedicates entire season to gay scribe J oin us for by GAY HAPPY HOUR featuring live jazz with )im Soloway special small plates menu 2601 N .l:. M .i . K I W t u l l v s e r v in g rii 2-9 50 N L KjH'ngsworth <3t., P D X ¿ 05--+9 5 - 9 ? 2-1 www.grolln.net T 1801 NE BROADWAY Mon-Fri 6am to 2:30pm______Sat-Sun 7am to 3pm______ (503) 287-4750 Full Bar Expanded Lunch Menu HAPPY JWEET 16 LAURELTHIRJT C e le b r a tio n ru n s from O c t 1 - N o v 6 a n d w ill h ig h lig h t th e n e ig h b o rh o o d p u b 's fa v o rite e n te r ta in e rs from p a s t a n d p re s e n t, re le a se of o ur B irth d a y Beer " L o n g N i g h t L ag er"/ fu n d ra is e r a n d s ile n t a u c tio n for P ro ject Q u e s t, H a llo w e e n 's a D r a g S h o w , s to ry te llin g a n d a h o o te n a n n y or tw o . P IZZA * B E IR • H O L LY C H EE8 I STEAKS MEATS A LL W E N S • U T PASTRAMI SALADS • SQ-IHCI M T I r--------------- l .t ilt c I T h it ns* ---------------------- ^ m P u b l i c I Jou>>c \ ’ F C l i->.in P o r t ! . m d >C > is o q > 1 S03 m -U N 2272 NW Kearney a lew •H Hr4 ew playwrights capture the nuances of the gay experience like Terence McNally, and even fewer appeal to mainstream audiences. From his first Broadway hit in 1975— The Ritz, a door-slamming farce set in a M anhat tan bathhouse— the prolific McNally has writ ten plays that reflect his identity as a gay man. “W hen I’m writing,” he says, “I try to think about the difficulty of people connecting as they’re trying to find hope, trying to find their . way to real love and commitment.” McNally is the most important gay play wright since Tennessee Williams. In fact, he may even be more important since his plays speak more openly of homosexuality. He has been writing plays and musicals for more than 40 years, and now Portland’s Profile Theatre Project is devoting its entire season to the Tony-winning playwright with productions and staged readings that span his entire career. T he season opens O ct. 8 with McNally’s Terence M cN ally will be in tow n early next latest play, The Stendhal Syndrome. Stendhal’s year for the Portland A rts & Lectures series syndrome is a malaise first m entioned by the French author of The Red and the Black, which evening, Profile will perform a selection from can involve swooning or feeling faint. It occurs Three from Column A. when one suffers a sensory overload in the The other fully staged production of the sea presence of a work of art. Direct from its New son is It’s Only a Play (April 15 to May 22, 2005), York premiere, the evening consists of two one- a work that showcases McNally’s ability to com acts about the transformative power of art. bine brilliant wit with searing intimacy. Play is a In the first, “Full Frontal Nudity,” an Italian hilarious sendup of the theater that uses the occa tour guide urges three U.S. tourists to bask in sion of a disastrous opening night party to pile the beauty of Michelangelo’s “David.” This one wildly funny comic sequence upon another. leads to an examination of their feelings, mem T he action takes place in the lavish town- ories and dreams.’ In the second, “Prelude &. house of a Broadway producer. A neurotic Liebestod,” a celebrated conductor watches his young author, an unstable director and the pill life unravel as he leads the opening and closing popping leading lady, among others, are hun pieces of W agner’s “Tristan und Isolde.” T he kered down waiting for the reviews. W hen the conductor believes that the passionate music reviews arrive (all bad, of course), the guests can only attain its full potential when one become cattier (and therefore funnier) as they gives one’s soul over to it completely; as the attem pt to pin the blame on each other. perfonn-ance progresses, he McNally effectively captures is swept away by his own the narcissism, ambition, reactions of love and lust. childishness and irrationali Next up is the staged ty of the theater, and it’s fun reading of a collection of to speculate w hether this McNally’s one-acts called play is similar to one of his Three from Column A own experiences. (His first (Oct. 25 and 26 and Nov. 1 Broadway play, The Lady o f and 2). Never before pro the Camellias, ran for only duced together, these tim e 13 performances in 1963.) ly, politically charged anti Profile’s season closes war gems from the 1960s with a staged reading of the are McNally’s response to controversial Corpus Christi Vietnam. They are (.lark and (May 23 and 24, 2005). moving, and also very Originally produced ofif- funny. “N ext” is about an Broadway in 1997, Christi is overweight middle-aged a modern-day retelling of man called in for a physical; Jesus’ birth, ministry and -T erence McNally death in which both he and “Bringing It All Back Home” is about a family his disciples are gay. awaiting the coffin of their all-American son T he play’s New York premiere was initially who was killed in action; and in “Botticelli,” canceled because of death threats against board two soldiers in the jungle play a word game as members of the M anhattan Theater Club, its they wait for the enemy to emerge. producer. However, several prom inent play T he second fully staged offering is The Lis- wrights, including Tony Kushner (Angels in hon Traviata (Jan. 14 to Feb. 20, 2005), M cNal America), threatened to withdraw their plays if ly’s cautionary talc of sexual jealousy and obses Corpus Christi wasn’t produced. W hen the play sion. Full of insider jokes and ribald one-liners, finally opened, theatergoers were besieged by it’s the story of the disintegration of an eight- almost 2,000 protesters and had to pass year relationship between two gay men. through metal detectors before entering the McNally described it as “an opera buffa that auditorium. G iven the political climate ttxiay, ends up a verismo tragedy,” which is opera- Portlanders may expect more of the same. speak for comedy and drama. Shortly after the opening of Traviata, T h e S t e n d h a l S y n d r o m e plays Oct. 8 through McNally comes to town Jan. 19, 2005, for the Nov. 14 at Theater Theatre, 3430 S.E. Belrrumt Portland Arts & Lectures series. To kick off the St. Tickets are $12-$25 from 503-242-0080. F T hursdays 9 to 1 1 COFFEE W F lo yd S kla ver A “When I’m writing, I tr y to think about the difficulty of people connecting as they’r e trying to find hope, trying to find their way to real love and commitment”
