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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”