40 jUSt OUt » aprii 1. 2005
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Sorting out Triangle's
Sordid Lives
Glimpse fresh new
work right in the studio
A dancer can pack a lot of movement into
For its farewell show of its 15th and final
eight
minutes. Want prixif? Check out
subscriber-based season, Triangle Productions
Body Vox’s First Impressions show.
says sayonara to the status quo with a comedy
This 70-minute showcase is composed of
about speaking up, coming out and passing on.
several short works, each no more than eight
Sordid Lives is riotous Southern-fried
minutes long and created by a different chore
Americana in which playwright Del Shores
ographer.
The tight format allows a variety of
roasts the most unconditional love in a most
dance artists to bring their ideas to the stage,
unconventional pit—red-faced Texas. Three
women (Cecily Overman, Nicholette Reid and and to an audience, all in one pnxluction.
“It’s a venue for our dancers who are newer
Oregonian columnist Margie Boule—or,
to choreography to try out material in an
April 21 to 23, Michael Teufel) try to hide
their recently deceased family matriarch’s affair
from the man’s revengeful wife (KATU-TV’s
Helen Raptis). But more shame than mama’s is
put to rest when the funeral brings them face-
to-face with openly gay son Ty and cross
dressing Brother Boy (Pageant beauties Ammon
Morris and Timm McBride).
One sensitive yet funny tension lies
between Brother Boy—committed to a hospital
for believing he’s Tammy Wynette—and old
friend Wardell, played by retired cop and real
estate broker CW Jensen.
“My character,” says Jensen, “is a homo-
phobic redneck who turned against his best
friend because he found out he was gay many
years before. Fie has to confront that moment
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Does he make amends, or just take the easy
road and go along with the status quo?”
This is his third play with director Don
Horn. “He always picks me to be kind of the
big, bad, dumb, straight guy who either gets his
shit together or gets booed off stage,” remarks
Jensen. These characters, however, “start out as |
stereotypes but change throughout the play in
some neat ways. Here in Portland, we have
seen gay couples married and then rejected by a organized, theatrical setting,” says co-artistic
director Ashley Roland.
Flic various choreographic styles—and music
choices ranging from Boccherini to Moby—make
for an eclectic evening. But according to Roland,
the performance as a whole is still unified.
“It’s not like a recital,” she says, “it flows
together.”
The BodyVox studio, tucked into a mazelike
building with BridgePort Brewing Company, is
transformed into a white box theater for the
show. In this small space, the performance is
definitely up-close and personal.
“The audience gets to sit almost on stage
with the dancers, to see the pieces almost from
the inside,” says Roland. “It’s a beautiful per
sonal invitation into these new works.”
This season’s pnxluction—this is the fourth
Ex-cop CW Jensen plays a homophobic
installment of First Impressions— features pieces
redneck in Sordid Lives.
by BtxlyVox members Lane Hunter, Eric
vote in the most liberal county in the country.
Skinner and Anne Egan, plus a short film. The
It sends a message that even Oregon liberals
company’s directors, Roland and Jamey
don’t feel comfortable with equal rights for gay
Hampton, are each doing separate pieces and
and lesbian couples. This play goes to that
are giving a sneak preview of their full-length
issue. What does it take to accept someone for
work debuting this fall, Civilization Unplugged.
who they are?”
Guest choreographers Minh Tran and
Preconceptions aren’t the only thing that
Roxanne Steinberg are also contributing.
gets shed by this large cast of 11. “Clothes do
Portland dance buffs will already be familiar
come off,” promises Jensen, “if you like a little
with Tran’s unique movements and Asian sen
or, in my case, a lot of skin.”
sibility. Roland describes Steinberg’s abstract
But it’s the script’s richness of “white trailer”
style as full of imagery. “Her movement comes
characters that Horn loves. “It really is a gay
from a very internalized place,” adds Hampton.
positive show, and it allows us to see that par
First Impressions gives the B<xJyVox dancers
ents come around and love their children for
a chance to demonstrate their versatility.
who they are.”
“Our dancers are amazing," says Roland.
Sordid Lives nins April 8 to May 7.
“They work in every choreographer’s genre
Performances are 7:30 p.m. Thursdays, 8 p.m.
with great ease and maturity, while managing
Fridays and Saturdays and 5 p.m. May 1 at
to have a lot of fun.”
Theater Theatre, 3430 S.E. Belmont St.
First Impressions vol. 4 will be performed
Tickets are $ 17-$2 3 from 503-239-5919 or
7:30 p.m. April 13 to 17—with a late-night
TicketsWest. (Wear your tackiest outfit to the
show 10 p.m. April 15 and a matinee 2 p.m.
April 10 performance, an afternoon of fun filled April 17—at 1300 N.W. Northnip St. Because
with prizes, fixxJ, drinks and more—all benefit
tickets are going fast, BcxlyVox just added per
ing Equity Foundation.)
formances 7:30 p.m. April 22 and 23. Tickets
—Timothy Krause are $25 from 503-229-0627 or
www.fxxlyvox.com.
A collection of BtxlyVox photo images by
Blaine Truitt Covert is on display through
April 11 on the concourse level atrium at
Pioneer Place. Visitors to the exhibit can enter
to win a pair of tickets to First Impressions.
—Rebecca Ragain
Mohr than meets the eye
Richard D. Mohr has been watching
Portland like a hawk. The University of
Illinois-Urbana philosophy professor believes
same-sex marriage is the hottest issue in the
queer rights movement, and he can’t wait for
the Oregon Supreme Court to decide if the
unions performed last year are legal.
Mohr, who grew up in Eugene, discusses
same-sex marriage, gays in the military and
other subjects in his new kxik, The Long Arc
of Justice: Lesbian and Cay Marriage, Equality
and Rights (Columbia University Press, $22.95
hardcover).
An engaging and challenging blend of poli
tics, ethics and philosophical discourse, Arc is a
must-read for anyone who’s even remotely
interested in where the queer rights movement
is going and where it has been. Mohr swings
through town April 14 to promote the book.
Asked about the tricky topic of queer nup
tials in a recent phone interview, Mohr said,
“We’re going to see a dividing of our nation
over gay marriage.” He supports civil union leg
islation as a stepping stone to full marriage
rights and believes all the blue states will
embrace civil unions. No such luck with the
red states, he said.
Frequent references to pop cultural candy
like The L Word and Six Feet Under help make
The Long Arc of Justice reader-friendly. Naming
some highs and lows for queers in the media,
Mohr said Tarnation, Jonathan Caouette’s
revealing autobiographical film, should be
mandatory viewing for everybody.
But he laments the motif in television com
mercials where two men freak out when they
realize they are having an intimate moment
with one another. “This implies that being gay
is horrifying,” Mohr said.
In his book and in the interview, Mohr said
the most harmful stereotype about gay men
depicts them as predatory child molesters. He’s
happy to say, however, that the Catholic
Church sex scandal has switched the spotlight
from queers to priests.
Melissa Ferrick calls her fans "lifesaving" for
supporting her through a drinking problem and
a panic disorder.