THEATER
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rofile Theatre Project has a thing for gay
men.
P
The company, which devotes every
season to the works of a single playwright,
celebrated queer scribes Edward Albee and
Terrence McNally in recent years. For its 2005-
2006 season, it shines the spotlight on Lanford
Wilson, another gay dramatist.
Though he’s never authored a play as
famous as Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia
Woolfr, the 68-year-old Wilson has a Pulitzer
Prize under his belt for the 1979 comic
romance Talley’s Folly. He has put gay themes
front and center in acclaimed works such as
Bum This and Fifth of July.
Profile opens the season Oct. 8, using both
performance spaces at Theater Theatre to pre­
sent simultaneous stagings of Talley's Folly and
Talley & Son. One actress must dart down the
hallway so that her character can appear in
both productions.
These plays are part of The Talley Trilogy,
which chronicles a Missouri clan from 1944 to
1977. A staged reading of Fifth of July, the third
play in that series, follows in November. Along
with Wilson, Profile artistic director Jane
Unger selected Bum This, Redwood Curtain and
Sympathetic Magic to round out the season. e
“He’s one of my favorite writers,” Unger
says. “He has an enormous, pertinent and
diverse body of work. These are classic plays,
relevant to social and political issues in this
country today.”
Wilson—who will visit Profile in May to
conduct a playwrights workshop—spoke with
Just Out from his home in Sag Harbor, N.Y.
Stephen Blair: Have you spent much time
in Portland before?
Lanford Wilson: I have not been at all.
1 can’t wait to get to Oregon. I’m hoping that
some of the roses are blooming when I get
there in May. All I know is that everyone’s
screaming about Oregon. It’s the place to be.
The people are wonderful and the climate is
wonderful and the architecture is wonderful
and on and on and on.
SB: I read that you don’t fly.
LW: I’ve traveled by train and bus all my
life because 1 hated to fly. I just bite the bullet
now, like everyone else. 1 don’t think anyone
likes to fly. There’s nothing to like about it,
except the convenience.
SB: Which of your own plays are your
favorites?
LW: The one that Profile is not doing that 1
like very much is The Mound Builders. Every­
one should buy it and read it. I like it enor­
mously. 1 think it’s probably my best play. One
that I’m still working on and will be working
The lowdown on Lanford
Profile devotes entire season to another gay dramatist
by
S tephen B lair
SB: What does The Talley Trilogy have to
say about life in 2005?
LW: That’s not for me to say. I just don’t
analyze my plays at all. That’s critic talk, and
they do it very well. I don’t even think about
it. I really don’t.
From left, Tracy Hinkson, Tod Van Voris and Garland Lyons star in Talley & Son, a gripping drama
of family scandals and intrigue.
on in Portland is Sympathetic Magic. I think
that’s one of my better plays, too.
But you understand, I like the complicated
ones and audiences tend to like the very simple
ones that are very easy to follow, or at least
critics tend to like the ones that are easy to
follow and describe. But when you start getting
into Talley & Son, things start getting compli­
cated. People have devious motives and change
right in front of your eyes. All sorts of fun
things. But it’s difficult to describe, so the crit­
ics get a little confused.
With Sympathetic Magic I guess they didn’t
too confused. I got some of my best reviews
and it got an Obie. I reread it for Portland
and said, “Oh my God, I want to work on
this play.”
SB: What do you think of Profile’s deci­
sion to stage simultaneous productions of
Talley’s Folly and Talley & Son?
LW: I think it’s a total hwt. I have no
idea if it’s going to work. 1 just talked to Jane
Unger, and 1 guess it’s working because she
didn’t say, “Oh, that doesn’t work.” It’s a fun
idea. Wouldn’t you love to be the actress, or
at least run back and forth with her. Watch
what she has to do to get from one place to
the other. There will be two plays going on at
exactly the same time.
bar. Talley & Son takes place simultaneously
with Talley's Folly. It makes the plays twice as
wide. No matter which one you see first. It’s
great fun.
SB: What are the benefits and risks of
presenting the plays this way?
LW: 1 think it’s going to be absolutely
enriching to kith plays because no matter
which one you see first, when you see the sec­
ond one you’ll know what’s going on during all
of that time. It’s like an entire play as a side-
SB: Do you have a partner?
LW: No, I don’t. 1 had one for 15 years and,
thank you, I don’t need that anymore. This is
presumptuous of me, but I’m going to say it
because I think it’s also insightful: Like so
many of those long relationships, the last eight
years was faking it. There was nothing there.
We had no real respect for each other. And
respect is first, especially when you’re an artist.
•
SB: What do you think of the current
theater scene in the United States?
LW: It’s like off-off-Broad way all over the
country. How much better could that be?
They’re doing new plays everywhere. They
finally decided that you don’t have to dress in a
long dress and tails to go to the theater. Also,
theaters don’t have to have crystal chandeliers
as big as the dining room. Theater is an excit­
ing thing that you can just go to.
SB: How often do yotf go in to New York
City to see a play?
LW: I’m a Tony voter, so I have to see all
the Broadway plays. This really pisses me off
because the gtxxl plays are off-Broadway.
SB: What’s your advice to aspiring
playwrights?
LW: Start your own theater. Get some actor
friends, get a director friend, and find a space
to hang out in. You should be an ensemble day
and night.
SB: What do you do in your leisure time?
LW: 1 garden. 1 read just about anything.
1 haven’t written much in the last couple of
years, so I’m excited about going back to
that, jn
T alley & S on and T alley ’ s F olly will be
performed 8 p.m. Wednesday to Saturday and
2 and 7 p.m. Sunday from Oct. 8 to 30 at
Theater Theatre, 3430 S.E. Belmont St.
Tickets are $13-$28 from 503-242-0080 or
www. profiletheatre .org.
S tephen B lair is a Portland arts writer.
Lanford Wilson received a Pulitzer Prize for
1979’s Talley's Folly, which will be staged
simultaneously with 1981 ’s Talley & Son.
The first play he ever fell for was a high school
production of The Wiz.
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