42 JUStpUt
JULY 21.2006
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Inch by Inch
For actress Julianna Jaffe, there's power in the process
by Timothy Krause
kristy geffen
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he’s kruiwn for playing intense characters
S
onstage, hut out of costume and makeup,
Julianna Jaffe is warm, effusive and an
open hook, even when it comes to the
difficult year she’s had and the lessons
she’s learned about letting go.
After back-to-back performances last summer in
Triangle Productions’ The Rocky Horror Show and
Insight Out Theatre Collective’s One: The Musical,
the 27-year-old underwent major back surgery that
kept her out of the spotlight. Finally able to return
to the stage, Jaffe is signed on to reprise her char
acter of Yitzhak in Triangle’s Hedwig and die Angry
Inch, which marks her fifth time playing the role
opposite Wade McCollum’s Hedwig.
But late last spring, Jaffe received word that her
Samoan grandmother passed away, leaving the
actress scrambling to make plans to travel back to
her family’s island homeland. And days before her
departure, Jaffe’s path changed course once again
when she and her long-term partner decided to end
their relationship.
Like the characters she portrays, Jaffe draws her
strength from the journey. And like Hedwig,
Yitzhak and many other characters she’s portrayed,
Jaffe finds renewal and reward in sharing the story.
Timothy Krause: Will this trip back to Samoa
offer you time for reflection?
Julianna Jaffe: It’s going to be great to go there
and meditate on the island, to take some things
from it and also give back to it. It’s so deep in the
South Pacific that I know it’s going to help clear
my mind.... When we celebrate funerals, we have
a period of mourning, and then we have these huge
festivities. We’re really earthy, rooted people, and
when our sorrow comes, our sorrow comes. We feel
it together, and we honor it together. Then the
celebration comes, and we honor that together. It’s
releasing a lot.
TK: What are five ways you’d finish the
sentence “1 am a...”?
JJ: I am a storyteller more than 1 am an actress.
1 like to say I’m a warrior. I am innocence. I like to
think of myself as fierce. And 1 am scared.
TK: What’s the importance of storytelling?
JJ: Well, for instance, I’ve missed out on a lot
on that island for 15 years, and the way I’m going
to experience all of it ¡s through storytelling.
People will act out my grandmother ami her
attitude. The way my grandmother was a bigot at
times. How she was the most lovable creature.
They’re going to tell me these stones, and it’s going
to help me understand. I’m going to leam so much
more about my lineage anil my heritage. And that’s
the same thing theater does when it’s done well by
people who actually want to tell stories. It’s all
about starting a conversation. And that’s why 1
love storytelling: It’s the start of a process.
is always present and that we are always changing.
1 just let that help me through my path.... There’s a
lot of silence out there because we’re too scared to
speak up for what we believe. 1 have many friends
that don’t want to speak up, that don’t want to say
anything because they’re scared. I’m scared of many
things, but you have the right to say what you want
to say. It all comes from we’re told to "be quiet,” you
know? “Shhh, don’t say anything.” Why? 1 think the
most beautiful thing is little kids and their
subconscious—watching them walk and talk and
speak the truth because there is no editing going on.
TK: What do you think is the next big thing
for Portland theater?
JJ: Theater that talks about race and ethnicity.
We have Miracle Theatre—yes, yes, awesome,
thank God they’re here. But what if we had an all
black theater? All-Russian? All-Polynesian? Where
are they?
One of the things that Insight Out tries to focus
on is telling stories that we don’t usually hear in life
as much. In the mainstream. In Portland. We try to
bring different stories for people to hear, but we’re
also trying to make it more of a process. That is the
next thing we’re working on: opening up dialogue
before and after the show, because a lot of people
need a process.
There’s also something else that happens here in
Portland theater: Nobody wants to work with each
other. 1 find that a lot here. "Oh, you’re that theater;
we’re this theater.” 1 was taught that we’re all artists.
We’re all telling stories. How can we inspire each
other? And for some reason
that doesn’t happen here. So
another big thing would be
to get theaters talking and
working with each other and
understanding each other
because everyone has such a
different process.
helped us with, but Greg Tamblyn [The Full Monty]
is going to come in and help us be the outside eye
and shape us up.... The first thing 1 did was call
Wade and say we need to talk about the show. How
much have we changed? What have you and 1 gone
through as friends in 10 to 15 years? As we keep
changing, our characters will change, and so there’s
definitely going to be something different.
TK: What appeals to you about playing this
guy?
JJ: That trap that you keep on yourself. Letting
other people control things about you. But then
saying, “Hey, I can do this.” It’s an amazing journey
to go through all that sorrow and all that death
that’s happening inside of Yitzhak.
TK: So it’s about empowerment?
JJ: I can’t tell you how many people over the
years say: “My biggest lesson is that I can be who I
am. Be whatever 1 want to be. And the possibilities
are endless. I can be anything, and I am like no
other creature here.” That is amazing. ©
Triangle'Productions presents HEPW1G AND THE
ANGRY I nch through Aug. 12 at Artists Repertory
Theatre, 1516 S.W. Alder St. Tickets are $38 at the
door or $35-$38 in advance from www.tnpro.org;
$20 student rush offered 15 minutes before each show.
When not applauding local theater, TIMOTHY
KRAUSE is communications coordinator for City
Club of Portland.
TK: Tell me about this
production of Hedwig. Is it
a revival?
JJ: Two new band mem
bers means a whole new
chemistry, which gets really
bold and bright and beautiful
and is going to be amazing.
New set design. New cos
tumes. There are some things
that we want to keep that
Dennis [Bigelow, director]
TK: And warrior?
JJ: During really hard times, I’m able to take it
ami walk with it and then run with it. 1 can process it,
but 1 don’t let it hold me back. 1 know that evolution Julianna Jaffe co-stars with Wade McCollum in Hedwig and the Angry Inch.
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