Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (March 16, 2007)
I eatingout eatingout eatingout eatingout Cheek to Cheek Backstage bawdiness ecently 1 found myself naked in a roomful of hot young men. No, I wasn’t at Club R Portland, which will close before 1 ever visit. Instead 1 was backstage at Portland Opera’s Norma. Norma is my fifth production as a supernumerary, an extra, commonly referred to as a spear carrier whether you carry a spear or not. In this show, 13 of us processed onstage, clad only in fur-covered jock straps, and prepared for battle by smearing war paint on each other’s bodies in a homoerotica Uy suggestive way. The fun of being a supernumerary is hearing Out Going BY FLOYD SKLAVER glorious music up close while being watched by DINE + DRINK Lunch. Dinner. Cocktails. Seasonally inspired and made with the finest Northwest ingredients. The only thing missing is you. thousands. It requires a certain exhibitionism, and all these different G-strings and show off to people this show in particular required a narcissism that each night." And musical director Rick Lewis, who showed up in lots of preening backstage. There was began his career in New York, told me, “It was always also a lot of bawdiness. Like the rehearsal when the straight guys coming out of the shower and 1 reached behind Spencer Warden to paint his back slapping the gay guys on the butt with a towel." and instead gave him a wedgie in full view of the So why is the sexual energy so high backstage? chorus. Or when Travis Hollingsworth painted Portland Center Stage artistic director Chris a smiley face on his war buddy’s chest. Coleman says, “1 think human beings are sexual INTERACTIVE MUSICAL COMEDY AT ITS BEST! NW Couch at 10th in the Pearl Mon Sat 1 lam-llpm Sunday: 5pm-11 pm do] Happy Hour Weekdays column, I realized that so the of much kidding around was www.WHOSTOLEMYDEADHUSBAND com sexual in nature, like the time Kochanski 4pm-6pm S03.226.DINE ten-01.com piling material for this TICKETS ON SALE NOW! or 800-966-886 DUANE MORRIS • As 1 started com Marc put his spear into the opening ten 01 in the stage where mine belonged and 1 accused him of put ting his pole in my hole. Indeed, the last time 1 wrote about Portland Opera, my SERVING BREAKFAST AND LUNCH DAILY column was one smut ty joke after another. So, 1 started think ■M dn -FRI • 7AM-2PM S at -S un • B am -3 pm Spencer Warden and Floyd ready themselves for battle. ing about why there was so much sexual bantering going on among the creatures, and in a creative situation like the supernumeraries (gay and straight) and called a num theater, you’re asked to bring the full range of your ber of actor friends to quiz them about their experi emotions—your sadness, your anger, your delight ences backstage. and your eroticism—into the room. That’s part of “Just hearing you ask about this made me i dR. 15LVD ...., • vegetarian & vegan haven • breakfast, lunch & dinner everyday • cocktails • outdoor patio • bocce ball • free wi-fi www vita-cafe.com 503.555.8235 5024 NE Alberta your skill set.” blush," said Michael Mendelson. “I've never been Lewis says, “The titillation is always there and so in touch with my feminine side as during The it’s always going to happen because you’re in the Heidi Chronicles. Three guys and five women all in theater for affirmation, and the easiest and most one dressing room. There was much talk of geni immediate form of that satisfaction is sexual.” talia. The young straight guy was in heaven. I don’t Mendelson adds: “What we do as actors is eliminate think he’d been in a room with that many women the lies. When you take away the lies, the walls and in their underwear—and good underwear. Because facades begin to break down. So you’re less inhibit when you’re that close you really need to dress up ed. You bond in ways that some actors don’t even for the occasion.” bond with their partners.” Kelsey Tyler told me: “When I did Romeo and Juliet at Triangle [Productions) with two other hotbed of whoredom. While Lewis acknowledges Catholic prep school boys [Scott Weimer and Tony that most of his most memorable experiences James], you had three gay men in their early 30s occurred in New York, in Portland “there’s relative and we were just raunchy and sexual backstage. ly little of that going on—it’s Hooterville and There was no holds barred talking about sex.” Pixley here," he jokes, referring to the cities in Actress Torrey Cornwell confessed: “We’re Still, not everyone agrees that the theater is a Petticoat Junction. adults, and half the time we’re not getting any That certainly wasn't my experience with because we’re in rehearsal all the time. So you Norma, so the question remains: Is it the sexually have to throw some fun in, some flirting, some charged atmosphere? Or is that just what happens when you’re Out Going? ® innuendoes.” But the sexual shenanigans aren’t limited to gay people. Mendelson told me that during a show at FLOYD S klaver wants to know about your event. Profile Theatre, a straight actor “would come in with E-mail him at floydsklaver@comcast.net.
