FEATURE
The Clackamas Print
Wednesday, October 25,1995
Irkutsk love story inspires playwright Sorry
Seymour
Jon Roberts
Feature Editor
Irkutsk playwright Nelly
Mathanova is an accomplished
theater director, whose newest
play From America With Love,
is based on the true story of an
American-Siberian romance.
Mathanova visited CCC recently
to promote her newest play.
During the cold war, a man
by the name of Silvio "Scotty"
John Scolocchini, a retired World
War II veteran, visited Moscow as
a tourist. By luck he met Lydia
"Lida" Maevskaya, an Irkutsk
teacher and fell in love with her.
Scotty wanted to marry Lida
but she would not move to
America. In those days marriages
between an American and a So
viet citizen were rare.
Scotty would not let anything
stand in his way. If Lida would
not move to America he would
move to Russia to be with her. He
sold his home in Philadelphia,
and moved to Irkutsk to marry
Lida, despite the objections of lo
cal bureaucrats. In Irkutsk, he
made many friends and was given
support by the open-hearted Si
berian people.
The married couple moved
into a log cabin on the bank of
the Angara-River in the best
housing they could obtain at that
time. This made Scotty unhappy;
he dreamed of providing a proper
home for Lida.
He set about the task of mak
ing their dream house. He worked
long and hard for his dream. It
took the nine remaining years of
his life and he did not live to move
into it. The house now stands as
a monument to “the Irkustk
American” and his love story.
Scotty’s story is memorial
ized in the play From America
With Love. Playwright Nelly
Matkhanova changed the name
Scotty to Mario and Lida to Katya.
The play From America
With Love is produced by Irkustk
Drama Theater and will be per
formed in Portland from Oct. 26
through Oct.28. It will be per
formed at the Interstate Firehouse
Cultural Center on 5340 N. In
terstate Avenue. Tickets cost $15
for General Admission, and $12
Amy K. Hanson
Managing Editor
The Spring production .of
"Little Shop of Horrors" has
been cancelled due to lack of
enthusiasm.
According to Barbara
Bragg, secretary for Commu
nications and Theatre Depart
ment, there was lots of inter
est. In fact, 24 auditions were
scheduled for last week, six per
hour, with an additional wait
list. Only half of the scheduled
auditions showed up to their
assigned appointment, many
without notice.
Bragg said that she was re
ally surprised and that many
people had scheduling con
flicts, between work and the 3
to 6 p.m. rehearsal times.
The decision has not yet
been made as to what the new
play will be, but auditions will
be Dec. 4.
photo by Josh Kehler
Lydia "Lida" Maevskaya and Irkutsk playwright Nelly
Mathanova visit CCC promoting their upcoming play.
Forensics off to strong start
photo by Josh Kehler
Guitarists Josh Millman and Michael Page of the musical
group ‘The Mavens' rocked at CCC last Wednesday,
Megan Friedow
Staff Writer
Clackamas Community Col
lege offers a forensics program for
those students who have an inter
est or want to enhance their com
munication skills, while compet
ing against two and four year
schools.
The team has already made
an impressive start as both senior
and novice contestants used their
unique talents. They place sec
ond overall out of 33 contending
schools, CCC being one of the
smaller, less well known colleges.
“The tournament went ex
tremely well. It was a great learn
ing experience for all the mem
bers,” said Kelly Brennan, Direc
tor of Forensics. “Not many
people have an understanding of
forensics, or even that Clackamas
has its own team.”
The last competition, both
the senior and novice contestants
made a strong showing. Nate
Smith led the team with his per
formance in the Parliamentary
Debate and placed second out of
66 contending speakers. Liz
Kinnaman took fourth in the nov
ice Dramatic Interpretation and
fourth in the duo Interpretation
competition with Brian Everest.
Erika Gurley, Jennifer Paige,
Jesse Gnehm, and Jared Thatcher
all proved worthy of recognition
as they placed as well.
Each of these students spe
cializes in one or more of the fol
lowing categories which'YMge
anywhere from Persuasive Speak
ing, Informative, Editorial Com
mentary to Theater, Impromptu,
Poetry Interpretation and Debate.
There are both individual and duo
competitions. The background
experience of these students
ranges from zero to many years.
The tournaments offer a variety
of levels and divisions depending
on the students experience, so one
is only competing against those
with similar experience.
“It was quite a change com
ing from high school, and then
competing at the college level, so
it was a great learning experi
ence,” said Erika Gurley, first year
student.
“Forensics offers endless op
portunities and the skills devel
oped will not only improve speak
ing abilities, but assist in the in
troduction of colleagues and prove
beneficial in many aspects,” said
Brennan. Not only will this im
prove one’s personal perfor
mance, but will introduce schol
arship possibilities'as well.
Clackamas has had a reputa
tion to be a strong competitor at
these past collegiate competitions,
and as Brennan states, “I only
hope to encourage further in
volvement to those who have any
interest in forensics because they
would be an asset to our team.”
Anyone interested is welcome to
call Kelly Brennan, or attend his
class on Monday or Wednesday
at '2-4pm in M202.
“When we are prepared, we
will have the knowledge and the
power that will give us the free
dom to reach new heights. With
this knowledge we shall not be
bound to mediocrity,” said
Brennan.
Their next competition
will be held Nov. 3 and 4 at Lower
Columbia College in McMinville.
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