The Clackamas Print
Wednesday, January 22,1997
Feature
Former Clackamas student receives Albee honor
Joel Shempert
Staff writer
to all of us. He’s a very good
guy-”
Widerberg, however, throws
Jacob Juntunen, a Clackamas
alumnus who is currently attend the praise back in Juntunen’s
ing Reed College, has received the court.
“You’ve really got to admire
rare honor of being accepted for
Pulitzer Prize-winner Edward his stick-to-it-iveness. He’s a tal
Albee’s playwriting class at the ented young man,” says
University of Houston, Texas. Of Widerberg.
Juntunen has received a lot
the approximately 300 writers who
apply yearly for the renowned of training from many instructors
playwright’s class, only 20 are ac in the Clackamas English Depart
cepted, making Juntunen a mem ment, which helped bring him to
this point.
ber of a select
LL---------------------
“The creative
group.
writing teachers
Juntunen is You’ve really got to
may not have
no stranger to
admire his stick-to-
helped me directly
such accolades,
[to be accepted in
however. While it-iveness. He’s a
Albee’s class],
attending talented young
but they certainly
Clackamas last man.
year, his accep
-Allen Widerberg improved my writ-
ing,”
affirms
tance at Reed
English Instructor
Juntunen.
College was a tes-
____________ »
The story of
tament of both
Juntuhen’s accep
Juntunen’s abun
dant natural talent and of the for tance in Edward Albee’s class is
midable training and support he interesting and humorous, as
received in his years here at the Juntunen relates.
“Last winter, during the flood,
college. He will now continue to
build on the wisdom his instruc when Mr. Albee was here [at
Clackamas] I attended his
tors bestowed upon him.
Juntunen testifies to this, ex play writing workshop, and I was
plaining that Sue Mach and her very impressed. After that I went
play writing class were particularly to his talk, and he mentioned he
helpful in preparing for Albee’s taught a class in Houston,” says
Juntunen.
class.
What happened next was the
“Alan Widerberg also was
very encouraging. He was the one pivotal moment
“Afterwards,” Juntunen
who told me to take Sue’s class,”
says Juntunen. “Also he was very says, grinning, “I was the obnox
encouraging in the Writers’ Club ious person in the front row who
said, ‘how does one get into your
play writing class?’ And he looked
at me. He made eye contact. It
was one of the most terrifying ex
periences of my life.”
His initiative payed off, how
ever.
“He asked me, ‘are you
speaking practically or theoreti
cally?’ I shook, I quivered and I
said, ‘practically.’ And he said,
‘write a play and send it to me. If
I like it, you’ll be in,’” says
Juntunen.
Of course, success did not
come effortlessly. It was then he
began the long process of writing
and revising a play to send to
Albee. Sue Mach’s playwriting
class, which Juntunen took last
spring, was instrumental in this.
Seventeen drafts later a play
was forged, and the culmination
of Juntunen’s work came when his
play, entitled “Where Hebrus
Wanders,” was read before Alan
Widerberg and the Writers’ Club,
including Sue Mach, for their re
action.
“I was very worried that
they’d be bored, but they weren’t.
They laughed in the right spots
and said, ‘aww’ in the right spots,
and that went very nicely,” con
fides Juntunen.
The play was then ready to
send to Albee. After waiting with
baited breath for about two weeks,
news of his acceptance reached
Juntunen’s eager ears.
Some adjustment will have to
be made in Juntunen’s life to ac
commodate this tremendous op
portunity. Having virtually no
knowledge of what Albee’s class
will entail (aside from the obvious),
Juntunen will have to approach the
experience with a flexible mind set.
He is, however, prepared.
“I feel confident, more or less,
as a playwright,” says Juntunen,
LL
I feel confident,
more or less,
as a playwright.
-Jacob Juntunen
former student
_____________ 55
“and a lot of that’s because of Sue’s
class.”
Juntunen will making an ad
justment of a more concrete na
ture as well. His attendance in
Albee’s play writing class at the
University of Houston will neces
sitate a sabbatical from Reed.
“When I told my advisors and
instructors, their question was am
I coming back?” relates Juntunen.
There was a concern because,
due to their highly challenging
courses, Reed College has a high
dropout rate. Juntunen reassured
them that “Yes, I am coming back.”
“I will presumably finish Reed.
I suppose if I win a Pulitzer, I might
not, but otherwise yes,” he adds
with a sly smile.
Juntunen sees this as an op
portunity both for learning and for
finding a direction for his life and
talents.
“I had been writing in all the
genres and that was getting tir
ing,” Juntunen confides.
He found himself continually
starting poems and stories and
never finishing them. Now, with a
more narrow bent on play writing,
he hopes to be more productive.
“I doubt if I’ll stop writing po
etry or short stories or whatever.
But this at least has, to me, a kind
of focus,” explains Juntunen.
Juntunen also considers this
a career opportunity.
“Having a reference letter
[from Edward Albee] could open
a lot of theater doors. The hard
est part is just getting stuff read a
lot of times.... If you wrote ‘Who’s
Afraid of Virginia Woolf?’ but no
one read it, it wouldn’t matter,”
Juntunen observes.
Juntunen’s tenacity and per
sistence, to say nothing of his skill
and Clackamas experience, are
likely to take him far in the pursuit
of his dreams.
It is his
undauntable spirit which gave him
this opportunity in the first place.
“When I asked the question
about his class, a lot of people
said, ‘Why did you ask that?’ and
thought it was egotistical,”
Juntunen recalls. “I will admit, I
have a slight desire to say ‘I told
you so,’ but more than that, I want
to tell people not to listen to dis
couragement. Just keep trying.”
Forensics team has secret weapon
Dan Clark
Staff Writer
When Clackamas speaking
guru Brian Everest first transferred
to the campus two years ago, he
“didn’t want anyone to know” he
was good at competitive speaking
in high school.
Now a cornerstone in the
college’s division-leading foren
sics team, Everest has to live with
the fact that his name is well
known on the team and through
out the division. He’s good, and
he can deal with people knowing
that.
Everest capped last season, his
first at Clackamas, with a trip to
the two-year college national tour
nament. He competed in four
events there.
Looking forward to this season,
Everest said, “For nationals, I
want to do more for the team. I
hope to compete in enough events
so the team can receive points in
each event.”
Still, he admits his events and
speeches need work.
“I need to revise a lot of my
speeches for the rest of the sea
son. I’m changing a little bit of
the style of some of them,” said
Everest.
What keeps Everest and stu
dents like him returning to com
petitive speaking and the foren
sics program?
“I’m a real competitive per
son,” Everest explained. “I see
someone do something and, if I
think that I can do it, I want to do
it better. Especially if I see some
one do it badly.”
Photo by Joel Coreson
Speech competitor Brian Everest has helped the Clackamas
forensics team soar to first place this year.
The Clackamas Forensics
team, guided by competitors like
Everest, has soared to first place
in its division. The new year brings
new tournaments and new ideas
to the members of the team.
“I think every speaker is anx
ious and competitive in their own
way,” Everest commented.
Everest and the rest of the
Clackamas team are not shy about
their sport. They are ready to
prove their worth at every tourna
ment, no matter how large the com
petition may be.
PORTLAND WINTER H
Jitter's/Clackamas Community College cafeteria