The Clackamas print., December 01, 1999, Page 9, Image 9

Feature
Th e CL ac I< amas P rìnt
ANGIE DASCHEL
A&E Editor
Most people would think a
performer who played major
roles in eight college produc­
tions and countless high
school presentations emerged
from the womb as an actor.
The opposite is true for Jayson
Shanafelt, 21, a Theater Arts
major and lead player in
Clackamas’ fall production of
House of Blue Leaves.
“I remembered recently that
in grade school, they had one
of those Thanksgiving pag­
eants where they have all the
kids go up and sing, and I told
my mom I was sick because I
was scared to go,” said
Shanafelt. “[That is] a com­
plete 180 for me now.”
Shanafelt overcame his fear
and began his acting career in
middle school with The True
Story of Rap, which he de­
scribed as “the male version of
Rapunzel. " He calls his love
of acting a fluke.
“I liked being silly and jok­
ing around, and I thought,
‘hey I’ll take acting class,’ and
I just sort of got into it,” ex­
plained Shanafelt. “All my
friends were very artistic, not
just in the theater realm, but
also painting and singing, and
I got into singing as well.”
Shanafelt was featured in
commercials for Northwest
Futon as their “mascot” and
self-described “futon boy,”
during his years at West Linn
High School, where he took on
many roles including King
Claudius in Shakespeare’s
Hamlet and a part in Godspell,
a musical.
“[Godspell] was a fantastic
experience I had, religiously
and emotionally, and it really
Jayson Shanafelt, a theatre major, says his love of being silly and joking around led him into the world of acting.
helped me grow,” said
Shanafelt. “They have a great
program [at West Linn].”
r
After graduating from West
Linn, Shanafelt came to
Clackamas, where he has been
a staple at every major theater
production for the past two
years.
“I like entertaining,” said
Shanafelt. “My goal is to cre­
ate characters who are signifi­
cantly different than I, and
people can watch and be enter­
tained and say ‘hey, I don’t see
Jayson there, I see the charac­
ter.’”
Shanafelt’s characters can
be arguably time-consuming.
For each play at Clackamas,
there are three-hour rehearsals
on Monday, Wednesday, and
Friday, and sometimes Sunday.
In addition to the time spent
in the theater, Shanafelt also
works 20 hours per week at an
insurance company and is en­
rolled in three classes at the
college.
Shanafelt says this is his
third and final year at Clacka­
mas, where he learned invalu­
able lessons about acting' and
actors.
“Everyone that I’ve worked
with has really helped me
evolve,” said Shanafelt. “One acting world.
“People are urging me to go
of the most important things of
being an actor, being on stage, into this field,” said Shanafelt.
“It’s just whether I am willing
is teamwork.”
“If the other person that you to sacrifice to do that.
are acting with, if their
character is different,”
he added, “then that
will change who your
character is, because
you are made up of re­
sponses and actions.”
Although he has
been actively involved
in the Theatre Dept, at
Clackamas, Shanafelt
is unsure about future
endeavors into the
Shanafelt hams it up
as Sir Andrew
Aguecheek in
Shakespeare's v
Twelfth Night.
»
k
A Shanafelt had to
sing and play the
piano for the role of
Artie Shaughnessy
in this fall's House
of Blue Leaves.
►Vit
SARAH WELCH I Clackamas Print
As Henry
Drummond, the
defense attorney in
Inherit the Wind,
Shanafelt argued to
keep the teaching of
evolution in schools.
gg
Shanafelt played
Torvald Helmer, a
patronizing husband
in A Doll's House.
KARL KATZKE I Clackamas Print
TIMOTHY A. BELL 7 Clackamas Print
TIMOTHY A. BELL / Clackamas Print