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About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 25, 2004)
8 • T he C lackamas P rint F ebruary 25, 2004 THe Odd C°tJpLe:' Members oF c Name: Tom Cavanaugh Age: 23 Hometown: Beaverton, Orc. Future Career Plans: High school Name: Michael Gerber Age: 27 Hometown: Portland, Ore. Future Career Plans: Hoping to get a drama teacher master’s in directing, direct/act profession ally, and ultimately teach drama at a univer sity. Last Movie Seen: “lx>st in Translation” Last Book Read: “The Art of Elusive Dreaming” Last Movie Seen: “The Return of the King” Last Book Read: “Good Omens” What got you started in acting? I took some classes in high school for an easy A, and then I ended up enjoying it. After 1 got cut from every sport possi ble, 1 decided to stick with the acting thing; 1 was doing well in it. Most Memorable Experience: Theatrical “Lend Me a Tenor” (the winter show last year). There’s a scene where I’m upset because the opera star who was supposed to sing (1 play this opera pro ducer-guy), wc thought he was dead. I’m freaking out and the guy was supposed to push me onto the couch. When he pushed me on the couch the leg broke and the couch kind of fell over. The audience was dying of laughter for about five minutes and 1 was also laugh ing really, really hard. It kind of stopped the show for about five minutes, and most the |audicncc| thought it was part of the play so wc kind of played it out well. What’s the hardest role you’ve had to play? Jake in “A Lie of the Mind.” The show starts an hour or two after I’ve beaten my wife into mental retardation. 1 really don’t know how to identify with rage at all, let alone to the point of beating someone up. I’m as anti-conflict as it comes, so it’s kind of difficult to figure out if I was doing it right, because 1 did n’t know how it was supposed to feel. Describe your character in “The Odd Couple:” ANGELA GERHART C lackamas P rint CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Cast members of ‘The Odd Couple:’ Matt Morrison, Michael Gerber, Bekah Finch and Tom Cavanaugh. ....... Name: Matt Morrison Age: 20 Hometown: Oregon C2ity, Orc. Future career plans: Theater Arts major Last Movie Seen: “American Clods” Last Book Read: “Kill Bill” Name: Bekah Finch Age: 20 Hometown: Virginia Beach, Va. Future career plans: Bachelor of Theater What got you started in acting? Yogi” 1 had jaw surgery and my jaw was wired shut for seven weeks. After it healed J had the urge to talk a lot. 1 felt like being outgoing and talking more; theater seemed like a good outlet, so 1 started auditioning. Most memorable theatrical experience: My most memorable experience was getting stabbed on stage. 1 had to die very loud and obnoxiously; a very theatrical death scene. And people laughed. It was the most reward ing thing, because if you do something funny and people laugh, you know you did it right. What’s the hardest role you’ve had to play? Mike in “A Lio of the Mind.” It was difficult because Mike had good intentions, but he went about solving all of his .problems the wrong way. He was impulsive and mean and made bad decisions impulsively. If 1 make bad decisions, 1 think them out very careful ly and do the wrong thing almost on pur pose. Arts Last movie seen: “Big Fish” Last book read: “Autobiography of a What got you started acting? My parents were active in military' theater. 1 had my first part in the “The Stingiest Man in Town’’ and 1 never looked back from there. Most memorable the atrical experience? I would probably say doing “A Lie of the Mind” last spring. It was a very dark show and it was very difficult for me; it was the one show that I really grew from. What’s the hardest role you’ve had to play? Sally, from “A Lie of the Mind.” Describe your character in “The Odd Couple:” Describe your character in “The Odd Couple:” Murray is a police officer in his mid-forties. He is mostly just a New York guy who man aged to be a cop. A big poker player—not very good at it. 1 x.ives the game but can’t usu ally win. And he can’t deal very well. This is a mostly male dominated show. Lm one of the girls that they decide to go on dates with. I guess my character is very fun loving and flirty. How do you relate to this character? 1 am also very bad at cards. 1 know all'.of the rules; I’m very precise and organized in my card playing and 1 do everything to the letter, but 1 never win. I’m not a police officer so 1 cannot relate in that way. 1’vc never arrested anyone, and 1 don’t own hand cuffs ... yet. How do you relftte to this character? Well, 1 think that all girls enjoy meeting guys and having a good time. ___________ Felix is a neurotic, hypochondriac, obses sive-compulsive clean freak. He’s the type of guy that does everything to get on your nerves without meaning to. Just his exis tence grates on people. He’s the type of guy that switches out your ashtray every time you take a drag off your cigarette, the type of guy that basically knew what he was going to do with the rest of his life. And then his wife decides she wants a divorce, and now he doesn’t know what to do with himself. In a world of single men at 44, he’s not fitting in very well. How do you relate to this character? 1 like things clean. And 1 like things to be a certain way. Not to the degree of Felix, but I do have my own way of organizing everything 1 ’ve got that nobody else understands. So 1 just kind of take those and amplify them. What got you started in acting? I’ve been acting since third grade. It’s just kind of something I’ve always done. Most memorable theatrical experience: A particular scene in the “Grapes of Wrath,” I delivered this gut-wrenching monologue. My character goes down to the river with this stillborn baby and sets the baby in the river. There’s thunder and light ening, 1 just started bawling on stage while 1 delivered this monologue. That was my most spectacular acting moment What’s the hardest role you’ve had to play? Oscar—he is a real person and you still have to make him funny. The play is diffi cult because you have all these characters that are real, genuine, authentic human beings, who you could vastly run into on rhe street. Everybody knows an Oscar Madison or a Felix Ungar, Every character in “The Odd Couple” is someone you know. To bring that out and to make them funny and real and honest at the same time is hard ... you can do a joke, and just go for the joke—-but that’s kind of cheap. You want to go for the honesty of the joke first and then it becomes funny. Describe your character in “The Odd Couple:” If you had met |Oscar| in college, he proba bly partied all night long—-one of the -frat boys that never joined the fraternity. He drank beer, probably crushed a few beer cans on his head and probably streaked across campus naked. A real party-goer and really laid back. A really likable guy—extremely dis organized, very impulsive; he doesn’t plan for anything—just kind of strolls through life. One thing that drives Oscar nuts the most is people who are too uptight. How do you relate to this character? I can relate to Oscar in that there is that side of me that just wants to not think about the next step. I don’t want to have to think about my future and 1 don’t want to have to think about being responsible. 1 just want to be able to kick back and be lazy once in a while; like today, it’s just a beautiful, sunny day and the Oscar side of me would just love to go out there and lie on the grass-and soak up the sunshine. But on the other side of me, espe cially as a student—someone who’s working on a future—you’re constantly thinking about what’s next.
