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.