Image provided by: Clackamas Community College; Oregon City, OR
About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (May 27, 2009)
Clackamas Print > Culture Wednesday, May 27, 2009 bring comedy hour brings laughs ig Stoltz time, revisiting and continu ing each of the scenes they did before. The student-directed plays ■ spring-term Student consist of a one-act and two ■nance Showcase starts short scenes. Artist in resi ■y, June 1, packing you dence James Sharinghousen, ■lunch-hour full of noth- who directs all three, said he ■ humor. selected the plays because he ■d every term as part of wanted something that would B with the same name, be entertaining for the audi ■Student Performance ence, and fun to work on. ■ase is all about fun this The first scene, “One Minute ■Whether you like your Play,” is a brief glimpse into ■light and silly, dark and the life of Dave, certainly one B or maybe a little bit of the glummest fellows you’re ■naughty side, you’ll get likely to meet. Sharinghousen B this show. describes the scene-as funny, ■re are three parts to the because it’s so dark. Bse: stand-up comedy, “Women in a Playground,” B improv and student- the second scene, is very sar ■d plays. castic, said Sharinghousen. He ■ comic format is a no said it has the really bright, Broposition. The com- optimistic person and the real Be about three minutes ly dark, not-so-social person. ■o if you like them, they “It’s great to play with those Kelp but leave you want- characters,” Sharinghousen Bre. If you don’t, well, said, “because you see those B be gone before you kinds of people everywhere.” ■t. The play portion of the B improv is fast-paced, show finishes with a farce Band full of opportuni- called “The Hardy Boys and ■r audience participation. the Mystery of Where Babies Bnedy improv is made up Come From.” ■vidual games, or “forms” Derek Sweet, who plays B are known in improv Frank Hardy, said in this play, ■Theatre Instructor David brothers Frank and Joe Hardy ■English said it’s essen- are 21-year-olds with the Bke the television show maturity of 12-year-olds. B Line is it Anyway?” Director Sharinghousen B during practice, the said, “I could make the boys Bved at lightning speed either look really smart, but B a whole bunch of they’re really stupid, or I could ■ The best of the day make them look really stu ■here and Back Again” pid but they’re really smart.” Buesiions.” Of course, Sharinghousen did not,* how Bnes are different every ever, reveal which option he Bo your results may chose. Asked about the play, Nick ■Questions,” the cast Jones, who plays Joe Hardy, ■into two lines and the said, “I’d say it’s something Kat the front of each line that everyone can enjoy - Bestions at each other, maybe riot like really small ■someone accidentally children.” B a question, makes a The primary reason to keep ■nt or freezes up, they the small children at home Be back of their line and is Nurse Ratched, played Bt person steps up. by Madelynn Marcotte.’ As ■here and Back Again,” Sharinghousen put it, “A nurse Be cast member starts is normally pretty straightfor B until a referee yells ward and nice, but our Nurse B” At each freeze, a new Ratched is [a] very elderly, I comes in and starts ¡sexual woman.”. ■ scene with the person The plays and improv are ■pie already there. This part of every performance, but Kes until everyone is in. because there are a dozen or so Beople go out one at a stand-up comics this term, only Mamas Print four will appear during each noon show. The Thursday eve ning show will feature the full complement of comics as well as all the rest of the pieces. The Spring Term Student Performance Showcase runs Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, June 1, 2 and 4, from noon - 1 p.m., plus a longer show, Thursday, June 4, ■at 7:30 p.m. All shows are in Niemeyer Center and admis sion is free. Michelle Newby Clackamas Print Stefon Smith practices his comedy act for his upcoming performance. The student showcase, June 1, 2 and 4, offers a chance to watch comedy in many forms, and in some cases get involved with the acts themselves. otic fiction pays off for Clackamas English teacher Abigail Neat The Clackamas Print Jessica Foster. Clackamas Print Ras English Instructor Paul Crumrine answers ques- |n his English Composition coursé he is teaching this er. Clackamas English teacher Paul Crumrine has been writing fiction stories for years, but it wasn’t until he began writing gay erotica that he got paid for his work It started in the mid 90s with a story about Leonardo DaVinci. “I actually made money from it,” Crumrine explained. He had written science fiction and mystery but had never made any money from his stories. It was not until he read gay erotica and knew he could do better than that things changed for him. Crumrine’s most recent work will be featured in “Best Gay Love Stories 2010” and is available at amazon.com. “It’s really fun. You get to do all sorts of stories,” he said. “He writes very, very well,” his office mate of several years and fellow English department member Leslie Ormandy said. English department chair Kate Gray is ecstatic that he is getting published. “When instructors succeed in their areas of expertise, the success can only benefit our students,” Gray said. All of his stories are completely fictional. In one story the main char acter is killed in the second para graph and ends up in gay heaven. One reviewer called one of his sto ries the most subversive one in the book. Crumrine has only been pub lished in compilations, so far, but has written 10 novels in his lifetime and is negotiating with a publisher about writing a book of only short stories. The stories would have horror, sci ence fiction and fantastical bizarre themes. Another thing Crumrine likes to include in his writing is humor; he does not take himself too seriously and believes in keeping things light hearted. “Even if someone gets killed it’s fun,” Crumrine described. “They are essentially happy stories,” Crumrine got into the erotica genre by seeing calls for submis sions describing the criteria and just began writing to fit His obvious passion for fiction writing was described as something he falls into, unaware of the passage of time, with words coming out of his fingers without being conscious of typing. He can get a trigger from any-, thing, a leaf felling, which needs a person and it goes on and on. Crumrine, who part-time teaches writing composition classes, joked that he spends his spare time grad ing student papers. That is not all he does. When not creating fantasy worlds he is politically active and is a fair-weather bicycler. He also has a little Paul. Little Paul is his cat, who in feet, is not very little at 23 pounds. The name came from a friend of his who named him after him.
