By Mandie Gavitt
Associate News Editor
magine a world where the
ms you held in the 1990s live
Imagine a land where the “tat-
ink never runs dry,” cars don’t
land people form bands and
about saving the planet. A place
rc it is OK to be unambitious,
re young people go to retire”
ill the cute girls wear glasses,
fest of us don’t have to dream
ch a place: we live there. But
hose unfortunate souls who
xitside of the Portland-area
Itose of us who enjoy relish
in our good fortune, there is
tadia.”.
Mandia” is a new TV show
that premiered on the IFC channel
Jan. 21. It tries to capture the unique
ness and diversity Portland offers.
The opening song to the first
episode is “The Dream of the 90s is
Still Alive.” The song alone captures
what it is that makes Portland, wel 1,
Portland. The rest of the pilot epi
sode is a silly but clever description
of what it means to live in the area.
In the opening of the episode
we see various sights familiar to
most Portlanders, such as Bumside,
Powell’s and people riding bikes.
This does a good job of setting the
scene and giving those who m ay not
be familiar with it a glimpse of what
Portland is like.
“Portlandia” interweaves short
clips about Portland together to cre
ate a seamless and nearly perfect
representation of foe Rose City. In
one of foe clips we meet Peter and
Nance, a couple who have embarked
on a romantic and ethical date.
When the waitress comes to take
their order, they ask her dozens of
questions about the chicken they
want They want to know if it is
organic and if it had room to run
around before it was killed to be
their meal. The way the waitress
seems unphased by their question
ing makes it seem as if this is a
normal thing for her. She pulls out
a file on a chicken named Colin and
promises that he is not only organic
but also ethically treated before he
died.
Peter and Nance chose not to
take the waitress's word or the
papers on Colin and instead decide
to check out the local fann Colin the
Chicken was raised chi . While their
venture to foe farm ends up taking a
total of five years, Peter and Nance
do a good job of representing a phe
nomenon in Portland’s culture: the
desire many hold to eat only what
they know was treated ethically, if
they eat meat at all.
In foe pilot episode we also meet
the “Women and Women First”
book store, a feminist book store
that only allows paying customers
to use their bathroom. On their back
wall they have a chalk board that
lists different classes and protests
that are being held in the Portland
area around that time because, “if
you’re not outraged, you aren’t pay
ing attention.”
There is also the adult hide and
seek league that meets in the Portland
Community College library. While
one team runs to hide, foe other
counts vegan bacon cheesebuigers.
When there is a dispute about who
should get a particular hiding spot
foe referee, a 10-year-old boy, is
called and reads foe rules to foe
players in question. When a player
decides to hide under a table where
an old lady is sitting she says, “There
are weirdos everywhere.”
Portland is so rich in culture
and diversity it is almost shock
ing that “Portlandia” has not come
into existence sooner. All the same,
“Portlandia” does an excellent job
of capturing what it is that makes
Portland so unique and so weird, hi
a light hearted and humorous man
ner it pays tribute to the people that
make up the culture of Portland. I
am excited to see how future epi
sodes put Portland in the spotlight.
Photo courtesy of IFC
ladow Testament’ offers poignant perspective of cult mindset
lyJohn Simmons
Copy Editor
* of us have experienced
d the negative impact cults
both for those in them and
around them. As I was sit-
a small theater in Southeast
dwaiting for “The Shadow
ent” to begin, I hoped that
iy would shed light on an
voided topic and bring the
bvecult of Corvallis to life. I
iy, I was not disappointed,
cast, consisting of Sam
I, Reba Sparrow, Jeff
b, Jade Hobbs, Jeremy
»in. Don Kinder, Anne
!, Marty Winborne, Tom
>ey, Mark McCallum and
i Baehr, did a spectacular
om start to finish, flowing
bly from scene to scene in
st choreographed w ay and
big life into the script.
‘ play begins with Jane
ill (Sparrow) sleeping in
®i. She startles awake, her
»es turning to nightmares as
lects on foe events that led
present situation. We soon
trthat Jane is in an asylum,
she was sent without trial.
Mit the play Jane tries to
together if she is guilty or
shadows of her past testi-
n her case.
Events of foe play are pre-
js Jane’s memories, which
^es as she’s locked in her
She shifts between reality
’thoughts, popping in and
both with almost fluid-like
first memory we are
shown, Jane and her friend Clara
(Hobbs) are eating lunch on
Kiger’s Island, escaping for just a
little while from the ever-watchful
eye of their boss. There they meet
Joshua (Schwab), the new preach
er they had heard about. He seems
nice enough and treats both girls
kindly, but right from foe begin
ning something seems a little off
about him. He exudes sex appeal
and is able to convince the girls to
return to hear him preach.
After hearing what proved to
be a captivating sermon, Clara
is the first to convert to Joshua’s
church. Others soon follow, includ
ing Isabella (Getties), the married
mother of two girls, in a time when
women were expected to stay at
home and obey their fathers or
husbands, Joshua offered libera
tion.
Isabella had a somewhat
strained relationship with her hus
band Clarence (Winborne) before,
but once she joined Joshua, things
took a steep dive in their mar
riage. Clarence and Mr. Marshall
(Kinder) eventually become fed
up with Joshua and try to drive
him out of town, leaving him tied
to a tree on foe island, tarred and
feathered. Jane goes to find him
and.set him free, and it is during
foe following exchange that she
truly starts believing in Joshua and
becomes one of his most fanatic
followers.
The scariest thing about Joshua
is that he is so convincing and,
in the beginning, the things he
says didn’t seem that strange. He
preached what many would con
sider to be biblical truth, saying
how God isn’t a mental exercise
and that all are worthy of his
love. As the play progresses, how
ever, we can see a shift in what he
preaches about.
There is no denying that he
is well-versed in the Bible, but
he manipulates scripture and mis
quotes passages to suit his own
needs, and his followers accept
every word. Eventually he transi
tions from being a preacher to
being from God or even God him
self, and some characters begin to
pray to him for help.
What I found most interest
ing about the play was the way
it shifted from Jane’s memories
to her present situation. In the
beginning it was clear to see foe
boundaries between the two, but
as the story moved forward the
lines blurred, demonstrating foe
confusion that Jane experiences as
she gets closer to deciphering whàt
really happened.
Another overarching theme
was that of foe trial. Jane never
had a real trial,-so she had one
for herself in her mind. The other
characters sat on benches on foe
side of the stage, waiting their turn
to be called to the witness stand
of Jane’s mind to act out their role
in the story. This aspect was more
subtle than other themes, but I
think it worked beautifully with
the story and helped tie everything
together.
The relationships in this play
were very believable. Jane and
her brother Henry (Munger) share
a closeness that is at times very
touching, and it was heart-wrench
ing to see it deteriorate as Jane
became more and more involved
with Joshua. The relationship
Joshua (Jeff Schwab) kneels in prayer after a sermon.
Reverent followers are captivated by his presence.
between Mr. Marshall and his
children was also very interest
ing. Although at first we see Mr.
Marshall as only stem and unlov
ing, as the play progresses we see
that he was once a gentle and kind
man but was hardened by what
life had given him, resulting in his
children fearing him and obeying
due to that fear.
One of my favorite characters
is Joseph (Benjamin), Jane’s atten
dant in the asylum. He acts as a
sounding board for Jane as she
pieces together her case, and his
reactions to her thoughts add a
humorous touch to an otherwise
serious play.
Overall foe play was truly cap
tivating. The cast, from the won
derfully acted supporting roles to
the captivating main characters,
truly did this play justice, bringing
it to life in a way that few others
could.
“The Shadow Testament”
premiered on the Jan. 20 and
will be performed Jan. 27-29 at
Performance Works Northwest,
4625 SE 67th Ave. in Portland.
All shows start at 8 p.m. and cost
$10 per person. For ticket informa
tion, call 503-367-2650 or e-mail
tickets@portlandwt.com. There
aré only about 45 seats available
in foe theater, so those planning on
attending should to arrive early if
they want a good seat.