Image provided by: Clackamas Community College; Oregon City, OR
About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 10, 2012)
P R IN T : Arts& Culture Wednesday.0ct.10,2012 # 5 CCC drama receives reboot, new instructor hired ChristopherTaylor Arts & Culture Editor With CCC being a home to many traditions and excellent programs, many o f yoti no doubt will know the theater department to go hand in hand with names like Chris W hitten and David Smith-English. It’s a name and reputation well earned. Now, there’s a new name and face attached to our beloved program: James “Jim” Eikrem. Eikrem comes to us after Smith- E nglish’s recent retirem ent. Eikrem’s track record in theater seems to go back very far. Eikrem is an Oregon native, bom in Oregon City. He grad uated from Rex Putnam High School, where he received the Dr. Rex Putnam Award as outstand ing student in his class. .. He then went on to Portland State and finished his undergrad uate work, earning a bachelor’s degrees in Theatre Arts, as well as English. He then attended the Graduate Acting Program at New York University’s Tisch School o f the Arts where he received his Master o f Fine Arts. Recently, he completed cer tification as an associate teacher o f Fitzmaurice Voicework, which is a comprehensive approach to voice training that explores the dynamics between body, breath, voice, the imagination, language, and presence^ It encourages vibrant voices that communicate intention and feeling without excess effort, and brings together physical experi ence and mental focus. Soon after, Eikrem returned to Portland after working as än actor in New York, regional the atre, and Japan, fie has also acted and directed plays at Portland area theaters including: Artists R epertory Theatre, Lakewood Theatre, Portland Center Stage, Portland Repertory Theatre, and Sylyia’s Class Act. H e also taught/directed for Portland Actors Conservatory, Portland Com m unity College, and Portland State as well as numerous youth programs includ ing CityArts, M etroArts Kids Camp, and Oregon ¿Children’s Theatre. Impressed yet? I f not, there’s more, much, much more. For the last 10 years Eikrem has been an Assistant Professor at Central Michigan University in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan. Besides teaching acting, m ovem ent, directing, voice and diction class es, he also appeared in numerous productions. He directed and created per formances for CM U ’s University Theatre as well as The Riecker Literary Series, and directed “Singin’ in the Rain” and “Peter Pan” for the M idland Center for the Arts in Michigan. H e w rote, produced and directed “Lines o f Reasoning”, a sexual harassment awareness video, which is marketed to col leges and universities nationwide. Eikrem’s track record is much more than a mile wide, span ning several states, and several years. It’s apparent that he is well equipped to. handle his new position as .CCC’s new theater instructor, hoping to fill the shoes o f a m an with a ju st as impres sive reputation for theater excel lence. “I ’m very excited to work here at CCC,” said Eikreim “It’s gonna be one heck o f a year.” Indeed, he’s got some work ahead o f him. With his track record, we can be sure to expect great things from him. -5- James Eikrem, the new theater teacher at Clackamas, is excited to get start ed working, and is prepping fo r CCC’s first play o f the year. Oregon Trail Interpretive Center ‘rounding up the wagons’ The McCoy & Noland Provisioned building is the third and final building on the interpretive center. This building marks the end o f the tour. Luke Frank Associate Arts & Culture Exciting things are happening at The End o f The Oregon Trail Interpretive Center these days. After many ups, downs, closures, and partial openings the final plan for the center is coming to completioii,. “It’s exciting,” said Jeff Glavor, a volunteer worker at the museum. « ™2 = 8 oZ ©3UI cz> W 40 Ò V— o JZ2 O ■*-» O O “To not have it open is an abso lute shame. Everyone is excited about moving forward.” The fund ing for the project comes from several sources: $81,500 from the Lennox Foundation, $20,000 from the Cabana Fund, and $10,000 from the Juan Young Trust. The facility itself gets about 12,000 visitors during a year. The most popular time to visit is dur ing tihe summer season. One of the things to see is the heritage garden. WEDNESDAY-10/10 • Event: CHRYSALIS meet ing; t2p.m. - 2p.m.; RR 220 THURSDAY10/11 *■! The heritage garden is a small gem and reflects the kinds o f flow ers, herbs, and vegetables that the pioneers would have planted for beauty and self-sufficiency. The garden is fairly small, has a compost pile, and is maintained by Oregon State University Master Gardeners. The OSU Master Gardners collect the seeds at the end o f the year to replant the garden, then sell in the information center. The hoops on the museum have been repainted so that they look new again after years o f neglect. While the park has signage depicting the history and short blurbs on some o f the most note worthy o f the emigrants, they are being repainted and are set to have QR codes on them for interactivity. Two more signs might be placed on the front o f the welcome center with QR codes about the informa tion center, museum, Clackamas County, and the surrounding area. “Our goal is to make it more interactive,” said Gail Yazzolino, administrator o f the site. Also, one o f the more interest ing changes is the fact that more native tribes are being represented, with their stories and interactions with the pioneers better told in the » new makeup of the center. The three buildings that make up the museum were built to look like wagons and the interiors will be redecorated and reworked to simu late the beginning o f the Oregon Trail through the end o f the journey. Although the plans for the museum are not yet fully realized, there is a rough outline o f what the museum will be like when it’s done. “We’re starting with what we have and making it better,” said Yazzolino. The first building will represent Independence, Mo. You will see FRIDAY10/12 • Event:'Argo’ comes out in | j | Theaters; midnight • Event: The RiRPIe EffectArt Auction; 4-9 p.m., Mian St, Oregon City SATURDAY-10/13 stores, places to buy oxen, and other items o f time-period relevance. Then, you will walk down a hallway to the second building. This building represents the jour ney along the Oregon Trail. What will be represented here will be a very in te ra c tiv e m u ltim e d ia re p re sentation o f what life was like on the Oregon Trail. In the third building, you will finally reach Oregon City. There, you will see a Bureau o f Land Management office where you can buy property. There are stores where you can buy supplies to survive the long winter ahead of you and a blacksmith as well. The plans for the museum seem to be in flux at this time. Yazzolino has been procuring the funding that had been badly needed for the • Event: Concrete Leaf Casting; Clairmont 117; 9a.m.-11;50 a.m. m o re s m o o th ly ,” c o m p a re d to p a s t administrations. Palzer also added “The old man agement didn’t want to change any thing. People in general don’t like changes.” As o f now, only the welcome center is open, the museum por tion of the facility is still closed. The museum will not be closed for long though; it’s set to open July 2013 as they are ramping up for when the Oregon-California Trails Association comes to visit Oregon City for a convention. F resh M ade D eli San dw iches Salad s » E sp resso • Sm oothies P ie s » P a str ie s « Coffee OPEN Tuesday- Friday O Saturday 8&m-6pm Closed Sun & Mon 19273-C Molalla Ave Oregon City, OR 97048..., 503.518,0110 w w ju stab itecafB .com Si **’*t'‘ "s °n Deal D e liv e r y A v a ila b le Lunch M eetin g S p ecia ls (fa x your o rders to 503.5 1 8 .0 0 8 2 ) SUNDAY-10/14 . • Event: For all Those Sleeping/ Upon this Dawning Concert,; Hawthorne Theater,Portland, OR; 7p.m. facility almost single handedly, according to Yazzolino’s right-hand woman, Kathryn Palzer. “Gail got the ball rolling and the funding back on track,” Palzer also states that “Things are done more democratically.” and “Flows ME M0NDÂY10/15 ? TUESBAY-10/16 • Event: PDX Jazz; Jimmy Mak's; 7p.m. ¿Ss n
