Image provided by: Clackamas Community College; Oregon City, OR
About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 13, 2019)
Enter the Vortex PLAYWRIGHT SUE MACH DISCUSSES HER MUSICAL “ VORTEX 1” STORY A N D PHOTOS BY BRENDAN SWOGGER CONTRIBUTING WRITER In th e sum m er o f 1970, am idst protests, p o lit ic a l c la s h e s a n d a n t i- V ie t n a m s e n tim e n ts , 100,000 p e o p le g a th e re d a t M ilo M cIver P a rk in E stacad a fo r a “ biodegradable festival o f life ,0 dubbed V o rte x 1. H eld in c o n ju n ctio n w ith a p la n n ed p ro te st an d riot in d o w n to w n Portland, th e festival m ade history as th e first and o n ly rock concert paid for b y th e state o f Oregon. Decades later, playwright and professor at Clackam as C om m unity College Sue M ach con ceived th e idea to b rin g th is unusual d ifferen t from ju st a standard stage play? Mach: It’s a lot broader in a sense. W hen you go into character, you don’t have time in a scene as m uch to develop a character' through dialog. You p y sh th e plot forward through song. That’s ju sta different thing to think about. ‘ S w ogger: T h e w h o le id e a o f a m u sical based on th e V ortex 1 festival — th at’ s a v e ry unique idea. W hat drew you to that story? b u t h istoric e v e n t to th e liv e sta ge in a Mach: Well, Bill [Wadhams] was wanting to m usical adaptation. w h e r e t h e o p e n in g s c e n e — a c la s h write a musical, and we were tossingaround a lot of ideas. And I had heard this story, and I think it’ s such a fascinating story that it lends itself to a m usical..Soflwas just really drawn to it, and I think th eiim e is right right b e tw e e n s tu d e n t p r o te s to r s a n d th e Portland police— to o k place, M ach gave now for a story like this to be out there about activism and struggles betweenthe activists. F o llo w in g th e p rem ie re o f h e r m u sical b ra in c h ild a t th e M issio n T h e a te r in d o w n to w n P o rtlan d , ju st b lo c k s fro m so m e in sig h t in to h e r w o rk tu rn in g a m assive historic even t and its w ide cast o f characters info a proper stage production. Swogger: Y ou ’v e w ritten a lot [of plays]. Had y o u eve r w ritten a m usical before? Swogger: Th ere w ere a lot o f little details fro m th e true story th at you w ere able to pu t in th e play. W h a t w a s th e research process like fo r this? Sue Mach discusses her musical, “Vortex 1” at a staging at the Mission Theatre on Jan. 28. night. So, a lot o f the governor’s story came there, but it’s not this big extended thing. from that. And then I interviewed people. I went to Oregon Historical Society and looked at McCall’s letters. They have a whole Vortex box w ith photos, and you can go on “ The There’s the festival in a song. Oregonian” and look at newspaper articles o f the time. So, I just started compiling stuff. M ach: W ell, I did a lo t o f reading on it. Mach: No, this is m y first go! There’s a book by Matt Love called “ Vortex S w o g g e r: H o w is w r it in g a m u s ic a l 1. ” And I read the biography of Tom McCall b y B ren t W aith — and h e w as th ere last Swogger: How long have you been working on this? Mach: Bill and I started exchanging ideas M ach: Oh yeah. I rewrote the second act m any tim es. I’m still rewriting it. That’s a n o th er th in g — w ith a play, y ou do som ething like we did last night. If you’re w ritin g a novel, you h ave you and your a couple years ago, m aybe two years ago. editor, maybe a few friends that can read it And th en I w as on a sabbatical last year,- and give feedback. It’s kind o f private. With so I was able to throw m yself into it w hen I w asn’t teaching. So, I did the bulk o f the a play, you gotta hear it. You gotta hear the dead spots, and you gotta hear where w e are writing last year. now and h ow w e can adjust. S w o gger: A n d th is w a s o n ly , w h e n it prem iered, th e first half. Swogger: W h at’ s your end goal w ith th is play? M ach: Y eah, A ct 1 plus tw o scenes from M ach: W ell, w e hope to get it produced, Act 2. h o p e fu lly b y 2020, b ecau se th a t’ s th e 50th anniversary. So, w e hope there’ll be Swogger: Is th e rest w ritten , or is it still in th e process of? Mach: It’swritten. It’s adraft, and so w e’ve got a couple other songs alm ost done. But I think there’s about six m ore songs. And a theater com pany that can pick it up. SOj w e just gotta get people out to see it and we hope some producer w ill be like, “Yeah, we w anna do it.” Swogger: Do you th in k som eth in g like a som e of it kind o f w raps up. Like getting to the festival itself— that was a big challenge. Like, how do I show this? It’s there. I studied V ortex festival could happen in th is day and age? all th ese m usicals w h ere th ey — like in “ H am ilton,” for exam ple, h e show s the M ach: I do, actually. I th in k the political Battle o f Yorktow n in one song. Can you do these big historical events in one song? and trying to come together around music— I Yeah, you can. So, I kind of played with it. It’s Clackamas Print Swogger: Trying to fit that m assive festival into on e scene, on e son g— w as th at one o f th e bigger challenges? theclackam asprint.com atmosphere of people just com ingtogether mean, sure it can happen. But I mean having the state pay for it? I don’t know about that. February 13, 2019
