Your Primary Care Physician
Most insurances accepted
theater
BY ANNA GRACE
Gutierrez Holistic Family Medicine Ponder Like It’s 1999
Orestes Gutierrez, D.O.
3575 Donald St, Suite 110
541-632-4060 drorestesg.com
W
Serving patients in all walks of life
VERY LITTLE THEATRE
AUDITIONS
The Classic Comedy by
Joseph Kesselring
0RQGD\-XO\SP
7XHVGD\-XO\SP
2350 Hilyard St.
Roles for 11 men age 30 & up
and 3 women, one age 20-30
and two age 50s & up.
For more info, contact director
Sarah Etherton: savrit@gmail.com
6FULSWVDYDLODEOHDW9/7%R[2IÀFH
www.TheVLT.com
New Play will be read at Lord Leebrick Theatre
Locally owned and operated for over 25 years
here do I belong?
It’s a question we all sit
with, perhaps never more
strongly than in our 20s.
It is a question that James can’t shake.
As New Year’s Eve 1999 approaches, he
returns to Road’s End, where the past can
illuminate the future.
Fin de Siecle is local author Greg
Foote’s latest play, and the last in his
Road’s End Trilogy (which includes Road’s
End and This Patch of Sky.) His work digs
at deep questions and is critical of society’s
expectations. Smart, with a healthy dose
of humor, Foote offers his audience an
evening of “ah-ha…” So I was pretty
stoked to hear he had another piece ready
for a public reading, and I was curious as to
what it is about these characters that keeps
Foote returning to their stories.
“Road’s End was never intended as a
trilogy, or even a sequel,” Foote says. What
began as an epilogue became a second play,
This Patch of Sky. “The trilogy resulted not
so much from my love of the characters as
from the progression of the lives of people
of my generation,” Foote notes. The plays
begin with a character shipping out to the
Vietnam War and ends in the months before
the bombing of the World Trade Center.
While this play foreshadows the September
11th bombing, it “… is not so much about 9-11
as it is about Y2K, and, even then, the story is
mainly about fi nding one’s place in the world.
The time periods help shape the story and the
characters,” Foote says. The title, which is
French for “end of the century,” refers to a
period in French arts and letters at the end of
the nineteenth century.” I saw parallels with
the turn of the 20th-21st centuries and chose
to use the title.”
Many of Foote’s plays feature
wonderfully rich and realistic youth
characters. Fin de Siecle includes Eli, a
homeless teenager who is a refugee from
a fundamentalist Mormon community
in Utah. I asked Foote how his work
with teenagers (he is, among many other
things, the “Mouth of South,” announcing
basketball and soccer games) informs his
younger characters. He says, “I’ve resisted
the pressure, and there has been some, to
‘dumb them down’ because my experience
is that kids are often wiser than we give
them credit for… I have been privileged to
know some amazing kids, and I’ve tried to
respect that in my characters.”
This respect is evident throughout
Foote’s characters, making for a rich read.
But while Fin de Siecle is already really
good, it’s still not fi nished.
His work digs at deep
questions and is critical
of society’s expectations
No play is complete without audience
feedback. The play will be read aloud by
a group of well-known local actors (Colin
Gray, Storm Kennedy and Paul Rhoden
among others) under the direction of Carol
Horne Dennis. There, Foote will judge
audience reaction and make further edits to
the play. A talk back will be held afterwards.
People of Eugene, this is your work.
Show up, watch critically, be honest in your
feedback. “It is truly a work in progress,
but has reached the point where audience
input is valuable,” Foote says. The reading
is free to the public, and it will make you
laugh and think. So get out there and give
‘em your opinion, make Fin de Siecle your
play, too.
ew
Fin de Siecle will be read at Lord Leebrick Theatre at 7 pm
Wednesday, July 25. Admission is FREE.
NOW LEASING FOR AUGUST & SEPTEMBER
Brand New. Beautiful. Contemporary. Secure
In the Autzen District
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
Contemporary Design Studio & 1Bedroom Apts
Electronically Secure Bldg, Fully Gated Property
Granite Counters, SS Appliances, Air Conditioning
State of the Art Fitness Center, Heated Pool
Secure Enclosed Bicycle Storage, On-Site WeCar
Full Size EE Washer & Dryer in Every Apartment
Low-Cost High-Speed Internet Available
First On/First Off LTD Campus Shuttle Service
APPLY NOW TO GET LIMITED TIME SPECIALS
Call
541-556-8516 to tour Model Apartments!
ChaseCrossingApartments.com E Facebook.com/ChaseCrossing
275 S. Garden Way, Eugene, OR 97401
26 JULY 19, 2012
EUGENE WEEKLY
WWW.EUGENEWEEKLY.COM