SISTER ACT
Three Cottage Grove sisters charm their
way into the local theater spotlight
WO R D S A N D P H OTO S BY M E E R A H P OW E L L
W
hen young actors and actresses think of where
to kickstart their careers, what often comes to
mind is locations like L.A. or New York. Even
though the Conforth sisters may be headed
that way, they’ve already made a name for
themselves right here in Lane County.
Sisters Cyra, Kenady and Campbell Con-
forth — ages 18, 14 and 11, respectively — live in Cottage
Grove. The trio is heavily involved in dance and musical the-
ater both there and here in Eugene, and the eldest two have
taken part in The Shedd’s Musical Theatre Training Academy.
Their mother, Amanda Conforth, is also the director of
Cottage Grove’s South Lane Ballet Academy.
“Yeah, we’re kind of the weirdoes in town,” Amanda
laughs.
The three Conforth sisters sparked their interest in per-
formance by getting involved in Cottage Grove’s commu-
nity theater, Cottage Theatre. From there, they started per-
forming more actively in Eugene, specifically at The Shedd.
“Working at The Shedd has been so awesome,” middle
sister Kenady tells EW. “Before, we would work at the
Cottage Theatre, and it was great experience and great
learning, but it’s awesome being in a place where — be-
cause you get paid for the shows here — you have to work
hard because this is your job.”
CAMPBELL
CONFORTH
KENADY
CONFORTH
ALL EUGENE’S A STAGE
T
heater is a battleground.
As the most atavistic of art forms — live
drama in the age of digital clones — theater is in a
continual struggle for relevance, now more so than
ever. Film is indeed a beautiful medium, but it’s
more static than fluid; there will only ever be one
Citizen Kane.
Theater, on the other hand, involves a beautiful risk, and
that risk is fluid. Theater is a machine of perpetual motion,
fraught with all the potential for grace and error of which
the human animal is capable.
On any given night, sitting in the audience, you might
just witness the best damn Macbeth you’ve ever seen — and
then, brief shadow, it is no more. Or you might be subject
to an utter fiasco. The anxiety of theater is inseparable from
its potential for transcendence. Failure always nips at its
heels, and this is what makes it so damn tantalizing.
Theater, in other words, is a continuously renewable
product. And each coming season, theater companies
attempt a particularly tricky act of artistic jujitsu, balancing
commercial demands and audience expectation against
10
A ugust 31, 2017 • eugeneweekly.com
issues of artistic risk and the threat of becoming staid, stale
and safe.
With community theater, the battle for relevance is
complicated by concerns of a fiscal and pedagogic nature
— like minor league farm teams in baseball, local theaters
are the places where up-and-coming actors (paid modestly,
if at all) cut their teeth beside veteran performers, all of
them playing on stages and sets that can only hope to rival
the imagination, minus the big budget, of lavish Broadway
productions.
Sometimes I think Eugene’s theater scene is thriving;
other times, I’m frustrated by the conservative choices
made by local directors. Obviously, business is business
— I get that — but really, who needs to see yet another
production of An Enemy of the People or Waiting for
Godot?
I realize, of course, that I’ve just contradicted my
assertion that theater is infinitely renewable, and I’m okay
with that. I do believe that, should the human race survive
another century, Julius Caesar will remain as relevant in
2117 as it certainly is today.
Looking for fleeting drama
in the upcoming theater season
BY R I C K L E V I N
And yet, often, when surveying another coming theater
season, I get a terrible sense of déjà vu: Didn’t we just see
Little Shop a couple years back?
When Lane Community College mounted Irish
playwright and modern bad-boy Martin McDonagh’s The
Pillowman in 2015, I was over the moon (see “Bedtime
Stories” EW 11/19/2015). This is a tough, challenging —
nay, outright confrontational — play about totalitarianism.
It was a fantastic risk for the college; it was a fantastic
production.
The battle, then, is for balance: controversy vs.
escapism, challenge vs. nostalgia, relevance vs. tradition,
money vs. art. Looking at what’s on tap at Eugene theaters
this coming year, we see a little of everything: Some old
standbys, a couple old saws, endlessly repeated; a handful
of productions aimed directly at our current political
climate of division, confusion and potential cataclysm; a
pair of world premieres; and some interesting standouts.
Here, then, are some of the upcoming productions we’re
most looking forward to seeing in and around Eugene as
the new theater season opens: