P age B4
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J anuary 19, 1994 • T he P ortland O bserver
ex ENTERTAINMENT
G ra n d M a s k e d B a ll
Garland Lee Thompson: Developing
A New Generation Of Writers
by
S tephan D. C oleman
Sitting amidst the memorabilia,
logs, scripts and other historical ma
terial in the loft that has been the
home of the Frank Silvera W riters’
Workshop (FSWW) for sixteen of its
twenty years. Garland Lee thompson
is open and direct about his own rich
and varied career. As FSW W’s ex
ecutive director (and co-founder with
Morgan Freeman, Billie Allen and
Clayton Riley), Thompson has over
seen the day-to-day operations for all
except five of the twenty years it has
been in existence. Created as a living
tribute to actor Frank Silvera, the
workshop is devoted to the nurturing
o f writers of color. The impetus to
start the workshop and the energy
that has fueled it across twenty years
are uniquely colored by Thompson’s
pre-workshop history as an actor, di
rector, stage manager and writer.
A ctu ally ,
G a rlan d
Lee
Thompson’s professional theatrical
debut was the result of a “fluke.”
While on a visit to relatives in South
ern California, the then-teenaged
track and football athlete and dance
student from Portland, Oregon, audi
tioned as a dancer for a group of
cabaret artists scheduled for a USO
to u r to S o u th e ast A sia. To
Thompson ’ s surprise, he was accepted
into the company. As fate would have
it, the tour was promptly canceled due
to an outbreak of the Asiatic flu.
However, the group’s business man
ager “used a trump card” and secured
an audition for 20th Century Fox
Films for the entire company. “The
next thing I knew,” Thompson re
calls, still incredulous, “I was in [the
filmed version of] South Pacific with
some very major people, like Ray
Walston, Deborah Kerr, and Juanita
Hall who was a Black woman who
played an Asian. It was my first paid
job of any kind and a very heady
Experience for a teenager.”
However, after this illustrious
entree in to show business, Thompson
realized “I’d better settle down and
study [acting] because I saw very little
future in Black dance in the 50s. So I
got a day job and started studying to
see if I wanted to stay in this busi
ness.”
He soon landed the role of the
newsboy in the L.A. production of
Langston Hughes’ Simply Heavenly,
a major theatre event. “Simply Heav
enly opened up a whole world for me.
We had people in that show like Helen
Humes and Pauline Myers, who
played my mother and gave me my
first acting lesson,” he vividly recalls.
Many of the elders in the play took
Thompson under their wing, includ
ing' Isabel Cooley, who remains a
friend.
Concurrently, Thompson contin
ued to study formally and informally.
“A1 Freeman Jr. and I were room
mates in 1958 and I knew very quickly
that he was somebody who couId teach
me something.” Freeman did plays in
the backyard of a quintessential early
60s L.A. coffeehouse that Thompson
co-managed. Thompson exclaims, “I
was just blown away by what he was
doing!”
During the early to mid-60s,
Thompson also honed his performing
skills by acting in a variety of produc
tions, and by “sitting at the fee” of
people like Cooley, Freeman, and,
ev en tu ally the renow ned Frank
Silvera. He attended Silvcra’s work
shop and gradually went from student
to friend to Silvera’s co-star in Blues
for Mr. Charlie.
Around that time, Thompson also
starred in alive action short film. The
Legend of Jimmy Blue Eyes about a
New Orleans trumpet player’s deal
with the devil. It received an Oscar
nomination as “The Best Short Film.”
He also appeared in an early episode
of Star Trek where his dance and
athletic background served him well
in combat scenes with star William
Shatncr.
However, Thompson was already
moving behind the scenes. He signed
a contract to stage manager for the
Inner City Cultural Center in Los
Angeles. It was at Inner City that
Thompson fine-tuned his production
skills. “At any given time, I was in
rehearsal with one play while another
was running.” He stage managed or
production stage managed eleven
back-to-back productions.
It was also at Inner C ity that
T hom pson had his “ baptism by
fire ,” learning all the ins and outs
o f backstage p o litics. T hat b ap
tism also took place at the A ctors
S tudio W est, w here Thom pson
directed S isyphus and the B lue-
Eyed C yclops, his ow n scrip t.
S isyphus, w hich starred A1 F re e
m an, Jr. and A dolph C aesar, told
the story o f an in stitu tio n alized
A frican A m erican w hose alleged
insanity could be a m etaphor for
the psychological oppression of
A frican A m ericans.
Thompson’s work at Actors Stu
dio West would become a turning
point in his career. “It was at Actors
Studio that I learned how to run a
writers’ unit,” he notes. When the
writing and directing components
were closed at the studio because “Lee
Strasberg wanted to focus on the big
money - the Marilyn Monroes and
Marlon Brandos,” the seeds had al-
ready been sown in Thompson for the
creation of his own writers’ work
shop.
But not yet. First Thompson was
on his way to New York to stage
manage The River Niger for The
Negro Ensemble Company (NEC),
after “other [stage managing] biggies”
had been unavailable. Not the NEC’s
first choice and an unknown quantity
in New York,Thompson sold himself
by dropping two names: Vinette
Carroll and Charles Gordone.
When River Nigerclosed prema
turely in spile of its Tony for “Best
Play,” Thompson did freelance stage
m anaging for W ynn H andm an
(American Place Theater) and Joe
Papp (New York Shakespeare Festi
val). However, he was relieved ofduty
from NYSF while Papp was out of
town and an individual who was ap
parently threatened, saw an opportu
nity to remove Thompson.
Then in 1970,FrankSilveradied.
“It took all of us out,” Thompson
recalls in a quiet voice. Frank Silvera
had been an iirtist of compelling skill,
range, and dedication. Between his
professional debut in 1934 and his
death in 1970, the fair-skinned, char
ismatic African-Jamaican created a
body of work few actors of any race
can match. Long before the term “non-
traditional casting” was coined,
Silvera, who debuted on Broadway in
the historic American Negro Theatre
(ANT) production of Anna Lucasta,
played a variety of men of various
ethnic backgrounds. He created the
role of the Italian father in A Hatful of
Rain; played the Latino General
Huerta in the film, Viva Zapata; an
Irishman in Longitude 49; and an
African American in the play, Nat
Turner. His King Lear at The New
York Shakespeare Festival is still con
sidered a major event in theatre his
tory.
Arts
at
Lewis & Clark College
Legendary performer Isaac hayes and famed songstress Amanda Ambrose performed recently with Big
Band leader Glenn Zottola at the Church of Scientology Celebrity Centre International's Grand Masked
Ball for the benefit of the Hollywood Arts Council. Helping to "put the Hollywood back into Hollywood, "
the glittering fundraiser was held in the Garden Pavilion, a popular performing facility built on the Church
grounds in 1992.
T h e S e a r c h I s On
F o r “M is s B l a c k O r e g o n 19941 99
ns
17-27 years of age
Single
Resident of Oregon OR
Full-time student in Oregon
If selected you will represent the state o f Oregon in the 1994 Miss Black
US. A. Scholarship Pageant in Washington, D.C. and compete for a
$5,000 scholarship grand prize trip to South Africa and other prizes.
Interested persons should contact:
Tony Washington/Derek Rasheed, M lss Black USA
Oregon State Director at (503)-288-0033.
Sponsored by the Portland Observer. Call today!
"BROTHERS FROM THE EAST"
Derek. Rasheed
Present:
Julie Dash
Award-winning film director of Daughters of the Dust and Illusions
1993 Maya Deren Award from the American Film Institute
1991 Sundance Film Festival Cinematography Award
1989 Jury Prize for Best Film of the Decade
from the Black Filmmakers Foundation
1985 Black Cinema Society Award
Lecture
Friday, February 4, 7:30 p.m.
Council Chamber, Templeton College Center
Lewis & Clark College
A dm ission
$7 general; $4 students, alumni, senior citizens
A
CABARET
Dance & Fashion Show
Sat. January 29, 1994
Tickets a v a ila b le at
Lewis &. Clark College, Fir Acres Theatre Box Office
503-768-7491
C elebrate Black H istory M onth at Lew is & Clark C ollege
Noah Jackson
9:00 PM until 2:30 AM
At the Texas A nnex 1625 N.E. A lberta St.
Music by the Fantastic:
Fashions Presented by:
Roseland Theater Weekly Update
MUSIC
MILLENNIUM
32ND & E. BURNSIDE
231-8926
23RD & NW JOHNSON
248-0163
Ladysmith Black Mambazo
with NW Afrikan-American Ballet
Saturday, J a n .29
9pm-21 & Over
Leo Kottke
with Cindy Banks & Gary Valentine
Thursday, Feb 3
8pm - 21 & Over
Bullet Boys
with Havuk and Thunderjelly
Wednesday, Feb 9
8pm - 21 & Over
Dave Koz
with Roger Sause
Friday, Feb. 11
8:30pm - 21 & Over
B.B. King
with Curtis Salgado & Friends
Sunday, Feb. 20
8pm - 21 & Over
West Coast Alternative Jam
Cement, Symon/Asher,
April's Motel Room and Bungee Chord
Saturday, Feb. 26
8pm - All Ages
Stanley Clarke Band
with Dennis Springer
Friday, April 1
9pm - 21 & Over
For more information call 224-TIXX
GEORGE
‘BridaX
rVo"
P°' rOe
J c L s h io n s
Gowns • A ccessories • Lingerie
After Five
Admission: Advance $5.00 single
At the door:
$7.00 single
•
•
$8.00 per couple
$12.00 per couple
TICKET LOCATIONS: The House of Sound Records • One Stop Records t
Waves Hair Design • Cynthia's Visual Results
Duece & A Quarter, 12th Street Twice. The "BROTHER’S FROM THE EAST" are mighty nice.
They may bo young, and they may be old, but between them both there's RIGHTEOUS SOULIll