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ENTERTAINMENT
World premiere of “ The Darker Face of the Earth 55
t&e 2 (td
Hawaiian Melodies
The Oregon Historical Society
presents I tawaiian music and dance
hv the Kanakahi Brothers begin
ning at noon, 1200 S W Park Ave.,
306-5200.
Farewell Party
To say farewell and help raise
funds for the Miracle Theatre’s
touring troupe, Teatro M i lagro and
their tour through Mexico and the
western United States, Miracle
hosts a party with salsa lessons, a
silent auction, music and dancing,
8 pm, 525 SE Stark St., 236-7253.
Kyogen Tonight
The 1996 Portland Internation
al Performance Festival hosts an
Kyogen Tonight, an informal per
form ance by Kyogen com edy
workshop students with guest art
ist Yasushi Maruishi at 8 pm, PSU
Lincoln Hall Studio Theater, 1620
SW Park Ave., 725-4862.
“The Darker Face o f the Earth’’ is
the first full-length play by former
U S. Poet Laureate Rita Dove, who
developed the piece during a three-
week 1994 workshop. This epic dra
ma, running through Oct. 27, is the
final play to join the Shakespeare
Festival’s 11 -play season.
D ove’s play, set in antebellum
South Carolina, tells a story o f love
and revenge in the shadow o f sla
very. In the play, A m alia- a planta
tion ow ner's daughter who becomes
the mistress o f the place - sets out to
break the newly purchased Augustus,
but finds herself irresistibly drawn to
him. The brutal system o f slavery
traps them both as they play out their
fateful love against the backdrop o f a
slave rebellion.
“The Darker Face o f the Earth”
combines the cal l-and-response form
o f the slave narrative with African-
based drumming, music and stylized
movement.
OSF presents “The Darker Face
Some people dream in color: oth
ers in black and white. Lenny Kravitz
dreams in music. “ I was irt Amster
dam,” he recalls. “And it was three in
the morning. I heard it all - the mel
ody, words, everything. I woke up,
ran into the bathroom and started
singing into this little tape recorder.
I hen, I cut it the next day in the next
day in the studio." H e’s talking about
“ Bullet,” one o f the more incendiary
tracks o ff Circus. And while others
among his eleven new songs were
generated simply through hard work,
intuitive experiment or a flash of
inspiration - Lenny’s fourth album
Open House
Sattcictaq t6e 3 t d \
India Festival
Political Drama
A lejandro Saderm an's film,
Knocks at My Door, is a tense
political dram a illustrating the
struggle between the church, the
state and military in contemporary
Latin America, 7 & 9 pm, through
Aug. 4, Northwest Film Center,
1219 SW Park Ave.. 221-1156.
AIDS Project
Festivities
The Cascade AIDS Project pre
sents “Salsa-a-Go-Go”, with af
ternoon festivities includingacon-
test for most outrageous costumes,
door prizes and contemporary and
Latin dancing. Sean Sasser from
M TV ’s The Real tForW appears as
a special guest, 4 pm, Howell Ter
ritorial Park on Sauvie Island, 223-
5907, ext.200.
Concert Series
Cathedral Park’s Blue Heron
C oncert Series continues with
Johnny Limbo & the Lugnuts, in a
pop/rock concert, 6 pm, comer ofN.
Edison and Pittsburgh Streets, next
to St. John's Bridge, 289-5187.
TheatreSports
PDX TheatreSports, combining
the quick wit o f improvisational
comedy with the excitement o f a
sporting event, continues its sum
mer season Sunday nights through
Aug. 25, 8 pm. 2522 SE Clinton
St., 452-6544.
and Tyrone Wilson. The production
also features two on-stage drummers,
Russ A p p le y a rd and C raig
Goodmond.
O SF’s involvement with the piece
began in 1993, when Story Line Press,
the play’s publisher, sent a copy o f
the script to White, who directs the
indeed qualities as his most explo
sive. It’s a true music lover’s dream:
a dazzling carnival o f rock and funk,
ballads and barbed guitar.
The sonic charge o f “Rock n’ Roll
is Dead” detonates the record. Refin
ing, Kravitz says, “a riff I came up with
in a soundcheck in Japan,” the song
attacks, “the giant corporate white-
bread bubblegum machine that we're
all a part o f ’ and “the clichéd rock n ’
roll lifestyle." Countering the poseurs,
Kravitz offers real emotion, genuine
passion. The song delivers its message
loud and clear; "Be whoever you are:
be the person who's inside you."
Festival's Play Development Pro
gram.
"OSF is, o f course, first and fore
most a producer o f classics, with a
growing interest in new work," White
says. "Darker Face’ has its roots in
(ireek drama, but Rata sets the story
in the 1840’s, in the antebellum South.
Rata evokes big issues with her rich
poetry, while telling an involving
story.
“A development partnership be
tween this major American poet and
ATA seemed natural in order to move
her play from the page to the stage,”
White continues. "And so began two
years o f workshops, readings, and
re-writes. Working with Rata has
been a phenomenal experience.”
In 1994, the Festival received a
$ 100,000 grant award for New Amer
ican Plays from the W. Alton Jones
Foundation for the development and
proposed production o f “‘The Darker
Faceofthe Earth." For its production
o f the play. Crossroads Theatre has
been awarded a major grant from the
Fund for New American Plays, a
project ofthe John F. Kennedy Cen
ter for the Performing Arts, with sup
port from American Express Com
pany and in cooperation with the
President’s Committee on the Arts
and the Humanities.
Natalie Cole plans
acting role In romance
Singer Natalie Cole has taken
the first step towards an acting ca
reer by optioning the rights to the
debut novel by a former journalist
for People and Essence magazines.
"Good Hair,” by Benilde Little,
tells the story- o f a young black
reporter from modest means who
falls in love with an upper-crust
Boston surgeon.
The romance is strained by the
lovers' disparate backgrounds.
While exploring the little seen
world o f upper class black society,
“Good Hair" aims to tap into the
publishing and film success ofTer-
ry M cM illan's“Waitingto Exhale.”
Simon & Schuster has scheduled
the book for October release.
Cole optioned the book for a
mid-six figures, most ofw hich will
be paid on the first day o f filming.
Sources said she plans to pro
duce and star in the project even
though she does not have a produc
tion deal at any studio.
Theatre season a bagful of fun
Portland C enter S tage’s 1996-
1997 season during the fall and win
ter months marks their ninth year as
Portland leading theatre company.
Theatre-goers have some great
productions to look forward to as this
season blends an interesting mix o f
classic and contem porary plays, with
several special features:
The production o f Mtss Julie fea
tures a new adaptation by Producing
Artistic Director Elizabeth Huddle,
moving the play to the 1880’s Amer
ican South.
PCS has com m issioned Peter
Schickele (PDQ Bach) to create a
Dole’s
Hollywood
Sequel
Bob Dole is again preaching fam
ily values to Hollywood — though
not in the same harsh terms he used
last year. In a speech at Twentieth
Century Fox in Hollywood, Dole said
there is a big demand for positive,
life-affirming movies. D ole’s tone
differed from his April 1995 speech
when he condemned the entertain
ment industry for producing “night
mares o f depravity drenched in vio
lence and sex” and accused movie
makers o f "marketing images o f evil
to American children in a thirst for
profit.” This time he praised movies
like“Forrest Gump,” ’’Independence
Day" and “Apollo 13” and singled
out only ’’Striptease” as an example
o f bad taste.
Blazers Auditions
Are you the next Whitney Hous
ton?
Well, even if you aren’t but can
sing the national anthem, the Blazers
want you for their home games dur
ing the 1996-97 season.
The Blazers will host National
anthem. Halftime Talent and Public
Address Announcer auditions along
Drayton Hall, a plantation house, was built around 1740 on the
Ashley River near Charleston, South Carolina. A southern plantation
such as this the setting for Rita Dove's revealing play.
Lenny Kravitz dreaming up music
Portland’s environmental cre
ative arts group is throwing its
annual summer shingdig and open
house in celebration o f the publi
cation o f The Bear Essentiall #7,
5:12 to 11:02 pm, 2516 NW 29th
Ave., 242-2330.
The India Cultural Association
presents India Festival 1996 fea
turing live music, dance, enter
tainment and foods from India,
starting at 11 am, in PioneerCourt-
house Square.
o f the Earth" in association with
Crossroads Theatre Company (New
Brunswick, N.J.), which will amount
the play in 1977.
Ricardo Khan, the artistic director
ofC rossroads Theatre, will direct the
Festival’s production. O SF’s produc
tion also features scenic design by
Richard L. Hay, costume design by
Karen Lint, lighting design by James
Sale, music composed by Olu Dara
and c h o re o g ra p h y by D ianne
McIntyre. OSF Associate Director/
Play Development Cynthia White
serves as dramaturg and assistant to
the director.
In the play, Ezra Knight plays
Augustus, with Elizabeth Norment
as Amalia and Thomas Byrd as Hec
tor. O th e rs in the cast include
Michelle Blackmon, Gina Daniels,
August Gabriel, BW Gonzalez, Tamu
Gray, N adine Griffith, Johanna Jack-
son, Kevin Kenerly, Mark Murphey,
Paul Vincent O ’Connor, J.P. Phill
ips, Dennis Robertson, Davon Russell
with a Fan Fair at the Rose Quarter
Commons on Saturday, August 17
and Sunday, August 18 from 8:30
a m . to 5:00 p.m.
Interested applicants can sched
ule an Anthem/Talent audition time
by contacting (503 ) 234-9291.
Spaces available for auditions will
be limited.
new score and songs for The Rivais
(co-commission with Chamber Mu
sic Northwest and the Lincoln Cen-
ter Chamber Orchestra Society. Eliz
abeth Huddle makes lier Portland
stage debut as Mrs. Malaprop.
A Tuna Christmas is generating a
lot o f excitem ent among fans o f
Greater Tuna, who can’t wait to re
visit this small Texas town.
A “tuna” food drive and casserole
bake-off will add to the holiday
w ackiness asso c ia te d w ith this
show.
Art students exhibit work
Pacific Northwest College o f
Arts is taking art to the streets.
Six display windows on the cor
ner o f the McCoy Building, South
west Fifth and Stark, are now the
McCoy Gallery featuringjuried art
exhibitions from the College.
McCoy Gallery is accessible to
all passersby and is lighted 24 hours
a day.
The current exhibition, which
will run through the end o f Septem
ber, will showcase four local art
ists.
Maurice Fykes 111 o f Vancou
ver, Wash., is displaying silkscreen
prints. Adriana Martinez, a Mult
nomah resident, is showing wood
cut prints.
While Tom Lechner o f South
east Portland, is presenting a wood
sculpture installation, and Yolanda
Baca-Johnson, a Portland resident,
is exhibiting sculptures o f stones,
sticks and paper mache.
All art ists are students in the Bach
elor o f Fine Arts program at Pacific
Northwest College o f Art.
Marquis • Boss Mecca • Pelle Pclle • Nappy
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SUMMER
SALE
SPECTACULAR
SUm)RT_MIN()RiTJ _BUSINESS
$5.00 O F F all a p p a re l
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2006 NE BROADWAY
(503) 460-2640 (503)460-2641
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Interstate Firehouse
11223050
G.R.E.A.T.
Gang Resistance Education and Training Program
"O
presents the
Neighborhood Vouth Theatre Project
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(Previously know as Theatre in Da Hood)
Workshop Locations
Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center • 5340 N Interstate • 823-2000
Villa De Clara Vista • NE 72nd & Killingsworth • 284-7075/ 249-2061
Rice School/Asian Family Center • 6433 NE Tillamook • 235-9396
Workshops
July 8-26
9 :0 0 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.
Potluck and Performances
July 24-26
6 -9 p.m.
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Nappy • Pelle Pelle • Boss • Mecca • Marquis
B reak fast and Luneli provided
Optional afternoon activities available
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