A LETTER FROM THE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
DURANG. EL GUINDI. BAITZ.
IT’S WINTER IN OREGON AND THE PLAYWRIGHTS OF OUR NEXT
THREE SHOWS HAVE A LOT ON THEIR MINDS.
“You can multitask, how wonderful. You
can tweet. You twitter and tweet,
you email and text, your life is abuzz with
electrical communication. I know older
people always think the past was better,
but really – instead of a text with all these
lower case letters, and no punctuation,
what about a nicely crafted letter, sent
through the post office?”
–Vanya in Vanya and Sonia and Masha
and Spike
Christopher Durang’s character Vanya is
speaking toward the end of the play when
this thought spills out of his frustrated
mouth. It’s the beginning of an avalanche
of thoughts about modern culture,
contemporary behavior and Dinah Shore.
And it comes as a bit of a shock at that
point in a story that has felt as light and
tangy as lemon meringue. We come to feel
and understand that Mr. Durang has had
a lot of things on his mind, and they come
barreling out in a monologue all at once
furious, well-argued and sidesplitting. It’s
a monologue I have heard in my head
before, though never formed as eloquently
as it is here.
In Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike,
one of our most gifted satirists chooses the
world of Chekhov, that famous Russian
observer of life, as the canvas for his latest
comedic exposé. Why, you might ask? This
is the author who broke out famously in
the 80s with Sister Mary Ignatius Explains
It All For You – a scaldingly funny romp
through Catholic school, led by the wholly
un-PC and somewhat fascistic Sister Mary.
This is the guy who, with Betty’s Summer
Vacation, created an aggressively twisted
world in which the seemingly innocuous
turns savage. Why take up Chekhov?
Who knows? But what it allows him to
explore is a privileged family that has
lost its momentum; a pair of narcissists
hypnotized by their own reflection; and
a series of visions of the future that keep
rearing their heads. It’s a wild ride, and
ultimately excavates some of the biggest
questions we have about where our culture
is heading.
P 2 | PORTLAND CENTER STAGE
“Tell me it didn’t change everything.” –Leila in Threesome
In Yussef El Guindi’s play,
Threesome, we enter unfamiliar
terrain: The bedroom of an Egyptian
couple. Granted, one of those
Egyptians was born and raised
here in the States, but it’s still a
new experience. And the terrain
we are traveling is made even more
intriguing by adding a third party
to the landscape. With all that has
happened since the Arab Spring,
and the headlines we read every
day about conflicts unfolding in the
Middle East, a bedroom farce might
seem an unlikely entry point to a
conversation on the topic.
But El Guindi, like Mr. Durang, has
a few things on his mind – only
one of which is sex. Born in Cairo,
raised in Cairo and London, and
spending most of his writing career
split between the U.S. and Egypt, El
Guindi views the events of our day
from a unique vantage point. The
notion that relationships between
a couple, relationships between
men and women – and their bodies
– can become such a flashpoint in
the huge political and social battles
being waged, is at the heart of the
conversation he is taking on. It’s
layered, meaty, provocative material
that I am extremely proud to bring
to Portland in its world premiere.
Like Crazy Enough and A Feminine
Ending, The Body of an American
and The People’s Republic of Portland
– Threesome was developed at our
JAW festival, and continues a long
tradition of bringing new voices to
this community.
“Why is it that children are
allowed a sort of endless series of
free passes in this life, you
know, and we’re expected to be
the parents of children forever?
This is a new phenomenon; once
I was an adult, all of my parents’
indulgence ceased.
You all want to stay children
forever, doing whatever mischief
you can think of. All you entitled
children of the ‘me’ generation.”
–Polly in Other Desert Cities
Jon Robin Baitz burst onto the
American theater scene in the
early 90s with Three Hotels
and The Substance of Fire.
There was something of Arthur
Miller in Baitz’s finely crafted
family-centric dramas where
the personal becomes political.
After many years working in
Hollywood (most famously
as the creator of Brothers and
Sisters) he returned to the live
stage and his roots with Other
Desert Cities. It’s a play that pits
political viewpoints, siblings and
generations of a particular family
against each other. And besides
the wit and verve with which he
is able to build tension, the thing
I admire most about this play is
how it leads you to believe it is
leading you down one path, and
then twists your preconceptions
on their heads.
ALL THREE OF THESE PIECES SHARE HUMANITY, WIT AND
A KEEN INTEREST IN WHAT IS HAPPENING RIGHT NOW IN
OUR CULTURE. THANK YOU FOR YOUR PRESENCE, YOUR
INTEREST AND YOUR ATTENTION.
–CHRIS COLEMAN