Bombardment, Episode 10: Orange Dust Obscures the Sun

Splattworks continues its presentation of Bombardment, a two-act drama by Steve Patterson. The author will attempt to post an installment each day, but, if events intercede, installments may occur a day or so apart. So please be patient.

[EPISODE 10]

ARETHA: Well! I must look a horror, playing tag with death, and then tangled up with the like of you. Draw my bath. And not so hot this time! Nearly scorched my skin loose last time. Can’t have loose…. It isn’t is it? Do you see loose skin, Carmelita? Can you see my skin’s on tight?
CARMELITA: I can’t see, ma’am, that a thing has changed.
ARETHA: Relief! Change is so disquieting. Must gather oneself. So much to do, you couldn’t possibly imagine.

ARETHA tries to rise, but she's too weak.

ARETHA: Carmelita. My legs. There’s something wrong with them. Are they supposed to bend this way? I can't stand. Carmelita, I can’t stand! Help! Help me! I'm so. . .alone! Mr. Corno--
CARMELITA: Corno sleeps.
ARETHA: You. Of all people. Could be cruel to me.
CARMELITA: I have been taught so well.
ARETHA: You don’t under…. I can’t…trust. Everything’s a cross, double, triple-cross. Was it always thus? Why? What happened? This can’t be what we…. I don’t understand. I’m so small.

CARMELITA hesitates, helps her to her feet. ARETHA clings to her. CARMELITA brushes her hair back.

CARMELITA: Once, this face was kind.
ARETHA: Was it? I can’t…. It seems like a nice thing. To be way. But, too, it feel dangerous.
CARMELITA: Right now, face to face? This seems like danger?
ARETHA: Well, no. Of course. Yes. A little. Perhaps much. I’m getting littler, Carmelita.
CARMELITA: It’s as safe--or dangerous--as you choose to make it.

Pause, and then ARETHA melts into her. They hug, rocking back and forth, and, in a burst of exuberance, genuine joy, spin around until they trip over CORNO.

ARETHA: Corno!

ARETHA drops to her knees. As CARMELITA narrates, ARETHA reacts to her words.

CARMELITA: First is disbelief. Refusal to accept. As if doing so prohibits tragedy. “I can't believe it.” “You must be joking.” “Tell me you're joking.” This stage can last the rest of your life. Second is numbness. Stupefaction. Your arms are stupid. Your legs are stupid. Your toes and fingers forget how to work in concert. Your skin dries, cracks like burnt paper. Your chest shrinks, a buckskin drum rattling rice. Scent of oysters in the wind. On the horizon, orange dust obscures the sun. Third, there is anger.

ARETHA rises.

ARETHA: You did this!

[To be continued]

Oh dear...

...this ought to be interesting:

Snubbed at the Drammy Awards, playwrights feel wronged

The Enigma that is Followspot

Here in Portland, we have a blog/website dedicated to theatre known as followspot

It's a cool thing. Theatre companies send in their info, get listed, snag a bit of PR, and followspot (or one of the followspot minions) reviews their shows with about 50 words. It's a great way to both get the word out on a production and keep track of the bewildering number of shows Portland produces. Though we only have two full Equity houses--Portland Center Stage and Artists Repertory Theatre, and a couple more Equity-waiver theatres, there's a ton of small companies--theatre troupes, community theatre, weird gypsies that come and go...and despite the economy, there seem to be more every day. I think the last count I heard, through the Portland Area Theatre Alliance, was something like 100+ companies, and, though they're not all producing at once, it's not unusual to have a dozen plays open in a single weekend.

Anyway, followspot is interesting and fun. And then...there's the comments.

That is, unlike, say, this blog (which is run as a benign dictatorship), anyone can post anonymously on followspot. And they do. Boy, do they. At times with amazing vitriol.

Which is funny because the theatre people I've had the pleasure to work with in Portland are some of the nicest folks I've ever met. They really care about the work, and I've seen them go so far above and beyond the call of duty that it's blown me away. A number of them I've worked with years and have become my best friends...and the years have a way of adding up. Recently, I was talking with an actor about a show we did in the middle 90s, and I realized it'd been 13 years ago. How the hell did that happen? A couple of them go all the way back to 1991, when I started Third Tuesday Theatre, a monthly new play reading series, and I'm happy to say that I gave early gigs to folks like Lorraine Bahr, David Meyers, Scott Coopwood, Denise Wallace, Rebecca Becker, and Michael Fetters. Obviously, I've been lucky.

So I just have to wonder who the heck these anonymous furies are. They usually gang up on Northwest Children's Theatre or Blue Monkey--both theatre for youth, but they also sometimes kick Lakewood Theatre around, and, of course, delight it slinging stones at PCS and ART, our Goliaths. Once in awhile they make a point, but much of the time they end up making themselves small rather than their targets, which is a drag.

I sometimes wonder if they're young and full of piss and vinegar (and, like me when I was fresh out of college, absolutely convinced I was right and the world was wrong), but I think that sells short the many fine, dedicated young artists that have made Portland their home, and who often jump show to show, working impossible hours, making new, cratively crazy work because, in addition to having energy, they carry a passion for the art. And I note that the people who do comment on followspot with their actual names tend to be gracious. Which says something.

Who knows? Maybe they're people I know who, behind the mask of the Internet, reveal the Hyde that lurks behind their Jeckyl. But I doubt it. Because, of course, my friends are all handsome, witty, and brave, and have far too much integrity to cower behind false faces.

Whatever. It makes for lively reading, even if sometimes it's unnecessarily waspish and cruel. But I still can't help but wonder if, when I go to the Drammies in a couple weeks (kind of our local Tony awards), I'll look out on that sea of happy, slightly sloshed faces, and think: could it be...that one?

I know one thing: they probably won't say it to my face. Which is just as well--I prefer to think of my colleagues as enlightened beings, until they prove otherwise.

S

Disclaimer: I have absolutely nothing to do with the followspot Web site, but they did do an extensive interview with me last year, which was very flattering indeed.

Let's Get Plowed

Warning: serious fun ahead.

Portland is about to launch an inaugration of its own: the Fertile Ground City-Wide Festival of New Work. From January 23rd to February 1st, theatres all over Portland have committed to staging new plays, from full productions to concert readings. It's kind of like a South-by-Southwest music festival but for theatre, where you can buy a pass and theatre-hop for a couple weeks. Or you can by a button and get into shows at a discount. (You can also just buy tickets regularly, of course.) It's a grand experiment, and the Portland theatre community, especially playwrights, hope it's a smashing success that becomes an ongoing, annual event. No matter how it turns out, it's great to see theatre companies take a chance on something new. For more info, go to Fertile Ground. Special thanks to Tricia Pancio (there's imp herself, above right) for being the little-engine-that-could get this thing going. She's worked her ass off, and Portland theatre community (and the whole city) owe her a big round of applause.

And...yes: I'll have something in the festival. PlayGroup, the writers group I belong to at Portland Center Stage will present....

Open City by Althea Hukari, Shelly Lipkin, Ellen Margolis, Steve Patterson, Andrea Stolowitz, Patrick Wohlmut, Nick Zagone, and Matthew B. Zrebski
Portland Center Stage Playgroup

Festival Dates: Feb 2 at 7:30 pm

For this group show created by PlayGroup (whose previous escapades include The Clearing, Frenching the Bones and Ten Tiny Playlets) and directed by Matt Zrebski, each playwright pulled a Portland location and a cast size out of hat, then went to work on a short play inspired by those circumstances. The result, presented in rehearsed concert form, is a kaleidoscopic vision of the Rose City that adds up to a town we all recognize.

Venue: Main Stage, Gerding Theater at the Armory (128 NW 11th Ave)

And the fabulous Gary Garrison, Executive Director of Creative Affairs for the Dramatists Guild, will be visiting our fair city on Saturday 31, 2008, speaking at at Portland Center Stage's Ellen Bye Studio Theater from 1:30-3:00 PM about all things playwright, followed by a town hall discussion about playwriting in Portland and Oregon in general.

More to come on that as well, but it's a sign that (a) the Fertile Ground Festival is going to be one hell of a special event; and (b) Portland's playwriting community is beginning to be recognized beyond the borders of Multnomah County.

As Hunter Thompson would say: good craziness.

Portland Theatre Opportunity

I received the following from the inimitable Sha Sha Sassone of The Bluestockings....


Portland Dramatists Workshop is returning!

You're invited to come enjoy and participate in the inaugural meeting of

What: The Bluestockings' Portland Dramatists Workshop

When: On-going Saturday afternoons, beginning May 10, 2008

Time: 2:00 p.m.

Where: Robie's Deli & More
6504 SE Foster Road
Portland, OR 97206
503) 788-7704

How: Every Saturday afternoon, whomever is interested will meet at Robie's at
2:00 p.m. for a reading of a previously-chosen local playwright's play-in-progress. After the play has been read once, everyone there will be asked for feedback. The playwright then has the option to make some changes, tweak this and that, and ask the actors to read it again. More discussion can then ensue. This is a workshopping format, very informal, and, hopefully, creative and fun.

Who's up first? PDW's Artistic Director Sha Sha has first dibsies. Her one-act play, "Kama Sutra Sundays" will be workshopped May 10th.

Interested in participating as a playwright, actor, or director? Come on out and talk to us on Saturday. We are looking forward to seeing former PDW friends again as well as meeting new dramatists!!!
The fabulous Bluestockings....