All posts by Evalyn Hansen

I'm a theater buff. I am passionate about theater. I see as many plays as I can as often as I can. I go to lectures, previews, prefaces, backstage tours, dramatic readings, dress rehearsals, post matinee discussions, talks in the park and an occasional cast party. If I'm not there, I would like to be. I have my BA in dramatic arts from UC Berkeley, my MA from San Francisco State and I'm currently studying directing at Southern Oregon University. I volunteer for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and recently I understudied a walk-on part in "Trip to Bountiful" at Oregon Stage Works.

Interview

Clive Rosengren

February 4, 2015 Evalyn Hansen Leave a comment

Actor/author Clive Rosengren recently recorded his two mystery novels, “Red Desert” and “Murder Unscripted,” with Blackstone Audiobooks here in Ashland. The novels feature luscious language, compelling plots and a charismatic private eye who sleuths in the world of show business. Rosengren’s acting career, which spanned 40 years on stage, screen and television, provides in-depth research into the fascinating world portrayed in his books. We met one afternoon at the Rogue Valley Roasting Company in Ashland.

EH: What do you look for in a director?

CR: The most interesting experiences I’ve had in doing stage work were with directors. Some can be extremely creative. Some can be extremely tyrannical. I don’t think that a director that has everything plotted-out leaves a lot of room for creativity. It can’t be one-sided. There has to be collaboration. There’s got to be a symbiotic relationship between actor and director. Continue reading Clive Rosengren →

Interview

Rogues: Tales from the Valley

January 21, 2015 Evalyn Hansen Leave a comment

Actor/director/producer Lyda Woods is preparing for her next production, “Rogues: Tales from the Valley,” based on her satiric mystery, serialized in the Tuesday edition of the Ashland Daily Tidings. It is a take-off on the San Francisco Chronicle’s 1980s “Tales of the City” by Armistead Maupin, which was later turned into a PBS series. A staged reading starts at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 7 and 8, at Paschal Winery and Vineyard. Woods and I got together, on a rainy winter day, at the Black Sheep restaurant in Ashland.

LW: ”Tales of the City” explored San Francisco at a very critical time: San Francisco was becoming a Mecca for alternative life styles. I loved that series, and it always stuck with me.
I would really love to explore the characters that make up the Rogue Valley, and there are so many of them. Each character is not based on any one person, but a mosaic based on experience and imagination. I’m looking at how these characters can transform. I see the Rogue Valley as one organism. I wanted to explore how we are all interconnected and what that means. There are so many micro-cultures, yet we are interdependent. I want to be entertaining and grab the audience.

Continue reading Rogues: Tales from the Valley →

Interview

Jesai Jayhmes

December 30, 2014 Evalyn Hansen Leave a comment

Jesai Jayhmes

Jesai Jayhmes recently performed with Jeannine Grizzard, Diane Nichols and Peter Alzado in Ashland Contemporary Theatre’s dramatic reading of Jane Anderson’s “The Quality of Life.” Jayhmes came to Ashland in August to attend Jean Houston’s Social Artistry training and decided to stay. We chatted over curry at the Namaste Café across from Lithia Park. This is the first in a two-part interview.

JJ:. My experience of Ashland is continually surprising in that the quality of artistic literacy of the population is very high.

EH: How have you made your way in the field of theater?

JJ: One of my passions is training groups. For years, I trained people in acting, improvisation and classical theatre. That translated into something more professionally lucrative which is training people, outside of theater, in their effective communication skills. Those are the ones who will actually value it and pay for it. I’ve worked with a lot of people from all different professions that need to get up and talk about anything. That’s really fun, but I like making shows much better. Continue reading Jesai Jayhmes →

Interview

Doug Ham

December 10, 2014 Evalyn Hansen Leave a comment

Doug Ham is directing “A Christmas Carol: The Musical” for Teen Musical Theater of Oregon (TMTO), opening this Friday, Dec.12, at The Craterian Theater in Medford. Throughout his career, Ham has delved into many aspects theater including acting, directing and designing. One afternoon, we met at Boulevard Coffee in Ashland to discuss his latest project.

DH: It’s a really nice, different approach to “A Christmas Carol.” It’s all there, but adding musical and dance numbers just gives it more oomph. There are 49 Teen Musical Theater of Oregon students in the cast. It’s a 90-minute show with tons of scenes, tons of costumes and tons of choreography.

EH: What is it about Charles Dickens’ story “A Christmas Carol” that rings so true?

DH: It shows that at Christmas you can let loose of all of the stuff around you and just see the joy of it. It’s a time when everybody gets together.

Continue reading Doug Ham →

Interview

Jacky Apodaca

November 12, 2014 Evalyn Hansen Leave a comment

Jackie Apodaca directs “The Drunken City” by Adam Bock, now playing at Southern Oregon University’s Center Square Theatre. Cesar Perez Rosas and Samuel L. Wick play Frank and Eddie, two young bar-crawlers who hook up with three girls on a bride/bachelorette party binge. Perez Rosas and Wick are both in their fifth year at SOU, pursuing bachelor of fine arts degrees. Both will be interns at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival next fall. The three of us met at Starbucks near the SOU Campus.

EH: Tell me about the play.

JA: Thematically, it’s about identity, what happens when you’re on a path, and you realize that it’s not the right one. Occasionally, the role that you’re playing will smack up against who you are or what you really want to do. In this case we’re looking at bride-mania.
I believe that now, women in our culture are under a great deal of pressure to play the role of being a bride, walking down the aisle and bringing everyone’s expectations to life as they fulfill that role. Although I did discover that spending on weddings has not increased over the last five or six years, from about 1989 to about 1995, there was a huge run-up where it quadrupled. Now on average, in this country, people spend about $22,000 on their wedding. It was about six or seven grand in the late ’80s, so it did a big jump, but now it has sort of settled. Continue reading Jacky Apodaca →

Interview

Obed Medina

October 29, 2014 Evalyn Hansen Leave a comment

Obed Medina’s direction of Yasmina Reza’s unsettling comedy “God of Carnage” at Peter Wycliffe’s new Thanks For the Memories Theatre was truly phenomenal. Medina, a writer and theater critic, works with Audience Development at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. We met for lunch at Martino’s Restaurant.

EH: How did this production happen?

OM: I like to direct. I was looking for projects when Peter Wycliffe approached me about doing the “God of Carnage.” I thought it was an interesting play. I thought it would play best in a small house with people close to the action. I didn’t know if it was going to work. I thought it might be a little too risky, a little too weird for people .…
Continue reading Obed Medina →

Interview

Anthony Heald

October 1, 2014 Evalyn Hansen Leave a comment

Actor Anthony Heald has spent nine seasons at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, playing such iconic roles as Shylock in “The Merchant of Venice,” Doolittle in “My Fair Lady” and the Stage Manager in “Our Town.” This year, he plays the Narrator and Mysterious Stranger in “Into the Woods” and the Duke of Buckingham in “Richard III.” We chatted at Noble Coffee. This is the first in a two-part Backstage column.

EH: When you get a part, how do you attack the character?

AH: It depends on whether it’s a new play or if it’s a classic. If it’s a new play, I try to stay as open as possible, to get a sense of what the character is, realizing that in the process of rehearsing, there are going to be a lot of changes. I try to stay open to the changes, and think in terms of what would help the character or the project.
If it’s a classic, I like to learn all the lines long before rehearsals begin. I like to research previous productions, the time period in which the play was written, critical opinions of the play, to see what great minds have done in looking at the play: what they consider pitfalls, and what they think the main themes are, so that when we start rehearsals, I have some ideas.
Continue reading Anthony Heald →