Category Archives: Interview

Interview

Love and gender take center stage in ‘Twelfth Night’

Aside Leave a comment

DSCN5508Cil Stengel directs Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night,” opening May 17 in the Rogue Performance Hall at Rogue Community College in Medford.

Stengel has assembled a stellar production team including composer Sue Carney, choreographer Suzanne Seiber, acting coach Eileen DeSandre, and costumes by Emily Ehrlich Inget.

I met with Stengel and her Malvolio, Marshal Gluskin, at Rogue Valley Roasting Company in Ashland.

CS: The resurgence of theater is happening at RCC. We now have a great black box theater. The cast is made of mostly students and about 20 percent community members. Continue reading Love and gender take center stage in ‘Twelfth Night’ →

Interview

Transitioning between film and stage

Leave a comment

Actor Andrew Perez played Klaus Kinski both in film and live performance during the Ashland Independent Film Festival. Klaus Kinski was an explosive, eccentric German actor, who was directed by Werner Herzog in a number of films including: “Fitzcarraldo,” “Nosferatu the Vampyre,” and “Aguirre, the Wrath of God.”

The film “My Dinner with Werner” is an uproarious spoof, directed by Maverick Moore, portraying a murderous battle between, Klaus Kinski and Werner Herzog. Perez’s one-man theatrical performance, “The Second Coming of Klaus Kinski” is a thrilling tour-de-force, written by Perez, and impeccably directed by Eric G. Johnson.

I met with Perez and Johnson at the Schneider Museum of Art where we viewed the Apocalypse exhibit.

EH: How did you construct “The Second Coming of Klaus Kinski?”

AP: The logic of it is that he is dying. It is a platform for his redemption, where his soul is doing battle in his moment of passing. It’s like a dream. His demons start ambushing him, and he’s defending his life, which leads him into the past. Continue reading Transitioning between film and stage →

Interview

Characters who want more out of life

Leave a comment
Anne and Gary Lundgren’s feature film “Phoenix Oregon” recently premiered at the Ashland Independent Film Festival. It was the Lundgen’s fourth feature film, and it was filmed in rural Oregon. Their other films were “Black Road,” “Redwood Highway” and “Calvin Marshall.” We visited at their studio on East Main Street in Ashland.

EH: Are your films thematically linked?

GL: I think they all are. There’s definitely a main character that is unhappy, not being fulfilled by life.

AL: I think there is a lot of grace and love for all of these characters. They have passion and are wanting more.

GL: Wanting more out of life or wanting certain doors to open that are not opening. I think “Phoenix Oregon” is the same kind of story. A midlife crisis: two guys feel the clock ticking. They are not living the life they want, so they have to do whatever they can to change it, and take those risks.

Continue reading Characters who want more out of life →

Interview

Bayard explores apocalypse in video exhibit

Leave a comment

Bruce Bayard will present his video collage, “Triptychs,” in “Apocalypse,” a media art exhibition curated by Richard Herskowitz and Scott Malbaurn, at the Schneider Museum of Art during the Ashland Independent Film Festival. I met with Bayard at his Studio on A Street in Ashland.

EH: How does your film relate to the theme of apocalypse?

BB: There is the underlying theme of apocalypse in all of my work. There are concerns with climate change, and what kind of damage we are going to be facing over the next few decades. There are elements in the work that are bringing up what we’re doing to the planet and the environment. I call it fouling the nest. I think that climate change that’s going on could potentially be apocalyptic, if we don’t start throwing some serious effort at mitigating what’s going to be happening.

The film that I’m showing is non-narrative, stream of consciousness, and as you look at it, you’ll have to put together your own sense of what’s going on in the film. I’m not creating the film with an exact narrative in mind, and I’m also letting things evolve randomly. The images that I’ve chosen have to do with our environment, our situation, our relationship with that environment, and the climate change that is coming at us. Continue reading Bayard explores apocalypse in video exhibit →

Interview

The craft of a solo performance

1 Comment

British actor John Rainer is preparing for his poetry recital honoring the British Poets Laureates, opening at the Ashland Library on Saturday April 6th. Rainer’s recent solo performance “Prufrock’s World” featuring poems by T.S. Eliot played to sold-out audiences. Those of us who were lucky enough to see it were astounded by the brilliance of the poetry and the talent of the man. I chatted with Rainer at the Pony Espresso Café.

EH: What was your theatrical training?

JR: At the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts: speech, scene study, you name it, the usual background. Really, my whole training was in British Regional Theatre. I toured England with various companies, and then did West End shows, the traditional route, which isn’t really traditional anymore. There really isn’t the training ground for young actors, where you really do get a chance to experiment with finding your own techniques. The repertory system, which was such a glorious training ground, isn’t really there anymore. Continue reading The craft of a solo performance →

Interview

Acting is mining oneself

Leave a comment
eileen & Cil

Eileen DeSandre and Cil Stengel are playing in “Fragments,” by Jessica Sage, opening March 8 at the Rogue Theater in the Bellview Grange. DeSandre and Stengel are veterans of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, where DeSandre performed for 16 years. Stengel is a founding member of the improvisational group The Hamazons. We met at the Rogue Valley Roasting Co.

EH: How do actors train for theater?

ED: There are different kinds of training and different approaches.

EH: How do actors come together to create a play?

ED: You have to get your ego out of the way and be in service to the muse, the playwright, the story, your fellow actors, the ensemble, your character.

Continue reading Acting is mining oneself →

Interview

Talking about the meaning of “Fragments”

Leave a comment

Jessica Sage is the artistic director of the new Rogue Theater Company, which will open March 8 with her play “Fragments,” directed by Liisa Ivary, at the Bellview Grange in Ashland.

Sage and Ivary have enjoyed long and successful careers in the theater — acting, directing and teaching.

“Fragments” tells a story about women who are confronting their dictated roles in society. I visited with Sage and Ivary at the Rogue Valley Roasting Company in Ashland.

JS: The plays that interest me most are character- and text-driven. I’m interested in the dynamics of relationships and the way people interact with one another.

Continue reading Talking about the meaning of “Fragments” →