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You won't know about Manifesto unless your head is buried deep in Portland's experimental theater scene. But you should. Go, and you will feel uncomfortable, out of place and too artsy. You will also witness something Portland theaters attempt often and rarely pull off: a successful site-specific, gender non-conforming, multimedia play.
The one-woman show centers on Isla Vista shooter Elliot Rodger, who killed six people and himself in a 2014 rampage near University of California Santa Barbara. For a year leading up to the shooting, Rodger planned his attack and journaled about his miserable, sexless life. That 140-page log popped up in a Google search when Portlanders Solveig Esteva and Sam Reiter were trolling inspiration for a show about cycles of violence. Using only direct quotes and posts from sluthate.com, a site Rodger frequented, the two women created Manifesto.
"Women shouldn't be allowed to choose who to mate with," Reiter says, bouncing off the walls like a human ping pong ball. She plays the manic Rodger in cargo pants, a black tee and nubby socks, nailing the teenage boy look in spite of her breasts.
Housed in an old craftsman home turned into a therapist's office, the show epitomizes "site specific."
You enter through the kitchen, grab a glass of wine, squeeze into one of just 20 folding chairs in the dining room, and watch Reiter play out Rodger's emotional breakdown in the living room.
If hearing your neighbor swallow, feeling Reiter's breath or seeing diners enjoy Thai food across the street are deal-breakers, this show is not for you.
In a living room decorated like a minimalist Pottery Barn —a blue sueded couch, dark wood desk, a flatscreen TV facing the audience—Reiter mimes masturbating and monologues about being ignored on Facebook. Behind her, the TV plays clips of amateur porn from YouTube, screen shots of World of Warcraft, James Bond and the Laurence Olivier version of Othello.
Nothing here feels labored. Thanks to Reiter's ingenious use of the space and a short-and-sweet run time, the show speeds by. If you're not watching Reiter bash her head on the desk, there's a trashy MTV show on the TV.
Without ruining the unexpected ending, I'll say that Esteva and Reiter nailed the "cycle of violence" aspect too.
GO: Manifesto is at The Belmont Center, 3804 SE Belmont St., manifestoperformance.brownpapertickets.com. 7 and 9 pm Thursday-Saturday, May 26-28. $12.
Willamette Week