It's difficult not to be excited by the
news that Chris Coleman of Atlanta's Actors' Express theater
company has been named the new artistic director of Portland
Center Stage. The 38-year-old director-actor-producer has
an infectious passion for theater and boundless energy for
the chores ahead, which will be much like adding a rudder
to a ship that has been long at sea. Coleman found time
last week between meetings and auditions to chat over coffee.
Willamette Week: The Actors' Express mission statement
proclaims the company to be a "theater of intuition."
Can you explain that?
Chris Coleman: Intuition is the primary force
for all artists, though it's easy in theater to get sidetracked
by other values. Ours is a theater that honors the intuitive
source of a play and also allows the artists interpreting
that play to be in touch with their own intuitive impulses.
It starts in the rehearsal process, using improvisation
to figure out a vocabulary for the work--i.e., what is
the center of the work about--and to get to the base of
every character's emotional journey. It was important
for us to affirm this belief in our mission statement,
to remind ourselves that we need to always listen to our
intuition.
And this has been successful for you.
Last year we produced Liz Eglof's adaptation of Dostoevsky's
The Devils, which from a rational, marketing level
made no sense to produce. But as artists, we knew we had
to do it. During the run, we were turning about 40 people
away at the box office each night. Now, there was no way
of knowing that the production would be such a success.
But our intuition was right. I've taken arts administrators
to task who claim that we can't afford art for art's sake,
as I don't believe they appreciate how art functions psychologically.
Jung would say that art is an inner force that pushes
itself out of an individual psyche and then out
of a collective psyche. Honoring this process, understanding
it and listening to it--intuiting--is the artist's work.
What do you hope to gain by coming to Portland?
The opportunity to work with greater resources and to
have a greater impact upon a theater community.
Let's get to that. You're now the artistic director
of Portland's largest theater. What do you think your
responsibilities are to the greater theater community
here?
First, to get to know the community. I want to meet all
the arts leaders in town and learn what the ecology of
Portland's art scene is like. Part of my job is to learn
more about the actors here and find out from them what
role I can play in sustaining and developing the pool
of artists in town. It's a challenge, but I sense a great
hunger for something exciting to happen here. In Atlanta,
we were the little engine that could, striving against
Goliath. Now here I am inside Goliath, and so my responsibilities
are greater, which, again, is a wonderful challenge. For
Portland Center Stage, I want to diversify the programming,
make it much more progressive. We need to explore the
boundaries, then start pushing them.
Are Atlanta audiences adventurous?
We've made them adventurous.
Have you ever worked with a deficit?
My company has operated in the black for 12 years. Before
I took this job, I asked the company's board to create
a plan that would eliminate the deficit over the next
three years, because I didn't want to come here feeling
that my programming choices were going to be hampered
by that situation, and they agreed. Further proof that
there are influential and committed people in this community
who are looking for change.
Will you bring anyone with you from Atlanta?
I feel responsible for Actors' Express, and I don't want
to cannibalize the talent there and destabilize the company.
Again, my first priority now is to become a part of this
community and get to know the resident artists of Portland.
