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When a nearly naked black actor played Spartacus in American Theatre Company's 1969 production of The Gladiator at Portland State University, it was the beginning of the end.
Costumes from the controversial theater group, which rebranded itself as Storefront Actors' Theatre when PSU eventually kicked it out, are now art relics. It's rare to see costuming in galleries, but Blackfish Gallery and Portland Center Stage both displayed a fashion show of outfits this month for their Storefront Revisited.
There are rainbow-horned headdresses, grommeted codpieces, and a leotard with hamburger buns on the bum from Storefront's 20 years of risque plays.
The show's highlight is the White Queen's elaborate ensemble from Jewel Box: An Erotic Fairytale. It's a concoction of full-length satin, tulle and silver embroidery that is gathered and beaded at the waist for a sleek profile. Her crown is embellished with pearls, beads and jewels, and a partial veil makes even the mannequin seem mysterious.
Her counterpart, the Black Queen, is a genderqueer, dark cloud of layered petticoats and leather straps in contrast to the White Queen's streamlined, innocent look. Part of the April pop-up show at PCS, this ignoble royal's outfit paired masculine shoulder pads and a football cup with a foot-high, bedazzled headpiece and gray wig.
But a cup on the queen seems tame next to the outfit from 1989's Cuchulain Cycle. Or the accessories, rather. The mannequin display is weighed down with a cock-and-balls necklace, garland headpiece and horns.
Storefront's Theater of Horror, an Edgar Allen Poe remake, was its director's "AIDS opus," and its spartan ensemble captures all the drama "opus" implies. A full-length red cape and boas stream from the bulging shoulder pads. The chest is naked and we can only imagine the costume included a loincloth of sorts back in the day, but at Storefront Theatre who knows?
SEE IT: Storefront Revisited is at Blackfish Gallery, 420 NW 9th Ave., through May 2.
WWeek 2015