Having happy hour drinks with Marc Acito is like having a brush with celebrity. Mere seconds after walking into Bluehour (250 NW 13th Ave, 226-3394, bluehouronline.com) he is greeted with hugs and kiss-kisses by a neighboring table. Other people simply wave from across the room. By the time our drinks arrive, a handsome waiter (and local artist) has come to the table to say hello and inform him that the kitchen staff has burst into song on his behalf (David Bowie, in case you were wondering).
Truth be told, Acito is a celebrity. He has just released his second book Attack of the Theater People, a follow-up to his pseudo-biographical debut novel, How I Paid for College: A Novel of Sex, Theft. Friendship and Musical Theater, which is currently in development with Columbia Pictures. He is also in the midst of preparing for the debut of his first play, Holidazed, which will open this November at Artists Repertory Theatre (1515 SW Morrison, 241-1278, artistsrep.org).
By the time our food arrives, I understand why the author, playwright, reformed opera singer, humorist and blogger-extraordinaire is so terribly popular. He’s affable, witty, self-effacing and impish all at once. You can’t help but hug him and hope that a wee bit of his spirit (or success) will rub off on you.
MA: I’ve decided that everyone who takes a picture with me has to do jazz hands. What inspired me is that the very last person I had a photo taken with was Salman Rushdie.
PDX: Oh nice! Did he do jazz hands?
MA: No! I thought of it on the plane. I just got back from San Francisco last night. I thought “Ah! I should have had him do jazz hands!”
HA: That would have been?
MA: Awesome! The picture alone?Oh my god, the sublime and the ridiculous meet. When worlds collide, Marc and Salman together at last. But I thought of it afterwards. So from now on, everybody does the jazz hands picture. I don’t care who you are.
[We pause for photo op]
PDX: I like that we start there with photos. Maybe we’ll scale back…eh…maybe we won’t.
MA: Eventually, there will be pictures of you on the floor.
PDX: Yeah. [laughs] So, I was cramming [indicates Acito’s books] before you got here. I’ve got both of your books.
MA: Oh. I hear they’re very good.
PDX: So, um?
MA: Hey, did you want to record this?
PDX: Oh, it’s going. It’s been going.
MA: Oh my. Everything I’ve said has been on the record. I hope I haven’t said anything too scandalous.
PDX: Don’t worry. I’m careful.
MA: I’m not.
CAREERS AND CUPCAKES
PDX: So, what came first for you? Were you a writer first or was it theatre?
MA: Theatre person. I trained to be an actor and, like my hero [Edward Zanni of Acito’s books], I was kicked out of acting school over artistic differences. I thought I could act, the faculty didn’t.
PDX: Ah ha. They didn’t agree? [laughs]
MA: And then I had a very misguided career as an opera singer for the bulk of my 20s, where I pretty much scratched my way to the middle. When I turned 30, it was like a biological clock going off. Seriously. I just felt like I needed to create the art myself instead of interpreting somebody else’s. I just didn’t want to be a thread in somebody else’s tapestry any longer. And I dabbled with writing in my 20s, but it was always something that I put aside in a drawer. In my 30s, I just couldn’t resist it any longer.
PDX: I understand that completely.
MA: That’s when I reinvented myself as a writer. That’s what led me to…what you see before you.
PDX: What brought you to Portland?
MA: My partner got a job here. Floyd [Sklaver] got a job at Catlin Gable back in 1990. So, I have been here ever since I graduated from college. It’s the?like a lot of people who move to Portland after they graduate from college never guessing that?[to photographer]?Oh, did you get the t-shirt? Let’s get one more jazz hands shot so we can get the Cupcake Jones t-shirt. They’re really good people. You will not find nicer people than Peter and Lisa over at Cupcake Jones (307 NW 10th Ave, 222-4404, cupcakejones.net). And I happen to really dig the shirt, too…as you can see. It’s getting all pilly.
PDX: Covered in cupcake?
MA: Yeah. You may have to do a little Photoshop. Now, what were we talking about? Oh yeah, like so many people who come to Portland, I was just one of those people who showed up after college, never thinking I’d stay. But it’s such…Portland is such a nourishing and nurturing environment to be a young artist in. And now that I’m not a young artist any more, I think it’s a great place to be established. It’s a great home base because it’s affordable, stimulating and yet, not overwhelming at the same time.
PLATE GATE 2008 (with Holidazed spoilers)
PDX: Do you ever see yourself writing a Portland-based story?
MA: I keep trying. But it hasn’t come together yet. I worked on one, which was set in Beaverton, a holiday novel which was called Holidazed.
PDX: Is that the one that’s now…
MA: That’s the one that’s now the play. So, I developed it as a novel first but I realized that it would work better on the stage than on the page. So, I set it aside and re-wrote it with screenwriter C.S. Whitcomb. And now it’s going to have its premiere this fall at Artists Repertory Theatre.
PDX: In November?
MA: In November. Yup. It’s their holiday show.
PDX: Oh. You’ve ousted Susannah Mars?
MA: No, it’s starring Susannah Mars. We’ve combined forces.
PDX: Oh really?
MA: If you mention that, you’ll probably be the first. She just got cast.
PDX: I love that. Oh, and a funny story about ART…the “Plate Gate 2008,” I think it’s being called.
MA: Now, this story has been added to Portland cultural lore. I mean, the life of this story is unbelievable.
PDX: Do you want to tell the story?
MA: Long story short, my partner Floyd and I were at the opening of A Streetcar Named Desire and there’s a moment in the second act when Stella says to Stanley, “Your hands and face are disgusting. Go wash up and come back and clear the table.” Something like that. Then he says, “You wanna see how I clear the table?” And then he’s supposed to throw all the dishes. In this particular production, he picks up a plate and he tosses it down the chute where the audience enters, but he misfired and this plate came hurtling through the air heading straight for Floyd’s face. He turns his head at the last minute and?it was one of those things where it just goes into slow motion?all eyes were watching this plate go. It felt like it took forever. He turns his head and this thing hits him square on the side of his head. A big thick plastic plate. It’s dead silence and then Floyd suddenly utters an expletive that can’t appear in the magazine, but immediately transformed the experience from a Tennessee Williams play to a David Mamet play. The actor completely broke character and made sure he was okay. We hung out for a little while, but he was staring to develop a goose egg on the side of his head, so we decided to leave. It was surreal. And that same night there was another theatre that had a plate incident as well. [A plate hurled by the lead actress in Timon of Athens of Northwest Classical Theatre Company] Also that night someone from Cirque du Soleil fell.
PDX: It was one of those nights. Everything was off. Plate Gate 2008. Have you and Floyd switched to paper plates for safety’s sake?
MA: [laughs] I’m surprised that they’re still throwing plates. This is something else that no one’s talked about, but after the show, the folks at Portland Center Stage sent Floyd a plate that was signed by the entire cast with a chocolate cake on it and a catcher’s mitt. And the cake was baked by Stephanie [Mulligan’s] partner, Laura, who is a pastry chef.
PDX: So, when you say, PCS, you mean ART.
MA: When I say PCS, in this context, I mean ART.
PDX: Ok. Because I was thinking, “Ooh. PCS! They’re getting all sassy”
MA: Yeah. [laughs] It’s like, “Come over here. Come see our show. We won’t hit you with anything.” No, no. It was ART. Sorry about that. It was that other three-letter theatre in Portland. See, I’m not even drinking. Listen to me.
HOORAY FOR HOLLYWOOD
PDX: Ok, so now, the first book is getting a lot of buzz because of the?
MA: The movie. Yeah, the movie is still in development. We have a script. I haven’t read it yet. The movie is being developed by Laura Ziskin from Columbia Pictures. She’s the producer of the Spiderman movies; and our second writer for the project, he’s the head writer for The Family Guy. We submitted a script, but I won’t see it for probably a couple of months. Hollywood’s a big hurry-up-and-wait kind of place.
PDX: So, what are you doing next?
MA: I’m working on part three.
PDX: Oh really?
MA: As we speak. I was typing away on it before I arrived here. I’m a few chapters into it. It’s called The Jazz Hands of God. In this one, I take my merry band of miscreants out to Hollywood.
PDX: Really? Is there any influence from your Hollywood involvement?
MA: Yeah. It certainly has got me thinking and asking a lot of people the right questions. It’s not based on my experience with Hollywood right now, but I have enough friends working in the industry who have been able to give me some insider information, you know, some access. I’ve been on all the studios. I’ve taken meetings. I understand how it works.
PDX: Yeah.
MA: Sorry, that’s not a very funny or interesting answer.
HOLIDAZED
PDX: [laughs] So, are you having any involvement with Holidazed?
MA: [Cynthia and I] will be in on rehearsals because we’ll be writing. And plus, it’s so much fun. I work alone normally, so to be in a room collaborating with a group of people?
PDX: Well, rehearsal is the best part of doing a show. It’s always been my favorite part. Where you’re in the trenches together, learning?
MA: Exploring…
PDX: Discovering each other.
MA: We’ll be in on casting as well. There are limited decisions to be made because we have three of the company actors that will be in the show. Todd Van Vorris, Michael…
PDX: Mendelson.
MA: Yes. And Velma…
PDX: Vana O’Brien?
MA: Yes, Vana O’Brien. Where’d I get Velma?
PDX: Scooby gang. It’s the ART Scooby gang.
MA: So between them and Susannah, that already covers four of the roles.
PDX: Is it a musical?
MA: No. But there are some musical numbers.
PDX: Wait. Huh?
MA: I’m not capable of writing anything where people don’t burst into song occasionally. So, there are a couple of “musical moments.” So, we just need to cast two more actors and then children. It’s six actors, four children.
PDX: Wow. Children.
MA: Can’t do a Christmas show without children.
PDX: Well, they pack the houses so well. You know, all the aunts, uncles and grandparents.
MA: Yeah, even though it has a subversive take on the holidays, we still?well, the show is about a beleaguered soccer mom. You can’t get fed up with the holidays unless you have children and in this case, she has three because we need her to be really fed up with the holidays.
PDX: God. It’s a show about me.
MA: You have kids?
PDX: I have two boys, ten and seven.
MA: See, you have just reached that point when you get sick of Christmas. The magic has worn off. Am I right?
PDX: Mm-hmm.
MA: We deliberately made the kids 10, eight and six because we determined that would be about the time when the magic would start to wear off. Ten years of this and…ugh…and yet you still have to keep it up. There’s always this pressure when you have children to make it a magical holiday.
PDX: I’ve always been a bit non-festive about the holidays.
MA: Well, I hope you’ll consider doing and interview with me and Cynthia for Holidazed.
PDX: I’d love that!
MA: She’s really good company and she’s a fascinating person in her own right. She’s a well-respected Hollywood screenwriter. She’s had 29 television movies of the week made, but her first love is theatre. Now that her kids are grown, she’s returned to it. I took her class, which is where I met Chuck Palahniuk, which is how I got my agent. So, Cynthia has been an integral part of my trajectory as a writer. Then, over the course of a few years, we started to read each other’s stuff and eventually decided that we should collaborate. We really have a sort of Edward and Paula kind of relationship.
PDX: Oh that’s nice. That makes it easier when you’re working together.
MA: We both talk in short hand. We both see the same show. We have the same taste. It’s been a lot of fun.
JAZZ HANDS AT THE READY
[Marc now fusses over our photographer who has been leaning over to capture a picture. Assured, he moves on.]
MA: I’m a bit of a people pleaser. I want to make sure everyone’s happy. You, the waiter, my friends across the way, my other friend over there who is a famous artist. Oh, and he’s really good.
PDX: He was at the Froelick Gallery?
MA: Yeah. His name is Leiv…Oh, I’ll get it wrong. I can’t remember Leiv’s last name. [Leiv Fagereng, currently showing at San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery]
PDX: What would you like to see come out of the movie? I mean, you probably don’t have a lot of artistic control, but what would you like to see?
MA: No, you have to be J.K. Rowling to have that kind of control. What I want to see is for it to be in movie theaters around the nation. [laughs] From there, I’m flexible.
PDX: Have you thought about casting?
MA: That’s the problem, there doesn’t seem to be any young, teen actor on the horizon now. I think David Archuleta from American Idol would be really cute.
PDX: [laughs] Yeah, I can see that.
MA: But, again, I have no clout and I don’t know if he can act or not. But he sure is?
PDX: He’s got the jazz hands.
MA: He’s very “jazz hands.” He was almost “too jazz hands” for American Idol. [laughs] Or Sanjaya. That would be interesting to see. He’s “too jazz hands” for the world. [laughs] So, we’ll see. There’s no shortage of guys who are just like the character in the book. One of the things I learned since the first book came out is that I am a type. I used to think that I was a wholly original person. It turns out, I’m not at all. There are, seriously, thousands of people just like me who are “too jazz hands” for the world.
PDX: Actually, I think I dated you in high school. [laughs]
MA: Yes, I was a really good prom date in high school. I get a lot of people saying that I remind them of their gay best friend. I get a lot of emails from these guys. Go to my MySpace or my Facebook page and you can pretty much pick out all the Edwards and the Paulas. I would say that it accounts for the majority of my fans right now.
SOMETHING NEW
PDX: So, on account of the Plate Gate thing and your new book [Attack of the Theater People], your name been coming up a lot. I wrote an entry in my blog about your project to do something new every day and I thought, “Oh, that’s such a good idea.” I mean, I couldn’t do it. But it’s a good idea.
MA: You could do it once a week. [laughs] Yeah, I’ve been inspiring people around the world to do something new every day. I was in a rut and it’s really invigorating. I mean, there is a certain amount of stress in doing it, because it’s every single day. But, you see, sometimes, it’s quite small. Sometimes they creep up on me and I don’t even realize it. I’ve become conditioned now, like a heat seeking missile to find experience. It’s definitely made my life richer. I mean, as a writer, I feel I need constant stimulation. Wouldn’t you agree?
PDX: Yes. I agree. So, other than your show, do you have things you’re excited about for next season?
MA: Things coming up? Oh yeah. I’ve been lucky to get early glimpses of Storm Large’s show, because she is in my writing group. We asked her to join us. I have a writing group with me, Cynthia [Whitcomb], Courtney Hameister of LiveWire! Radio and McKinley from Dirty Martini who is developing a piece for ART for the following season.
PDX: Oh wow.
MA: And Daniel Wilson, who is not a theatre guy. He writes funny books about robots. He has a PhD in robotics from Carnegie Mellon and he’s written these hilarious books about robots and science. Well, we invited Storm to join the group and so every two weeks or so, I get to hear a chunk of Storm’s show.
PDX: And she’s premiering some of it at JAW? [Just Add Water Festival at PCS]
MA: At Jaw, yeah. It’s thrilling, yeah. I mean you’re not going to be able to say this in the magazine?or maybe you can if it’s online?but just last night we were singing along to “My Vagina is Eight Miles Wide.”
PDX: [laughs] Oh, she’s a charming lass.
MA: Well, to me, she is representative of everything that’s great about Portland. The independence of our artists. The eccentricities and the originalities. The fact that we can be such a small city and yet, every little house in Southeast has someone inside it creating some original and exciting new thing. I wish that were a better sentence, sorry. But it’s just a part of the atmosphere here.
PDX: Why do you think they are all landing here?
MA: [pauses] I’m trying to think of the best answer for that question. Seriously, why are young artists moving here? I think it is the most affordable creative city in the country. The challenge of a city like San Francisco, New York or Los Angeles, for that matter, is that the young artists can’t afford to live there. I think they are coming here for the lifestyle and the affordability. One of the challenges is for us to keep it affordable so that we can maintain that vitality.
PDX: Do you think it’s sustainable?
MA: Well, let’s just put it this way, I’m really glad that Sam Adams is the mayor, because he gets it. He understands the power of a creative city and an affordable city. I mean, right here in the Pearl, there are people who earn less than $30,000 a year living in apartments across the street from people who paid a million dollars for those condos. That’s part of the engineering for this city. That gives me a certain amount of hope. And with the urban growth boundary, there are areas that are affordable. I’m optimistic that we’re engineering it right and that we’re not going to end up like New York City where everyone had to go to Williamsburg and now Williamsburg is too expensive. I don’t see everyone moving out to Clackamas or Gresham tomorrow because they have to get out of the inner city. I just don’t see that happening. We have enough neighborhoods that are still cool. I mean, North Portland is where it’s happening. Everyone I know who bought a house this last year bought one in North Portland.
STORM WATCHERS
PDX: So, did you have a favorite thing that you saw this last season? I mean, you see a lot of theatre.
MA: I do see a lot of theatre. [pauses] I don’t want to give another Storm Large answer. “The thing I loved most about last season was Storm Large in Cabaret and the thing I’m gonna love most about next season is Storm Large!”
PDX: Well, it was a fabulous show.
MA: I think that the strongest thing I saw this year was Little Dog Laughed.
PDX: Yeah.
MA: I mean it reflects my own personal bias towards comedy. These kinds of plays don’t get written any longer. Not too long ago Neil Simon and his like were a staple of a theatre season. You know, those comedies, those intelligent, cosmopolitan comedies.
PDX: Ripe with one-liners.
MA: Yeah, and they kind of went out of vogue. Well, they didn’t kinda go out of vogue. They did go out of vogue. And as someone who really relishes witty writing, it was a real pleasure for me to see something that quotable, that dry, that funny?that had full frontal nudity.
PDX: Well, I told Mead [Hunter, Literary Director of PCS] that I came for the shoes, but stayed for the show. [laughs] I enjoyed it.
MA: What did you like this season?
PDX: I’m a big fan of what Third Rail does.
MA: I keep meaning to get over there.
PDX: Yeah, they really have yet to fail.
PDX: But I also liked Little Dog way more than I expected to.
MA: Well, certainly the thing I most look forward to every year is the JAW Festival. It’s pure theatre. Something I write about in the book is that?well, if I mention [Jerzy] Grotowski, I’m going to sound pretentious?but the idea of a simple, stripped down experience?actors, words, audience. That’s what really interests me. I’m not interested in spectacle. I appreciate something theatrical, but what I appreciate more is simplicity.
PDX: I love attending readings for that reason, because it’s just so raw.
EPICURIOUS (OR NOT) IN PDX
[Cute waiter Jeremy arrives to refresh our drinks]
PDX: I felt like I should have something swanky at the Bluehour.
MA: Yeah, if you’re going to come to the Bluehour... Good suggestion, by the way. I need to come here more often.
PDX: I like this place.
MA: I do too. Yeah, I’m gonna blurb this place too. I have an article this week for gay.com about Portland. It’s about gay spots to hang out in Portland, but you know, if you were coming from out of town, this is the kind of place you’d want to visit. What I’m trying to do is find a balance between the kinds of things that would appeal to tourists because they are…hoity-toity and the places that are really authentically Portland. But this is the kind of lovely place that you would find?But that’s what’s great about it for Portland. We have this sort of cosmopolitan, continental environment. I wouldn’t say this is distinctly Portland as opposed to some of the places that feel truly Oregonian.
PDX: Do you have a favorite Portland restaurant?
MA: I’m not much of a foodie.
PDX: Really? No?
MA: No, no I’m not.
PDX: Do you have favorite Portland bars then? Hangouts?
MA: No, I’m a big house party person. I like to linger over dinner for a really long time. Well, I mentioned earlier, I’m a big people pleaser. I was a waiter. I still haven’t gotten over the whole idea of whether I’m spending enough money to justify sitting in this seat. I just feel much better going over to somebody’s house to hang out. It’s a strange little anxiety. And I’m also really cheap, too. Oh! I do really like Justa Pasta. Have you been over there? It’s fresh and it’s inexpensive.
PDX: I’m a creature of habit. My friends tease me because no matter where we go, I order the same thing. I’ll look at the drink menu and then say, “You know, I think I’ll have a vodka and diet.” They’re like, “ I love how you always present it like it’s the first time. Like you actually had to consider whether or not you were going to have the vodka and diet.”
MA: That’s the key to good acting. You make it seem fresh and new.
PDX: Until they ask me what kind of vodka I want and I’m like “Oh. Er…”
MA: The answer’s always well. Seriously, if you’re going to mix it, don’t pay for the top shelf stuff. You’re not going to taste it. It’s a waste. Words to live by. Did you get that on tape? I have a whole series of rules for life and that’s just one of many…Or, I must have an unsophisticated palate.
PDX: I am with you right there.
MA: When I was down in Ashland, I went to one of the vineyards and they have that case where you can smell the different scents and develop your palate. I’m smelling stuff and thinking, “I don’t recognize it” then I look at the bottle and it says “lemon.” [laughs] So, it’s wasted on me. One of my other rules for life is “If you can’t hide it, put a flag on it.”
PDX: That’s a good theory.
MA: “You want what somebody has? Do what they do.” That’s another one.
Our interview consisted of many such exchanges like this (many of which did not make it to print). We skittered around from theatre to politics, touched on nepotism and rounded back to the topic of Portland.
The amazing thing about Acito is that the qualities that make him so fun to interview also lend themselves to making him the caliber of artist he is. It’s impossible to feel small in his presence. He’s just too gregarious. In a couple of hours, he managed to collect my life story as well (not to mention our photographer’s and our waiter’s). Despite his claim that he is “too jazz hands for the world” he is a success because of his insatiable curiosity and his enviable passion for life.
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