On the Hot Seat: Susannah Mars and Stephanie Schneiderman

Tommy Gaffney, a Portland poet and cheerleader to the arts recently sat down with two of the greatest performers in town, Susannah Mars—currently starring in Mars on Life: The Holiday Edition at Artists Rep—and Stephanie Schneiderman, from Dirty Martini, who had just begun an ambitious humanitarian concert series.

TG: Performance and the holidays seem to go well together. What is it about the holidays that marry those things?
SS: It’s because you can be with your family and not have to talk to each other. [laughter] No, I think that’s one of the great things about going out for the holidays—going out for a nice dinner, out to a concert, to The Nutcracker—you can watch pretty things and not have to say anything. Plus you’re in public, so you’re protected. [laughter]
TG: What do you guys think of the performance scene here in Portland?
SM: It’s lively. There’s so much going on.
SS: But I think the caliber of all the musicians, songwriters, performers and actors and dance—in a sense, it’s such a small city, but it’s loaded. You know, PICA and the T:BA festival, so many fascinating things coming through. You go into any bar on any random night and you can find a great songwriter.
SM: Yeah. You really can.
SS: In the few performances I have seen from different songwriters, I feel like it’s really intimate. I feel like they are giving me something—maybe a side of themselves they only show to themselves, except they are doing it onstage in front of a huge crowd. There’s such a level of abandon that I admire.
TG: Do you guys have any traditions in your house or your family that are kind of unique to you?
SS: Well, one holiday tradition that my family does that I love—because we used to do it with my grandmother and it makes me feel connected—is the lighting of the candles.
SM: The only thing I can think of that’s kind of fun is that my dad—when he made Thanksgiving dinner 10 years ago—dropped the turkey. Now we ask him every year if he bounced the turkey. And he always says yes. I’m not sure if he really does.
TG: Did you guys eat the turkey after it was dropped.
SM: Oh yeah, it was almost finished.
TG: It reminds me of the Bumpus Family from A Christmas Story.
SM: I guess that’s funny that our tradition is eating. But it’s where [families] can do something that everyone enjoys. Sitting down to a meal is really sacred.
SS: Yeah.
SM: It reminds me of all our good fortune. Thanksgiving, Christmas, Chanukah, Passover...all of them have a food associated with them. That’s the one consistent thing. That, and you have to fry everything for Chanukah.
TG: Ok, let’s just do one more question here and then we’ll get to eating.
SM: We weren’t supposed to eat yet?
TG: Oh. I wouldn’t stop you. So ladies, fruitcake or plum pudding?
SM: Well, I’m embarrassed to say that I don’t think I have ever had plum pudding.
SS: Isn’t it like a cake thing?
[long silence]
TG: Well, it doesn’t have plums in it. That’s what I heard.
SS: Yeah, well, my answer is always chocolate.
SM: Oh! And I do like a big kugel.