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| Tim Stapleton |
A professional scenic designer for thirty years, Tim has
been a designer with several theatres in Portland, worked with the Regional
Arts & Culture Council in Portland as a liaison to Social Services, and has
taught for Willamette University, Central Washington University, Lewis &
Clark College, and Slippery Rock University in Pennsylvania. He has been
awarded four Drammy Awards, as well as a Fellowship from The National Endowment
for the Arts. He has been a guest designer for The Apollo Theatre in Chicago,
and The Mariko Dance Theatre in Kyoto, Japan, among many others. Tim’s original
performance piece
"Leaning on the Everlasting Arms" debuted at the Interstate
Firehouse Cultural Center. He is also a painter. Tim received his MFA in
Creative Inquiry from New College of California and has been published by
Inkwater Press (www.twstapleton.com).
We’re proud to have Tim as one of three resident
designers for all three shows. We caught up with him in August before
production madness hit.
Conservatory Confessions: How did your first meet Beth?
Tim Stapleton: It's a bit of a blur actually. The exact date
I'm unsure of. I feel as though I’ve known Beth forever. We’re both from
Appalachia. She’s from Tennessee, I’m from Kentucky. I knew Beth as an actress
when I first moved to Portland. I saw her perform, and she saw my design work.
She then invited me to work with her.
CC: When and in what contexts have you worked
with PAC in the past?
TS: Beth used to produce the Oregon Play Festival, where we
did what I think is one of my favorite one act shows, called “Junk.” Allen
[Nause] directed. We also did “Memory of Water” together, one of the more
surreal moments in my career. More shows than I can remember. More recently I
did “We Won’t Pay! We Won’t Pay!” with Philip [Cuomo, executive director and
faculty member], and last year, “Big Love,” also directed by Philip. In the
2010-11 season I was an actor in a PAC show, “You Can’t Take it With You.” I
played Grandpa. I loved the opportunity of YCTIWY, because of the message of
the play, and the words I got to say.
CC: What do you enjoy about working in an
educational setting?
TS: I like seeing the light bulb turn on for students. I
think if I have any sort of knowledge about this craft or this world, I’d like
to hand it over, give the gift to someone else. PAC shows people they have a
choice of pursuing their own creative energy. And, there’s a world out there
they can be a part of. Teaching at PAC, it becomes obvious where the school's
headed. It's not just a small school. There’s a lot riding this training that
will affect people’s lives. I have a deep belief in education and the
betterment of oneself. I learn as much being here as I teach. It keeps me from
being an old man.
Another great reason to work with students is to see their
growth and know that you’ve been a part of it. My involvement, in part, is
showing them the world in which they’re going to live on stage. They learn it’s
not just about each actor individually; it’s about the world that they’re
participating in. With the director, I work to establish a visual world. The
students understand we’re leaving it up to them to inhabit. I love watching
them making adjustments according to what they see in my work. It’s a process.
Having been on both sides of curtain, I understand what it feels like to step
through that portal on the stage and be affected by the world you enter.
CC: What’s your schematic in terms of the design
of the three-show season?
TS: As a designer, what I tend to do is look at palette
first. What is the tone of the play, the environment of the play, the
psychology of the characters? Our approach is to design a unit set – one set on
which all three plays function. So we are starting with the last play, and
working backward. Because “Holy Ghosts” takes place in an empty room, once we
get the architecture of that room down, we’ll be able to plug other two plays
into it. So the season is something of a reduction process. We’ll start with
“Reckless,” and pull away layers to find “Twelfth Night,” then pull away
further to reveal “Holy Ghosts.” In other words, the audience of “Reckless”
will not know the architecture of “Holy Ghosts” is right there.
One of the great things about “Holy Ghosts” for me as an
artist, is that in the lobby Beth has asked me to do an exhibit of my
Appalachia paintings with the aim of giving the audience complete submersion
into the world. I will exhibit seven portraits, the subjects being everyday
people from our homeland portrayed as religious icons. So you have coalminers,
or farmers for example. The paintings will depict something to do with
that person’s faith. Most likely they will begin as black and white charcoal
drawings.
CC: What’s special about the “Holy Ghosts”
process for you and Beth?
TS: As Beth and I have worked together for a
number of years, she had a vision that we should honor our relationship through
PAC as fellows. Have it speak to who we are as artists.
The people in “Holy Ghosts,” could easily become
caricatures. But they’re not. They’re not clowns. They are rooted in the truth
of their existence, as we all are. All of the people in that room are together
with the belief that their faith in this higher power is all they need to get
them through. They expound on how this has changed their lives and who they are
without grandstanding – it just comes within the religiosity of the moment.
Their handling of snakes, speaking in tongues, it’s all part of the belief that
these actions will keep us safe, will heal us. Underneath that are the human
failings we all have.
In addition to designing, I will play the role
of Cancer Man – another dual role of designer/actor I last executed in “Fool
for Love” at Coho Theatre with director Megan Ward.
CC: As an established artist with an impressive
body of work, how do you see PAC’s role in the community and what does its
identity afford you as a designer?
TS: Portland needs PAC because art can save
lives. This institution has established itself not only regionally but
nationally as a place that changes people’s lives. It’s important for people to
know there’s a place like this in Portland, a place raising the bar for quality
of life in the city. In a world where anything can be achieved with the push of
a button, there’s a real chance that live theatre for younger generations could
become passé. It won’t, because we’re not going to let it; there are people that still
gravitate toward it. It’s at PAC, it has a voice. PAC relishes artistic voices,
and there is a human need for that voice. I can’t imagine a world without
artistic expression - or I don’t want to. I don’t want to imagine what that
world would look like.
When you have artists like Beth, me, Michael
[Mendelson], Philp [Cuomo], and all of the PAC faculty who are able to say to
these students who are full of wonderment, awe, questions: ‘I was once where
you are, and this is what can happen.’
It is extraordinary to discover your contribution to the world.
