In Short, A Stark Raving Theatre Brief

Written by Rod Harrel

©1998, 2004 by Rod Harrel, all rights reserved

all photos by Tammy Harrel-Fraley

           Portland, Oregon in the late 1980’s saw the Establishment concerned about the “leftists”. There were groups in the city which had ties ranging all the way from the “evil” Sandanistas in Nicaragua to the “evil” Democrats in Washington, D.C. Whenever Republican leaders like ex-CIA Director, Vice-President and eventually President George Bush or his stalwart Vice-President Dan Quayle came to town, protests naturally greeted their visits. Sometimes these protests were peaceful and sometimes they were not. The Reagan/Bush cabal referred to the city as “Little Beirut”. It kinda gave Portland a reputation.

TRI & GET - a look at public transportation in Portland, OR

The citizens of Portland, Oregon did two amazing things in the late 1960's and early 1970's: it tore out an existing freeway and stopped another freeway from being built [http://www.preservenet.com/freeways/FreewaysHarbor.html and http://wweek.com/___ALL_OLD_HTML/25-hwy.html]. In fact, the removal of Harbor Freeway along Portland's west side riverbank and the death of the Mt. Hood Freeway is the stuff of urban and environmentalism lore. The money which had already been allocated for the building of the Mt. Hood Freeway did not go to rebuilding Portland's legendary streetcar system but instead went to building light rail.

COUPLE PHOTOS FROM "THE ADDING MACHINE"

A couple of photos from Stark Raving Theatre's October, 1989 production of "The Adding Machine" by Elmer Rice. I like the above as it shows a fairly complicated scene change in a fairly uncomplicated theatre. Below, well, that's something better read in full here.

photos by Tammy Harrel-Fraley, 1989.