{photo: The Stamper family rests a moment, each in their private world. Vivian Stamper (Sarah Grace Wilson, left) samples from Wallace Stevens’ poetry while patriarch Henry (Tobias Andersen, right) does some reading of his own. Leland (Karl Miller, middle), is awakes to visions of older brother Hank (P.J. Sosko, standing) and cousin Joe Ben (Andy Paterson, seated) on the slopes amid the timber.}

We’ve heard many responses to Sometimes A Great Notion - even though we are only in the second week of the run. A few examples:

“Great performance tonight. A quote I heard: ‘the theater took on a mesmerizing stance between intimate conversation and large-scale production. And walked that tight-rope for nearly 3 hours.’ From a third generation logging family, fantastic!” (Tanner Halton)

We’ve had a few complaints about the strong language in the play. To any I’ve had the opportunity to correspond with, I’ve shared that the language is straight out of Kesey’s novel, and accurately reflects the world about which he was writing.

We also heard a variety of responses to the production’s brief nudity:

“That seemed unnecessary.”

“I thought it was handled very tastefully.”

“Could you add more?”

{Wag it and shag it boys! Patriarch Henry Stamper (Tobias Andersen), laid up with a broken arm, relies on his sons Hank (P.J. Sosko, left) and Leland (Karl Miller, right) to keep the family logging business afloat.}

Gina Leon wrote: “My Mom and I saw Sometimes a Great Notion on Saturday and it was wonderful. She has not attended a production in the Armory Building before and was very impressed. You may have a new subscriber on your hands. The performance was fantastic. I’ve told everyone here at work that they are required to go buy tickets now!”

{Hank Stamper (P.J. Sosko) sizes up his exhausted little brother Leland (Karl Miller) after his first full day as a choker setter on the family logging site.}

And David Blount wrote: “We stayed glued to our seats at intermission talking about what we had just seen as we usually do — especially the high energy both on stage and in the audience of modern Portlanders who I suspect are for the most part content to imagine others laboring outside in the winter deluge for months not knowing what it is really like to live off the land that so many of us love to just soak up with our eyes. The play has to follow Kesey’s hellbent violent macho line set in the wonderland of the great Northwest outdoors where women were sidelined as bit players at best - it was not about them but the inevitability of the seeming irreconcilable conflicts of men who must fight. I learned from an Oregon Supreme Court justice on Thursday night that as late as the mid 70s — the court’s restrooms on the floor where the arguments are held had two bathrooms: one marked Women and the other ‘Judges’. These realities are bygone slices of our State’s history - but have been lived out in our lifetime which is sometimes hard to comprehend.

{The local loggers mull their options when the Stamper clan ignores the union strike. Pictured clockwise from bottom right: ensemble members Kevin-Michael Moore, Todd Van Voris, Chris Murray, Scott Coopwood and Tim True.}

I thought the production pulled all the tensions of the flooding maelstrom together with just the right touch - it was clearly well cast and you could tell they all enjoyed doing it. Karl Miller’s telephone oration with Peters was masterful and to me the whole play took off from there. The Stamper brothers’ fight scene was compelling and having grown up in a mining community and witnessing first hand bullying: it felt real. Joe Ben’s death scene was equally compelling - dying from laughter - which I had forgotten after watching the movie years ago. We joined the standing ovation which was well deserved.”

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