'Soap star takes five with PSU summer theater by Kallin Smith A slender, blond-haired woman named Mindy stands at her bedroom mirror, thermometer in her mouth. The temperature reading tells her that she could conceive a child at that moment. "This is it! Make love to me!" she shrieks as she takes a running dive at her sleeping husband. CuI. An Ivory liquid advertisement takes over the television screens of 7 million daytime drama addicts who are tuned in to walch another episode of "The Guiding light." When the commercial is ovef, so is Ihe lovemaking. The satisfied husband speaks. He is Kurt Corday, also known as Mark Lewis ('80), graduate of PSU's theater arts program. In the -following week, Kurt will survive a full-blown fisl fight, start a new job as an airline freight handler. nearly crush a pilot with flying baggage, learn that Mindy was the arsonist who burned down his house, and angrily leave for the oiUields of Venezuela. Exit stage left, New York. Enter stage right, Portland. While Kurt Corday summers in latin America this year, Mark lewis will be in Portland. lewis has returned to PSU this summer to join the Summer Fcsliva' Theater production of "Buried Child." While on leave from his "Guiding light" role, he will playa radically different character. Tilden, an abused lutnois farm boy in Sam Shepard's play which will run at PSU's lincoln Hall Auditorium August 28-September 21. The role is a "huge risk," says lewis. "The character is vastly different from myself." And director Victoria Parker is staging the show in an "experimental, risky way." he points oul. But the PSU alum was anxious to return to Oregon and, in particular, to work with Parker, who is "one of the best," according to lewis. The 29-year-old actor also speaks fondly of the training he received at PSU and his relationship with theater arts professor lack Featheringil!. "He solidified my commitment to being a good actor," lewis slates. "Jack is a fine acting teacher. He is someone who pushes people to do their best." lewis chose PSU for its reputable theater arts program. The son of missionaries who worked for 1 5 years in Argentina, where he was born, lewis initially planned 10 anend seminary. But after graduation from Free Introductory Seminar EVALUATE YOUR APTITUDES MATCH YOUR BEST CAREER OPTIONS Thursday, October 16 7 to 9 p.m. 298 Smith Memorial Center Explore the full potential of your natural aptitudes, your values, and interests. This three-part seminar helps.you to make career changes, to re-evaluate your career optIOns. First Session: No charge. John Bradley, president of IDAK Group, Inc., introduces the lDAK Career Match Prograrndesigned to match individual aptitudes with over 60,000 possible career choices. Purchase of Career Match manual necessary to continue second and third sessions. Available at special discount, $74.95 (reg. $89,95). Second Session: $5 charge. Thursday, October 23. Participants return complete Career Match exercises for computer processing. Further insights into evaluating interest, values and natural aptitudes. Third Session: $5 charge. October 30. Participants provided in-depth evaluation of personal Career Match print-oul. lncludes assessment of individual interests, talents, ten best career matches, and directions to find employers who fit career matches. For further details: Call PSU Alumni, (503) 229-4948. PSU ALUMNI CAREER PROGRAMS P(} H()\ -ll ·P()rt i df)(1 ( ) r ( \ . . ! ( \ n q - ~ ( , - 1 ( 1 ~ ~ . : q -Iq-tg Franklin High School in Portland and stints at three other colleges, he selected PSU for his inilial theatrical training. "He was a very receptive student," remembers Jack Featheringill. "He adopted a whole different set of principles about acting." Afler PSU, Lewis anended acting school at Southern Methodist University before b e g i n n i n ~ his professional career with a Siring of nine different shows-from Shakespeare to contemporary theater- In seven cities. AI 28, he landed the part of Kurt Corday. "I love my character," says Lewis." He is sort of like me." Soap opera fan magazines use terms like "sensitive" and "down-to-earth" to describe Kurt Corday, a rare I'good guy" in the world of daytime drama. But Lewis is quick to admit that characters change as quickly as their makers-the scriptwriters. With a team of new writers now entrenthed at "The Guiding light," his role is unpredictable. And all but the most established characters can be quickly wrinen out, he says, citing the time that one character left the room to put his skis away and never returned. But the PSU alum's success as Kurt Corday is well documented by fan magazines, including Soap Opera Digest which put lewis on its recent list of "most anractive men." And, he somewhat reluctantly admits, he will soon be featured in the magazine "Dream Guys." His reaction? "If you are smart you realize it's all balonev." " I never gOI into acting for fame," says lewis, who nevertheless has Don't miss Buried Child by Sam Shepard Opens Aug. 28 al PSU A Sumn/("f' Ft"Sln.11 The"fer C o m p . m ~ ProdU( flOn developed a following. "I enjoy people. I love people. That's why I'm in theater," he explains. "Bul people can really be obnoxious." And dangerous. One soap opera star narrowly missed being run down by an irate fan who drove her car at the actress, he relates. lewis' encounters, however, have been friendlier, albeit sometimes annoying. He has been taken by Ihe hand in the airport "to meet Aunt Martha" and has been grabbed on Ihe street and warned that "Mindy is lying to you." You have to take it with humor and a grain of salt, he says. While New Yorkers lend to be blase about stars walking their >treelS, Portland fans are not above calling attention to his presence. Upon his campus arrival, lewis found himself being shrieked at by two PSU students who were really "flabbergasted" 10 find Kurt Corday wandering the Park Blocks. But lewis recognizes that <In acting career with fans and fame, nol to mention fortune, can be s h o r t ~ l i v e d and says his goals are more personal ~ h : ~ ~ ~ ~ f ' ~ ~ ~ d ~ a 6 ~ 1 : i ~ ~ n v : j ~ i ~ n ~ ' fortunate when I leave the soap (opera)." But hl' stresses his personal objectives. " I want to get to know the people I love---to nurture them," he says. "Most of my goals have to do with human beings." For now, he's glad to be back on the stage, where he says the actor IS the long distance runner as opposed 10 the actor as sprinter on television. And, at the same time, he looks forward to returning to the small screen. But will Kurt Corday make it back from Venezuela? Will Mindy find a way to explain Just why she torched his h o u ~ ? Will Kurt and Mindy become parents? Tune in tomorrow. Kat/in Smith ;s a Portland f r e e ~ ' a n c e writer who served as interim editor of the last two issues of PSU Perspective. PSU Perspective, Summer 1986 1fUge 9
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