slides: Portland Center Stage’s 3 Days Of Rain Features Grimm Actors

Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Byron Beck, GoLocalPDX Features Editor

3 days of rain

Silas Weir Mitchell and Director Chris Coleman during rehearsal for "Three Days of Rain."

“Polar is complementary, right? You can’t have one without the other,” said Silas Weir Mitchell. The introspective actor was talking about his and his fellow actor, Sasha Roiz, personalities; how they are different but somehow mesh together both on and offstage.

It’s evident in their work on “Grimm,” the hit NBC show in which Mitchell plays “Monroe,” a werewolf-y Wesen, and Roiz plays the intriguing “Captain Renard.” And it will soon be evident onstage as well when the two men are joined by Lisa Datz for Portland Center Stage's production of Richard Greenberg’s “Three Days of Rain.” It was also evident when the men, joined by Datz and PCS director, Chris Coleman, sat down for an early morning chat to discuss what led them to this project—a project, that according to Roiz, was a long time coming.

Sasha knew, after seeing a production at PCS during one of Grimm’s earlier seasons, that he wanted to do a play with the Portland theater company. He approached Coleman about making it happen and after much discussion over whether or not to do well known works—by the likes of Neil Simon and David Mamet—they landed on the Greenberg play. “It has juicy, layered complex roles for each of the actors in it,” said Coleman. “There’s a lot of humor, psychological complexity, and if your going to take your hiatus and work, it should be something that really feeds you as an artist.”

This particular feeding will have to be squeezed in right between Grimm’s shooting schedules, with no more than a few days on either end before they are right back in Wesen-land. “To do all this work and get atomically fused to this story,” said Mitchell. “And then know that we'll only be able to do it for just four weeks...well...it’s just a shame.”

Datz agreed, but said the project was well worth it: “(Prior to being cast in the play) I said out loud to the universe that I want work in a beautiful place, I want work that feeds my soul and I want to work with people who inspire me.”

Listening to three actors and director speak about the work, one couldn’t help but be inspired about the show in which three New Yorkers grapple with the puzzles of family history and the nature of creativity. In the play, Greenberg sets the first act in 1995 and moves backward in time to 1960 for the second act. Each of the actors play two different characters, one for each time period.

“It was everything I wanted to do and more,” said Roiz, who Coleman refers to as "Woody Allen in the body of Adonis" and who, after several seasons on "Grimm," now considers Portland his home. “I didn’t want to have to leave and search for work. And I've wanted to do theater for years now. Somehow we were all gifted this opportunity. It couldn’t have worked out better.”

"I do feel like a prisoner," said Mitchell half-jokingly. “Not a prisoner of the play, a prisoner of Portland. It's a beautiful prison. But I realized at some point…I’m not going to get to leave Portland for the next 26 weeks…but this was an opportunity I wouldn't pass up for anything.” Mitchell says it has also been a joy to just show up and just do the work and not worry about anything else—“like the number of Skittles in the concession stand."

For those expecting to come to the play to see their “Grimm” characters Roiz says, “I wouldn’t have done this project if it was just more “Renard.” The second we walk out on the stage, the first words out of our mouth will completely dispel any connection we have to those characters. I wanted to depart from that and this is an opportunity to do that.”

Roiz adds:”People come to theater—I don’t care what their reason—it's just good they come.” And come they will to see these complementary actors, who may sometime seem like polar opposites, inhabit characters that they all agree feels like “perfect casting.” Not wanting to give one of the big laugh “moments” away Roiz just says, “when I tell you the casting was perfect (when you see the show) you’ll know why.”

We can’t wait.

"Three Days of Rain," Portland Center Stage, 128 NW Eleventh Ave., 503-445-3700 Evenings: Tuesday - Sunday at 7:30 p.m.; Matinees: Saturday and Sundays at 2 p.m.; Thursdays at noon. Previews are May 17 - 21, Opening night May 22. Tickets available at pcs.org.