A Moment with Khalil LeSaldo of DEEPEST REGRETS
Why did you choose PortFringe this year? I have some incredibly special memories with Portfringe. There’s an incredible sense of community in Portland, and showing and seeing art from the area is how I continue to feel connected to it.
How was your PortFringe show born? This show was born of a clown class I was taking. Like most of my work, it began as a short piece which had more minutes and more scenes added to it as it continued being developed.
What about the world *right now* makes your show important? I think it’s kind of a reckoning – a taking of stock. Big feelings and maybe some humor as an entry point to introspection. I’m not sure introspection is the kind of thing I’d be looking for, personally, after this fucked up year (which, by the way, every commercial has talked about the past year and how difficult it is, like that’s going to be the real human acknowledgement which moves me into the Buy category – it super-de-duper isn’t. Personally I’m hunting for whimsy these days). Not to entirely sink my own pitch here, I think a chance to interact with someone you haven’t interacted with is valuable (and that’s something my show tries to get at), and to be prodded into thinking intentionally about our lives is a goal of the show, and in my opinion the role of all artists.
What have you learned as an artist during the last year of pandemic times? I’m going through an MFA program right now, and “lift your line endings” is something you often hear. Turns out that it’s demonstrably and empirically common for AAVE speakers to drop line endings on yes or no questions. So someone telling you to drop your line endings for theatrical reasons is going against the cultural convention if you’re an AAVE speaker.
To answer more broadly, I think it’s just important to know that the bar is very low for what qualifies as art, and that is a good thing. Art is something that is significant, or defiantly and expressly insignificant, to the maker. Do what gives you a personal sense of achievement. Be emboldened by what you see around you. Feed on criticism, fatten on praise. Just keep going.
Why is FRINGE important? Fringe is a celebration and a riot. Fringe is a pop of Product in the life of Process which artists have embarked on. Fringe is for lifelong connections of artists making their own work and following each other. When I attend a show I am seeing which artists I want to champion for years to come.
It’s PortFringe’s 10th Birthday! What do you remember or miss about being ten years old?
I miss not having to worry about bills.
Losing whole afternoons to legos,
and playing pretend,
and spending hours in the woods
without having to take a water bottle
because I get so sweaty
like honestly bro
I foul up shirts these days.
^A really good haiku
Have you checked out the other PF21 show listings? Pick one you’re excited to see or learn more about, and tell us why! I’m excited to see night two – Russell, Erica, and Ella? What a trio!
BONUS ROUND
Write a haiku about your show!
Well what do you know
I didn’t see this coming
I already did
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