Paul Susi

This very fine actor was part of a fascinating performance at Portland's City Hall today. A visual artist named Reeva Wortel met and interviewed a number of local working people whose portraits she wanted to paint. As she worked on her paintings of the people and their families, she edited her interviews with them. Then she found a cellist and some local actors who performed her edited interviews in front of her paintings, and it was all quite splendid. Sadly the performance is only scheduled to happen once, and there was a very small audience, so I'm very glad I heard about it. The paintings without the stories would not move me nearly as much.

An extra is Paul in performance. The show is called "Look Me In the Eye," based on one of the stories--a woman telling about her two disabled brothers, her love for them, her concern for people with mental illness who end up unhoused, living in the streets. She urges others to look them in the eye, acknowledge their humanity.