War stories

Adventures in hyperdrama.

WATCH OUT, MAMA, HYPERDRAMA'S GONNA
MESS WITH YOUR PITTOCK MANSION! 

by Charles Deemer 

(originally published in Oregon Magazine) 

The moment I remember most, when theater became so real that an unsuspecting family called the cops to shut down the play, happened on a summer evening in 1986. 

In the play's story, drug dealers have crashed the
Brodey family party in the Pittock Mansion, which is
the Brodey home. The dealers aim to collect overdue
cash from the addict Brodey son, Jack. Undercover
narcs have gotten wind of this rare trip off the
mountain by these top dealers and have infiltrated the
party to wait for them. When they inevitably clash, a
gun fight results, with the dealers racing off into
the woods as the narcs shoot at them from a balcony.

Not your usual tea party at the Pittock Mansion.

Read the essay.