By Hannah Crooks
During her graduate years at the University of Iowa, actor and writer Elena Passarello’s talent for garnering a new perspective from seemingly drab subjects was not lost on her professor — and the director of the Nonfiction Writing Program — John D’Agata.
“Elena has always been a wonder,” he said. “I still remember one of the earliest essays that Elena handed in to me when she was a student in the NWP 12 years ago.”
The piece explored Judy Garland’s final television appearance, which D’Agata regards as having been somewhat of a flop, to say the least.
“The performance itself was terrifyingly pathetic — sad, sweaty, indignant, and desperately long — but Elena’s essay about it somehow managed to be as sympathetic as it was bittersweet,” D’Agata said. “A meditation that uniquely captured, in that single, observable moment, everything that Garland has come to represent for us in American culture.”
Since then, Passarello has moved on to writing and reading literary nonfiction at Oregon State University, where she is a professor. She also won the 2015 Whiting Award, and she has published two books, Let Me Clear My Throat, winner of the gold medal for nonfiction in the 2013 Independent Published Awards, and Animals Strike Curious Poses, from which she will read at Prairie Lights, at 7 p.m. today.
Having dealt with a wide range of topics, from pop culture to the natural world, Passarello seeks inspiration in subjects that she has little background information about. Her first book, Let Me Clear My Throat, delved into the matter of the human voice.
“It was a lot easier for me to look at some voices that were famous and popular, but not necessarily popular in my heart,” Passarello said. “One of those was Judy Garland, who I didn’t really know that much about. When I started writing about her, I was able to use my training as an actor and my knowledge of the human voice to start paying attention to the way she sang.”
Passarello has acted for most of her life. While she does not perform when she is in the writing process, or vice versa, her two passions do connect to one another.
“I think the first artistic practice you learn and work on is the artistic practice that is your language for making things for the rest of your life,” Passarello said. “So you could start out playing piano and then become a dancer, but you’ll still think like a musician when you dance. Even though I would consider myself more of a writer than an actor, my native language is theater.”
Acting is certainly a part of her process, but in further developing her writing skills, Passarello said, she was influenced greatly by D’Agata.
“He taught me to be tough and to really put every sentence on the line, to make sure that I could hold every sentence accountable, but also to let myself be very open to the possibility of what a piece of writing could do,” she said. “Never see the finish line of a piece when you begin it. Use the process of putting the essay together to help tell you what the essay wants to do.”