Couple creates Great House of Music

Helena and Mark Greathouse are powerhouse in metro music scene

By Barbara Sherman

The Regal Courier, Dec 28, 2010

 

Barbara Sherman / Regal Courier

ALL IN A DAY’S WORK — Mark and Helena have a piano in their Summerfield home that Mark uses to create his original compositions.

If anyone is seeking talented performers, they don't need to look any farther than Helena and Mark Greathouse of Summerfield.

Together, Helena and Mark are a total package: Mark is a composer who plays the piano and accordion, and Helena is a triple threat as a singer, actress and dancer in addition to formerly competing in rhythmic gymnastics and serving as an international judge.

Helena was born in Czechoslovakia, Mark is from Portland, and they met in Europe as college students.

Helena grew up in the beautiful city of Prague, noting that both her father and grandfather were talented musically, "so I sort of inherited the singing from my father's side," she said.

Helena's mother was a dancer and competitive athlete in track and field.

"She was preparing to compete in the sprint and high jump in the 1940 Olympics, which never happened (because of World War II)," Helena said.

When Helena was in the second grade, she started performing with the Czechoslovak National Radio Children's Ensemble, and in the fourth grade, she became a member of a dance group that performed periodically on the Czechoslovak National Television.

"My dance teacher needed someone who could sing and dance for television musicals, so I did that and stage shows from the fourth through the eighth grade," Helena said. "The shows were all for children, and I got paid for the TV as well as for the radio performances."

In the sixth grade, Helena started artistic gymnastics on bars and balance beams, "but I discovered I was scared to do it and switched to rhythmic gymnastics," she said.

Just as war prevented Helena's mother from participating in the 1940 Olympics, the Cold War had an impact on Helena's life.

In June 1968, when finishing her fourth year of university studies, Helena went to Hamburg in what was then West Germany as an exchange student with a group of 10 economics students and two professors.

"We were there for 10 days, and I lived with the family of an associate professor," she said. "Since I knew German well, I was the spokesperson for the group."

In August the Soviet army came with tanks and invaded Czechoslovakia.

"The professor from Hamburg remembered me and offered me a scholarship," Helena said. "Because Czechoslovakia did not have diplomatic relations with West Germany, I couldn't get a West German visa quickly enough to start the fall semester."

She got a transit visa for West Germany that allowed her to stay for two days before supposedly going on to Switzerland, and once in Hamburg, the professor and his wife signed her up immediately at the university, and only then did she go to the West German police to get her long-term visa so she could stay.

While in Hamburg, Helena met Mark, who was a foreign exchange student originally from Portland majoring in German.

He had earned a master's degree from Stanford and was enrolled in a Ph.D. program at the University of California-Berkeley when he took a year off to study in Germany.

"We met on a cheap bus trip for students to go to a museum to see mummies," Helena said. "This was the fall of 1968, and I wanted to know about the election in the U.S., so I went around the bus asking if anyone was from the U.S. Mark was one of four U.S. students on the bus."

Helena and Mark learned they had music in common - Mark started playing the accordion at age 5, about the same age Helena started signing.

"I got a singing engagement in Hamburg at an international café where only foreigners could perform, and I needed an accompanist," she said. "Mark rented an accordion, and we performed twice a week. I was singing Czech and Slovak folk songs. Mark was a fast learner - at our rehearsals, I would just hum the melody, and he got it.

"During our programs I would explain in German about the songs, and no one knew he was American. He never said a word, and when we finished performing there in July 1969, the MC said, 'We want to thank our Czech friends.'"

There were cheap flights to the U.S. for students, and Helena went with Mark for the rest of the summer. She got sponsors and was able to obtain a U.S. visa. Helena and Mark bought Greyhound tickets available for purchase only in Europe that allowed them to travel all over the U.S.

They met Mark's parents in Berkeley, and when the summer was over, Helena took a bus back to New York and flew home, where she had one more year of school to get her master's degree.

"We decided we would get married in a year, and I wanted the wedding to be at the Old Town Hall in Prague, but you had to sign up eight months in advance to get the space," Helena said. "Also, in order to get married, Mark had to get a certificate saying he was not married. Technically he would need one from every US state since there is no central registration of marriages in the U.S. But he went to the Oakland City Hall and after explaining the situation, he got a certificate that worked."

Mark came to Prague in June 1970, and they were married that month. They went on a honeymoon around Czechoslovakia, and in September Mark returned to Berkeley to continue as a teaching assistant at the university.

Helena finished school in Prague, receiving her master's degree in economics and statistics, and then joined Mark in the U.S.

When Helena couldn't get a job using her economics degrees, she found work teaching gymnastics in Oakland and other places in the Bay Area.

They moved to the Portland area in 1974, where Helena taught rhythmic gymnastics, "which was totally new in the U.S."

She added, "I was one of the founding mothers of rhythmic gymnastics in the U.S."

Helena ultimately worked for Bonneville Power Administration for 20 years as a mathematician, "but I always did gymnastics judging on the side," she said.

Helena served as an international rhythmic gymnastics judge between 1974 and 2003, including three World championships, Pan Am and Good Will Games, and two Olympics.

Meanwhile, Mark also got a job at Bonneville Power Administration, where he initially worked with the computer information center (help desk) and later with computer operations, where he served as liaison and overseer between the computer contractors and BPA.

During that time Mark started composing music and took an early retirement in 1999 so he could spend more time composing and taking piano lessons. His original instrument was the accordion, and he wanted to compose music for the piano.

Helena took an early retirement in 2001 and started taking singing lessons again.

In 2003, the couple started performing together and formed the Great House of Music to provide various forms of entertainment, including vocal and instrumental ethnic music with dance; accordion solos; oldies, familiar melodies and music from musicals; classical and modern vocals with choreography; and vaudeville.

Helena has performed in numerous local productions at such venues at Imago Theatre, Beaverton Civic Theatre, Clackamas County Theatre, Opera Theatre Oregon and MCO (Music, Comedy, Opera) Productions.

"And we do private parties," Helena said.

Mark has now composed more than 40 pieces, according to Helena.

"He has a composition teacher, who thought Mark's compositions would be suitable for group dances," Helena said.

A Portland modern dance choreographer choreographed 12 dances to go with Mark's melodic piano compositions for their first book, and Helena's niece, a former soloist with the State Opera House who now teaches dance in Prague, choreographed the dances for the second book to go with more of Mark's compositions.

In 2010 Mark and Helena published the first book of "Dancing for Fun," which has a dual purpose: For piano students, there is sheet music and a CD; for dance students, there is written choreography and a DVD.

The second book, which will be published in February 2011, includes 10 additional original compositions, written choreography, a CD and a DVD.

The couple also has produced five CDs. The latest two CDs are "Across the Board," which includes a wide range of vocal selections and Mark's own piano compositions, and "Czech & Slovak Folk Music," which is a collection of folk songs, including four Christmas carols.

In 2010 Mark and Helena were in the West Coast judges' round of "America's Got Talent," which was held in Portland. They were one of 400 acts that advanced from the 70,000 initial entries nationwide.

Mark's mother Kathryn Greathouse, who used to live in Summerfield, died in 2001, and Mark and Helena moved into the house in 2002.

For more information on Mark and Helena, their performances and their books and CDs, visit www.greathouseofmusic.com or call 503-968-2364.

Copyright 2011 Pamplin Media Group, 6605 S.E. Lake Road, Portland, OR 97222 • 503-226-6397

A case of ‘Murder at the Orient Express’

This Beaverton whodunit turns the famous train into a Chinese restaurant

BY GEOFF PURSINGER

The Times, Jul 22, 2010

JEFF BASINGER / PAMPLIN MEDIA GROUP

Frau Beethoven, played by Helena Greathouse, wields two blades during the play "Murder at the Orient Express," at the Beaverton City Library.

 

Two men meet at a Chinese restaurant, a wealthy millionaire and a private detective. The millionaire is worried that someone is trying to kill him. Suddenly the lights go out, there’s a scream, and the scene is set for another classic who-dunnit.

That’s the plot of Beaverton Neighborhood Association Committee’s latest summer theater production, currently playing at the Beaverton library.

The plot is based on the classic Agatha Christie tale “Murder on the Orient Express,” but with a bit of a twist.

“This is ‘Murder at the Orient Express,’ and the Orient Express is the name of a Chinese restaurant,” said Helena Greathouse through a thick Czech accent. Greathouse stars in the production as an eccentric waitress named Frau Beethoven, a rigid German woman who is not at all upset that the mysterious millionaire has just been murdered.

But don’t think that gives away the plot. As anyone familiar with Christie’s original novel will tell you, everyone on the Orient Express is hiding something.

“I don’t want to give it away, but she’s around all the time, and it comes to her in the last act,” Greathouse said.

The NAC summer program is a newer program put on by members of the Beaverton Civic Theatre, now in its second year.

The productions usually bring in actors who aren’t as experienced, Roder said, and that’s part of the fun of the production.

“It’s less intimidating for people than a show at the Civic Theatre,” said the show’s director Paul Roder, who also acts at the Beaverton Civic Theatre. “It makes for a good testing ground for people to see if they like (acting).”

Greathouse acted in NAC’s summer production last year and has already become a part of the summer theater family, Roder said.

“It’s funny, she’s become a staple of the summer for me,” Roder said. “She brings a different sensibility that a lot of actors don’t have, because she’s very strongly rooted in movement; she comes from that philosophy, and it provides a different take on her acting.”

That basis in movement comes from Greathouse’s career as a competitive gymnast, which she did until the 1970s, when she made the transition from performer to judge.

Greathouse was an international judge in rhythmic gymnastics for almost 30 years before moving to her home in Tigard’s Summerfield community in 2002.

Greathouse judged at two Olympic Games – Los Angeles in 1984 and Atlanta, Ga., in 1996 – and says that the art of movement is pivotal for her and her acting.

“I bring that movement into everything,” she said. “You must see what the character wants and what could fit for her so that it wouldn’t be out of line. Last year I played a fortune teller, and it was perfect for me, I could do a lot of movement with that. This time, as the Frau, she’s very stiff and I don’t get to do as much movement until later.”

Greathouse’s was perfect for the character of Frau, Roder said.

“She has all the qualities that Frau needs,” he said. “There’s a bit of eccentricity there, and Helena has such a unique air about her. It just fits the physicality of the character. And she’s funny! I don’t think she realizes just how funny she is sometimes.”

Despite what could be a serious subject matter, “Murder at the Orient Express” is a comedy for the whole family, Roder said.

“It’s a spoof, almost a parody,” he said. “It’s cartoonish almost. I’ve tried to take a lot of my favorite bits from Bugs Bunny and bring it to life.”

“Murder at the Orient Express” plays at the Beaverton City Library, 12375 S.W. Fifth St., for two more shows: Today (Thursday) at 7 p.m., and Saturday, July 24, at 2 p.m.

For more information about the show, contact the library at 503-644-2197.