The remotely operated lighting, on scaffolding on either side of the stage, of course did not exist in the original, and the current site rather than the original architecture largely determined the shape of the auditorium. Thus, the Festival provides a broad range of educational programs for people of all ages and interests. The Oregon Shakespeare Festival, 88 years old, is the primary cultural attraction in Southern Oregon. The Festival opened the 2020 season on February 28 with performances of A Midsummer Night's Dream, Peter and the Starcatcher, and The Copper Children in the Angus Bowmer Theatre. "[42], OSF's Development Department has also educational opportunities through tours that have included two to England focused on Shakespeare, one to Greece and Turkey onHolland America Line'sMS Rotterdamfocused on the beginnings and history of theatre, and one along the coasts of France and Spain and to the Canary Islands onCunard Line'sQueen Mary 2. Our eight-month season runs through the month of October, and we have three theatres: our two indoor stagesthe Angus Bowmer Theatre and the Thomas Theatreand our flagship outdoor Allen Elizabethan Theatre, which opens in early June and runs through mid-October. Oregon Shakespeare Festival - The Oregon Encyclopedia It's also one of the largest professional regional repertory theater companies in the . The professional staff is augmented by approximately 700 volunteers, who contribute thousands of hours each year. Oregon Shakespeare Festival - Wikipedia Two columns helped divide the main stage into forestage, middle stage, and inner stage areas. Each November, company members host a cocktail party and show titled Love's Labors thanking and celebrating the volunteers.[53]. Battered by pandemic, Ashland reimagines its tourism economy The Black Swan (G on the OSF campus map above) served as the Festival's third theatre from 1977 to 2001. There are three different prices for tickets over three different kinds of nights and nothing thats over $75.. The initial focus was on college students, leading to the founding of the Institute for Renaissance Studies to meet their needs. Review: Lynn Nottage's 'Sweat' Examines Lives Unraveling by Industry's Audio and video recordings include radio broadcasts and school visit program performances. Fellows work directly with senior management while expanding their personal networks. The completion of the indoor Angus Bowmer Theatre in 1971 and the subsequent expansion of the Festival season into the school year enabled an increasing variety of educational programs for middle and high school students. Ashlands Oregon Shakespeare Festival on Tuesday announced a $2.5 million emergency fundraising campaign to Save Our Season, Save OSF in the midst of a financial crisis. [35], In the past, OSF offered non-voting memberships at eleven levels beginning at $35, each with its own privileges. [54]. The Festival also publishes aBard Scorecard,a simple folder that lists all of William Shakespeare's plays, the years OSF produced them, and allows playgoers to check off which plays they've seen towards completing the canon. Engelstad 2023. Director of Artistic Programming, Director of New Work, and Director of Innovation and Strategy. Next steps will be determined in May. The next year saw the opening of the current outdoor theatre, whose name was changed from Elizabethan to Allen Elizabethan Theatre in October 2013. Nataki Garrett is leaving the Oregon Shakespeare Festival after four years leading. Each year, two or three plays are staged in the outdoor Allen Elizabethan Theatre, two or three in the intimate Thomas Theatre, and four or five in the traditional Angus Bowmer Theatre. Oregon Shakespeare Festival Announces 2023 Season Featuring YERMA World The programs won favorable reviews from critics that drew audiences to the Festival from around the country. This page is not available in other languages. Today's total shows that donations are approaching $3 million. Dark colors resist reflection and draw the eye to the stage. OSF announces $2.5 million campaign to save its season and the - JPR [1] Opened in March 2002 and originally named the New Theatre, it was renamed the Thomas Theatre in 2013 as a result of a generous $4.5 million gift from a group of donors. Service dogs are allowed in all theatres and public spaces and all theatres include elevators and gender-specific, gender-free, and accessible restrooms. It also provides a stage for the nightly Green Shows (see above) from June through September. That's partly why she's focused on putting on stage both new works and new approaches to older works because attracting and reflecting younger and more diverse audiences is fundamental to the entire ecosystem's survival. In-person performances returning to Oregon Shakespeare Festival in July. But things aren't the same as they were during the pre-pandemic 2019 season. Angus Bowmer Theatre Seating capacity: 600 New Theatre Seating capacity: 270-360 Elizabethan Stage/Allen Pavillon Seating capacity: 1,190 Rating 1 vote Favoured: 1 Listing Details OSF will also suspend its planning for the 2024 season. The Oregon Shakespeare Festival, located in Ashland, Oregon, offers plays in three unique theatres (Angus Bowmer Theatre, Thomas Theatre, Allen Elizabethan Theatre), online projects on our O! Federal Business ID 93-0407022. . By Lizzy Acker | The Oregonian/OregonLive Nataki Garrett, artistic director for Oregon Shakespeare Festival, has resigned. hide caption. Oregon Shakespeare Festival says it needs $2.5 million to save its The theater company is one of a group of cultural companies in Oregon that is asking the state legislature for $70 million in funding during the 2023 legislative session. TripAdvisor Traveler Rating based on 1581 reviews. Its about what it means to live in these polarized spaces, and how do you find the space of coming together? Garrett said. Rothschild's opinion started a community conversation, said Bert Etling, who edits Rothschild's column at Ashland.news. Founded in 1935, the Tony Award-winning Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) is among the oldest and. Lighting, atmospherics, sounds, rainstorms, even motorized movement and more can be programmed into devices and controlled by the actors or remotely. Reflecting the profession of Festival founder Angus Bowmer, a professor of English at the thenSouthern Oregon Normal School(nowSouthern Oregon University), education has played an important role at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival from its inception. 7:02 7-Minute Listen Download Embed Transcript Enlarge this image Oregon Shakespeare Festival Artistic. Finally, 1520 annual unpaid Internships of two to four months each provide emerging artists and administrators with hands-on experience by pairing them with a Festival staff member in an area of interest. Originally, it offered Elizabethan music and dancers. In 2016, the Festival hosted the fifth biennial national Asian American Theater Conference and Festival. The Daedalus Project, managed by company members since 1987 in support of HIV/AIDS charitable organizations, traditionally featured a morning fun run, an afternoon play reading, an "arts and treasures" sale and an evening variety show and underwear parade. Founded by Angus Bowmer in 1935, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) has grown from a three-day festival of two plays to a nationally renowned theatre arts organization that presents an eight-month season of up to 11 plays that include works by Shakespeare as well as a mix of classics, contemporary plays, musicals and world-premieres. Tags:Arts And Culture, Shakespeare, Business. Oregon Shakespeare Festival - Home - Facebook The season also includes a new play by MacArthur Prize-winning playwright Dominique Morisseau called Confederates, commissioned by OSF in collaboration with St. Paul's Penumbra Theater. The main stage became trapezoidal, with entries added on either side, and windows added above them flanking the balcony stage. Thirty-one performances were held in the tent and averaged 82% of capacity, generating approximately $650,000 in revenue against approximately $800,000 for the tent itself, $1,000,000 in lost revenue from ticket returns, and $330,000 in repair costs. The early years (1930s) [ edit] In the early years, OSF only produced works of Shakespeare. Whatever you can afford to give, we need you to give now.. The primary buildings are the three theatres, Carpenter Hall, and the Camps, Pioneer, and Administration buildings, all surrounding an open central court locally known as "The Bricks" that ties everything together into an architecturally coherent whole and facilitates movement. Besides The Tempest, King John and Confederates, there is also a production of the Tony Award-winning musical Once On This Island, here set in Haiti, and a raucous queer musical called Revenge Song by Qui Nguyen. Angus Bowmer's first wife Lois served as art director, creating both costumes and scenery during the formative years of the Festival from 1935 to 1940. [1], In 1986, the OSF received the President's Volunteer Action Award; in 1987 it initiated Daedalus, a fundraiser to help victims of HIV/AIDS that has continued annually ever since.[1]. The theatre reverted to its earlier roles in 2002 when it was replaced by the New Theatre, now renamed the Thomas Theatre. Oregon Shakespeare Festival - Travel Oregon [1][11][12], As suggested by the table below, OSF has a major economic impact in a town of only 20,000. "I guess I was expecting a theater company on crutches," Shakespeare scholar Daniel Pollack-Pelzner told NPR. Scenery is provided by a staff of technicians, carpenters, a welder, an engineer and a buyer and moved by a crew of 30 stagehands; lighting staff number twelve, and sound and properties each are managed by staffs of six to ten. "It's a state founded with a racial exclusion clause in its constitution unfair labor laws for migrants who have come to live there and an active KKK presence well into the 20th if not the 21st century," he said. The. Vomitoria (colloquially, "voms"), the traditional name for entryways for actors from under the seating area, were added and the lighting scaffolds were eliminated.[22]. In addition to the plays, since 1951 a free outdoor "Green Show" drawing audiences in the hundreds, often including non-playgoers, precedes the evening plays from June through September, Wednesday through Saturday nights, from a modular steel stage with a sprung floor for the dancers, a removable wheelchair ramp for performers with disabilities, and built-in storage facilities that eliminate carting equipment from and to distant storage facilities. Oregon Shakespeare Festival 15 S. Pioneer Street. 87,388 were here. Donors and audiences disappeared, so she campaigned to raise $19 million through federal, regional and foundation funding. "What I saw instead was a theater company on wings. They help with data collection for periodic audience surveys and staff numerous events that comprise the annual Daedalus fund raiser (see above), drive company vehicles on specific errands, and direct traffic during dismantling and movement of sets into storage at the end of the season. The Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Just before each performance, an actor opens the gable window, and in keeping with Elizabethan tradition signaling a play in progress, runs a flag up the pole to the sound of a trumpet and doffs his cap to the audience. "Confederates," which was commissioned by the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and Penumbra Theater, begins with Sandra (Michelle Wilson), a political science professor who has just found an offensive. It's sort of the bread basket of the industry," Garrett said. The Festival acquired Carpenter Hall (I) in October 1973, renovating it to accommodate lectures, concerts, rehearsals, meetings and Festival and community events. You use healing, and you use love, and you use joy to combat sorrow and dissonance and separation.. Just off campus, a purpose-equipped fitness center helps actors stay fit for physically demanding roles that often require acrobatics, fights, and pratfalls. Oregon Shakespeare Festival facing down slings and arrows These tours feature an intensive schedule of lectures and interactive workshops with four to eight OSF staff and actors, as well as visits to local attractions. A complete list by year and theatre is available here: Production history of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. The Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) is a regional repertory theatre in Ashland, Oregon, United States, founded in 1935 by Angus L. Bowmer. During the height of costume production each season, a wig shop and additional studio is open in the basement of the Angus Bowmer Theatre. In a second column, he added that he thought programming so many diverse, contemporary plays didn't make business sense, because the majority of the Ashland audience is white. June 18, 2023 6 a.m. Cyndii Johnson (left) and Erika Rose perform in Confederates at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. The Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF), under the leadership of Angus L. Bowmer (1904-1979), had its beginnings as a two-play festival in Ashland on July 2, 1935, with performances of William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night and The Merchant of Venice. [1], 1952 saw the birth of a tradition following the curtain call ending the last outdoor play of each season. Internships may fulfill academic requirements determined by recipient's home academic institution.[46]. The columns did not invite death threats; Garrett has been receiving them since before Mr. Rothschild's column was published. Events | Oregon Shakespeare Festival Oregon Shakespeare Festival announces 2022 season with 8 live, 3 Since 2000 there has been at least one new work each season from playwrights such as Octavio Solis and Robert Schenkkan, several of which have gone on to other venues and numerous awards (see below). [33][34], OSF is a non-profit corporation managed under US and Oregon law by a 32-member Board of Directors nominated and elected for eight-year terms. The Works Progress Administration helped construct a makeshift Elizabethan stage on the Chautauqua site,[4] and confidently billing it as the "First Annual Oregon Shakespearean Festival", Bowmer presented Twelfth Night on July 2 and July 4, 1935, and The Merchant of Venice on July 3, directing and playing the lead roles in both plays himself. Laughton begged to play King Lear, but died in 1962 before he could fulfill the dream. The big change: OSF is moving away from whats called dynamic pricing, which is when ticket prices change based on market demand. The building, originally an automobile dealership, was bought in 1969 as a scene shop and rehearsal hall. Earlier this year, former Artistic . The known but incomplete dimensions apply only to the stage. By 1976, the festival was filling 99% of its seats while offering some 275 performances of eight plays each season. The design by Richard L. Hay and architects Kirk, Wallace and McKinley of Seattle and contractor Robert D. Morrow, Inc., of Salem, Oregon was at once basic, flexible, functional, and innovative. The old Chautauqua theatre walls, now ivy-covered, remain as the outer perimeter of the theatre. Play on! When OSF hired her in 2019, she became one of the first Black women to lead such a large, legacy performing arts institution. OSFs board of directors has also relieved Artistic Director Nataki Garrett of her role as executive director, which she took over in January after the departure of David Schmitz. Ashland, Oregon 97520. Volunteers assist with access services such as providing infrared hearing devices. ", Bianca Jones (left) and Erica Sullivan perform in Confederates at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Ore. Founded in 1935, it is one of the oldest and largest non-profit theaters in the country. OSF then recruited Libby Appel from the highly respected Indiana Repertory Theatre. Seats will be limited to allow for social distancing. Garrett is focused on putting on stage both new works and new approaches to older works, because attracting and reflecting younger and more diverse audiences is fundamental to the entire ecosystem's survival. Oregon Shakespeare Festival focuses on expansion - OPB Behind the scenes, volunteers help in the archives, box office, costume shop, costume warehouse, development office, fitness center, light shop, mail room, marketing office, scene shop as well as with office tasks such as copying, filing, preparing mailings and sorting incoming mail. In May 2013, the National Endowment for the Humanities awarded the Festival a $200,000 grant to digitize 2,649 deteriorating tapes, films and videos and to make them publicly available through its website and the YouTube platform. She said those days trying to save a legacy institution from total collapse were terrifying and clarifying. During the Festival, between five and eleven plays are offered in daily rotation six days a week in its three theatres. Used with the permission of Amy Richard, Media Relations, OSF: media@osfashland.org. ", People who love OSF but don't love the new mission have posted on Facebook and participated in letter-writing campaigns. Make no. Some have additional features such as small conversation areas and dance-style mirrors. [32], With the removal of the scene construction shop in 2014 to the new Production Building, a thirteen-month transformation began of the old one into the Hay-Patton Rehearsal Center by demolishing everything except the masonry exterior and the steel framework and raising the second floor three feet. [31] Also in this area are offices and fitting rooms for the costume designers and costume design assistants, a costume props area and a vented paint room. Programs specifically for teachers have included the five-day retreat, "Shakespeare in the Classroom" that emphasizes innovative and pedagogical methods to help teachers make the works of Shakespeare involving and accessible to contemporary students.[39]. The Director of Marketing and Communications supervises the box office, membership services, archives (see below), publications and media, marketing, and audience services, which itself includes house managers, ushers, concessions, and access staff for handicapped patrons (see below). Digital Stage that explore the future of theatrical storytelling, and a wide range of events that can enhance your playgoing . Oregon Shakespeare Festival on track to meet first goal to 'save' 2023 Like most theaters across the country, the audience is diminished; less than 50% have returned to OSF's reopened stages. [1] It welcomed its millionth visitor in 1971, its 10-millionth in 2001, and its 20-millionth visitor in 2015. Thats two months earlier than originally planned. Once the plays have opened, the voice and text staff are on hand to help actors with vocal challenges that may arise, attend periodic performances to provide helpful ideas, work with understudies, teach voluntary voice classes to the acting company, provide ongoing professional development support in the form of project or individual session work, and participate in play selection and workshops for upcoming seasons. [9] Continuing to adapt to the reality and unpredictability of the pandemic, OSF launched a 2021 hybrid season consisting of three popular archived plays shown on O! Jenny Graham/Oregon Shakespeare Festival MEDFORD, Ore -- The Oregon Shakespeare Festival is keeping its emergency fund campaign active after achieving their goal of raising $2.5 million. The building houses custom-designed technologically advanced set and prop construction and scene painting facilities. It operates under contracts with Actors' Equity Association, The Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, and the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, Inc., an independent national labor union. But some of the criticism has gone much farther and Garrett has received death threats. Sign up to get important news and culture from around the Northwest, delivered to your inbox six days a week. How the Oregon Shakespeare Festival's financial troubles became so Fifty-cent general admission seating was on benches just behind the one-dollar reserved seating on folding chairs. The 89-year-old theater is the primary cultural attraction in Southern Oregon, and in March 2020, as the reality of the pandemic became apparent, the company shuttered its productions and laid off 400 staff, about 80% of its total workforce. For deaf and hearing-impaired patrons, Assistive Listening Devices are available in all theatres by request before any performance. hide caption. $896,000 was approved in April 1969, to match an equal amount to be raised through private donations. [13][14], Differences from year to year are largely accounted for by variations in seating configurations in the theaters and total number of performances including occasional cancellation of outdoor performances due to wind born smoke from distant forest fires, particularly in 2018.[15][16][17]. Inspired by Shakespeare's 37 plays, Rauch also initiated a 10-year program to commission up to 37 new plays collectively called American Revolutions: The United States History Cycle, 32 of which have been commissioned and ten of these have reached the stage, several to great acclaim including Tony awards. The Shakespeare company received over $5 million in Paycheck Protection Program loan money during the pandemic, nearly all of which was forgiven. "I thought the pandemic was the hard work for maybe about 15 minutes into the pandemic," Garrett said. It often participates in Ashland's Martin Luther King celebration, Juneteenth celebration of the Emancipation Proclamation, and Fourth of July Parade. Off-campus buildings include the production facility, classrooms, the Hay Patton Rehearsal Center, and costume storage and rental facilities described below. OSF's "The Show Must Go On" emergency fundraiser launched in April. Oregon Shakespeare Festival Artistic Director Nataki Garrett stands inside the Allen Elizabethan Theatre in Ashland, Ore. She recently programmed her first full season but not everyone has embraced her new approach. We know it is a heavy lift, and a big ask of our supporters, but we have seen what we can do when we all come together in times of need, the campaigns webpage reads. "Recovery season," as Garrett calls it, includes Shakespeare stalwarts like The Tempest, but with a diverse cast, and King John, which in this production is an all-female and nonbinary cast performing a story about male power in imperial Europe. Michael Sullivan for NPR The Director of Human Resources manages employees, volunteer and events programs (see below), safety, and a professional development program called FAIR (Fellowships, Assistantships, Internships, and Residencies) that provides students aspiring to a career in theatre with direct experience of best practices across all aspects of professional theatre. The LED lighting system is zoned and dimmable, the ceilings have steel tracks which allow for suspension of scenery, lights, loudspeakers, and even people. The theatre was ready just five months later and opened with a production of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, selected to recognize the Shakespearean origin of the Festival but to signal Festival readiness to broaden its horizons by incorporating modern plays into its repertoire. OSF also provides a broad range of educational programs for middle schools, high schools, college students, teachers, and theatre professionals. It became independent in 1994 as Portland Center Stage. Oregon Shakespeare Festival makes cuts for 2023 season, amid declining attendance linked to pandemic, wildfires Updated: Sep. 17, 2022, 11:04 a.m. | Published: Sep. 16, 2022, 5:30 p.m. The seats can be arranged in three configurations. Production history of plays performed by the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, as of September 2021 . [52] Also included are the home movies of founder Angus Bowmer, Southern Oregon Normal School events and rare footage of the initial 1935 Festival season! General accommodations include wheelchair, stair-free, transfer, and companion seating. How did the Oregon Shakespeare Festival's financial troubles become so This can involve work on posture, breath support, resonant placement, muscularity of articulation and screaming technique. In November, it received a $10 million grant from The Hitz Foundation, and in December, the OSF Board decided to release $4.25 million from its endowment to help support operating expenses. [2] In its heyday, it accommodated audiences of 1,500 for appearances by the likes of John Philip Sousa and William Jennings Bryan during annual 10-day seasons.