Above, the Bowmer Theater, staging “Jitney.” The whole play tookplace in the same station setting, characters moving in and out of the scenes. Left, Street Scene, sculpted by Marion Young. This sculpture represents the spirit of Ashland, featuring many Shakespearean characters. Aziza Cooper-Hovland
The Elizabeth Allen Theater staging “Into The Woods.” Center, the orchestra remains on stage during intermission. Aziza Cooper-Hovland
Above, the Bowmer Theater, staging “Jitney.” The whole play tookplace in the same station setting, characters moving in and out of the scenes. Left, Street Scene, sculpted by Marion Young. This sculpture represents the spirit of Ashland, featuring many Shakespearean characters. Aziza Cooper-Hovland
After it closed temporarily during Covid-19 and reopened for a partial season in 2021, this is the second year that the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) has been back with a full complement of shows and stable funding, and the company’s 90th season. I love OSF, and this is the third time I’ve been lucky enough to attend the plays. As a former English major, and a lifelong nerd, Ashland’s Shakespeare Festival has loomed large in my mind since I first attended as part of a seventh grade field trip.
At that time, I got to see “Much Ado About Nothing,” and “Guys and Dolls” and was enthralled and delighted by the theatrical magic they created — some of the staging from Much Ado has stayed with me to this day! OSF strives to “[reveal] our collective humanity through illuminating interpretations of new and classic plays” as they say in part of their statement of purpose, and the shows I saw this year — five plays in three days! — did an exceptional job representing that goal.
I tagged along with the Linfield University alumni group, who has been going on this trip for many years, and brought along Professor Janet Gupton to facilitate group discussion around the plays, especially the more complex Shakespeare plays, like “Julius Caeser” — performed by the OSF company upstart crow collective, an all female and nonbinary cast.
The plays are staged and scheduled between the three different stages in Ashland, the theaters transforming overnight from a taxi station in the ‘70s for August Wilson’s “Jitney,” to the Roman halls and battlefields of “Julius Caesar” — both staged in the Bowmer theater, or the Thomas theater playing double duty as both “As You Like It’s” Forest of Arden and the Texas borderlands in “Quixote Nuevo.”
The actors in the OSF company also do an incredible job acting more than one role at a time. After the performance of “Julius Caeser,” a talkback with one of the actors who was a “swing” (going on for more than one track depending on the day and show) was offered and she explained how the whole cast shifts around depending on who’s available when people need to call out, and the notice to go on stage can be as little as half an hour before show time. Many actors also perform in more than one play each season — it was fantastic to watch the transformation of “Julius Caesar,” into the shepherdess in “As You Like It.”
The last show we saw was “Into the Woods,” staged beautifully in the Elizabeth Allen outdoor theater. It was immersive, hilarious, had audience participation, a live orchestra on the stage, and many colorful costume changes.
The caliber of performances, and the plays lived up my childhood recollections. The bookstores, food places, and parks are just a bonus to any good Ashland trip! The 2025 OSF season goes through the end of October, and next year’s shows have already been announced if you miss this year.
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