ASHLAND, ORE.--Oregon Shakespeare Festival's Bill Rauch closed a highly successful first season as Artistic Director. Attendance reached 400,851 (89% of capacity), the second highest in the Festival's 73-year history and record revenues of $15,799,771.
Rauch, who began his tenure in June 2007, is delighted that his first season at OSF has been so well-received. He directed the visually stunning epic Indian classic, The Clay Cart, which closed at 86% of capacity, and a new play by Jeff Whitty, the irreverent and hilarious The Further Adventures of Hedda Gabler (82%). Another new play, Luis Alfaro's Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner, closed at 84%. The first-ever 20th-century play to be produced on OSF's outdoor Elizabethan Stage, Thornton Wilder's Our Town, closed at 80%, and the world premiere production of Julie Marie Myatt's Welcome Home, Jenny Sutter had a successful run at OSF (89%) and at Washington D.C.'s Kennedy Center in July.
As expected, Shakespeare's plays did very well with audiences. A Midsummer Night's Dream closed at 97% of capacity, Coriolanus at 91%, Othello at 89% and The Comedy of Errors at 98%. August Wilson's Fences, which closed on July 6, ran at 83% of capacity.
Rauch oversaw the launch of a totally new Green Show, featuring an eclectic mix of music and performance. Produced by Artistic Associate Claudia Alick, the change was wildly popular with both locals and visitors. In addition, Festival Latino (July 23-27), a celebration of Hispanic and Latino culture, featured free outdoor performances on the Green Show stage and open-captioned performances of OSF's work in Spanish. The program was extremely well-attended.
Rauch and U.S. History Cycle Director Alison Carey have also commenced work on the ambitious history project, American Revolutions: The United States History Cycle. The 37-play, 10-year History Cycle is the largest commissioning and production project in the Festival's 73-year history. The first seven commissions were announced in June. The artists are Culture Clash (Richard Montoya, Ric Salinas and Herbert Siguenza), David Henry Hwang, Lynn Nottage, Suzan-Lori Parks, Robert Schenkkan, Naomi Wallace, and the collaborative team of Jonathan Moscone and Tony Taccone.
"This first season has been a wonderful ride," said Rauch. "I have tried to build on the legacy of my brilliant predecessors and to take the Festival in new directions as well, and am deeply proud of all that we have achieved together. I came to Ashland in large part because of the intelligence, passion and loyalty of our audience, and they have been my close partners in this adventure all year long. I can't wait for 2009."
While the 2008 season finished strong, the changes in the nation's economy and investment market have resulted in a projected deficit of $700,000 for OSF, the result of lower investment returns and below budgeted average ticket revenues. Reserves will be able to cover the loss this season, but Executive Director Paul Nicholson currently projects a shortfall in 2009 of $1 million because of decreased donations across all categories, continued lower investment returns and a decline in the payout from the endowment fund in the year ahead. Nicholson told a company gathering this week that the 2009 operating budget has been cut accordingly.
OSF remains hopeful but cautious as member presale begins November 6 and runs through November 23. More than half of all ticket sales occur during OSF's presale, so at the end of the period OSF will have a better perspective on 2009 sales.
The 2009 season will be anchored by four plays by William Shakespeare, and Shakespeare aficionados will be delighted that they can see some long-awaited plays to complete their Shakespearean canon. Opening at the top of the season in the Angus Bowmer Theatre is Macbeth. All's Well that Ends Well (last produced at OSF in 1992) will run in the New Theatre, and Henry VIII (last produced at OSF in 1984) and the ever popular Much Ado about Nothing will run on the Elizabethan Stage.
OSF will premiere Equivocation, by Bill Cain, a play that deeply resonates with the political intrigues of Henry VIII and Macbeth. This complex, engaging play involves Shakespeare and his company of players during rehearsals for Macbeth.
OSF will also offer an innovative take on the classic American musical The Music Man, opening in the Angus Bowmer Theatre in February and running throughout the season. Death and the King's Horseman, by Nobel Prize-winning Nigerian playwright Wole Soyinka, also will run in the Bowmer Theatre from February through July. Opening in February in the New Theatre is Sarah Ruhl's "beguiling new comedy" (New York Times review, 3/08) Dead Man's Cell Phone. The family-friendly 300-year-old Italian comedy The Servant of Two Masters, by Carlo Goldoni, joins the repertory in the New Theatre in March. And debuting on the outdoor Elizabethan Stage will be the Spanish classic about the knight errant and his squire Sancho Panza, Don Quixote, by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, with a world premiere adaptation by playwright Octavio Solis. And the final show to open will be Clifford Odets' powerful American drama Paradise Lost.
General ticket sales begin November 24. Visit the www.osfashland.org to learn about membership presale from November 6-23. The Box Office is also open at (800) 219-8161 or (541) 482-4331.
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