ASHLAND,ORE.--The Tony Award-winning Oregon Shakespeare Festival will open its 73rd year and 2008 season, sponsored by US Bank, under the new artistic direction of Bill Rauch, with four productions on two stages February 22-24. The season offers a diversity of work led by new and returning directors.
Kicking off the weekend is William Shakespeare's comedy, A Midsummer Night's Dream, directed by guest artist Mark Rucker. The show opens at 8:00 p.m. Friday, February 22, in the Angus Bowmer Theatre. Opening Saturday, February 23 at 1:30 p.m. in the Angus Bowmer Theatre is August Wilson's Pulitzer Prize-winning Fences, directed by Leah C. Gardiner. At 8:00 p.m. that evening, audiences will be treated to Śūdraka's 2000-year-old Indian classic The Clay Cart (translated by J.A.B. van Buitenen), directed by Rauch, in his seventh season as a director at OSF. Completing the weekend's openings is the world premiere production of Julie Marie Myatt's Welcome Home, Jenny Sutter, opening at 1:30 p.m. Sunday, February 24 in the New Theatre, directed by Jessica Thebus.
"OSF's repertory, imagined by our founder Angus Bowmer and nurtured by all who followed him including my predecessor Libby Appel, is an audacious expression of connectedness and a metaphor of our human interdependence," Rauch explains in his notes about the season. "You simply cannot come to two or more plays in a single Ashland visit and go away unaffected by the terrifying, beautiful fact of our human connection, across cultures and millennia as well as across the street. The kaleidoscope of our 2008 productions explores the essence of human relationship--the struggle to know one's self and to understand ourselves as part of an ever-changing canvas of history, politics and peoples.
"Of particular note this year, we present the world premiere of Welcome Home, Jenny Sutter. With humor and tenderness, this important play gives us emotional space to witness those returning from serving our country in war. It is a special honor that we will be touring this production to the Kennedy Center in our nation's capital."
Later this season OSF will open seven more plays on its three stages. Also playing in the Angus Bowmer Theatre are Tony Award-winning playwright Jeff Whitty's The Further Adventures of Hedda Gabler, directed by Rauch (opening April 19); and Arthur Miller's A View from the Bridge, directed by OSF artistic director emeritus Libby Appel (July 26). Opening in the New Theatre on March 29 is Shakespeare's Coriolanus, directed by Laird Williamson (14 seasons at OSF); and Luis Alfaro's Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner will open July 5 under the direction of Tracy Young.
Productions on the Elizabethan Stage open the weekend of June 13-15, and for the first time ever, a 20th-century American classic, Our Town, directed by Chay Yew, will play under the stars. Also playing outside are Shakespeare's Othello, directed by Lisa Peterson, and The Comedy of Errors, directed by Penny Metropulos (former OSF associate artistic director); OSF's 2008 season runs from February 15-November 2 and offers 783 performances of 11 productions.
Biographies of directors, designers and actors for the 2008 season can be viewed here.
A Midsummer Night's Dream (February 15-November 2) by William Shakespeare
Production Partner: Amy and Mort Friedkin
Sometimes referred to as Shakespeare's perfect play, A Midsummer Night's Dream delights audiences with some of the Bard's most memorable and engaging characters--Puck and Bottom--as well as royal fairies, desperate young lovers, "rude mechanicals" and attending fairies with quaint names of Mustardseed, Peaseblossom, Cobweb and Moth. At the outset of the play, quarrels among the mortals in Athens' court and between the forest's Fairy King Oberon and his Queen Titania are causing havoc. Young lovers flee the Court in order to seek happiness together, and find their love strangely twisted by Puck's fairy madness...and only Oberon can set things straight. Making his directing debut at OSF, Mark Rucker has infused the play with a contemporary mix of lighting, dance and music.
The cast of 23 includes Michael Elich as Theseus, Shona Tucker as Hippolyta, John Tufts as Puck, Christine Albright as Titania, Kevin Kenerly as Oberon, Ray Porter as Bottom, Christopher Michael Rivera, Tasso Feldman, Kjerstine Anderson and Emily Sophia Knapp as the young lovers. A complete cast list is located here in the artists section.
Scenic design is by guest artist Walt Spangler; costumes by guest designer Katherine Roth, lighting by resident designer Robert Peterson and music by resident composer Todd Barton. Martine Kei Green is dramaturg; Andrew Wade is voice & text director; Ken Roht is choreographer; and Corey Atkins is assistant director.
Fences by August Wilson (February 16-July 8)
Production Sponsors: Mrs. John D. Banks; Production Partners: Avista, Oregon Cultural Trust
August Wilson won a Pulitzer Prize for this story of a working class African-American in the decade before the civil rights movement. Troy Maxson believes prejudice kept him from playing major league baseball. Now he hauls garbage. Embittered by his past, Troy barricades his family against disappointment, and father and son are pitted against each other in a devastating struggle. Leah C. Gardiner directs for the first time on an OSF stage.
In his OSF debut, Charles Robinson will play Troy Maxson. Shona Tucker plays his wife Rose; Cameron Knight plays Cory, their son; Josiah Phillips plays Bono, Troy's best friend; Kevin Kenerly is Lyons, Troy's son from a pervious relationship; G. Valmont Thomas is Gabriel, Troy's brother, and Raynell, the young daughter of Troy and his mistress, is played by Catiana Graham and Dominique Moore.
Scenic design is by guest artist Scott Bradley (Topdog/Underdog, The Piano Lesson); costumes are by guest artist Elizabeth Hope Clancy; lighting by guest artist Dawn Chiang (nine seasons with OSF); composer is Michael Keck (five seasons at OSF); Martine Kei Green is dramaturg; Scott Kaiser is voice & text director; and Corey Atkins is assistant director.
The Clay Cart (February 17-November 2) by Śūdraka, translated by J.A.B. van Buitenen
Production Sponsors: Lithia - America's Car & Truck Store, The Chautauqua Guild;
Production Partners: Yogen and Peggy Dalal, Katie and Sandy Farewell
Don't miss Bill Rauch's directorial debut as artistic director at OSF! A play bursting with music, dance, color, action, romance and intrigue, this 2000-year-old Indian epic (give or take 1000 years) proves that great storytelling transcends the centuries. Journey through a world where gamblers, holy men, courtesans, political fugitives and royal scoundrels meet--and good people triumph.
The cast of 25 (and three onstage musicians) features Cristofer Jean, Miriam A. Laube, Brent Hinkley, Michael J. Hume, Jeffrey King, Eileen DeSandre, Richard Howard, Neil Shah and Dee Maaske. A complete cast list is located here in the artist section.
Scenic design is by Associate Artistic Director Christopher Acebo; costumes are by resident costume designer Deborah M. Dryden; lighting is by Christopher Akerlind; composition and sound design by Andre Pleuss; choreography by Anjani Ambegaokar, movement and fight direction by John Sipes and U. Jonathan Toppo. Ketu H. Katrak and Dan Michon are dramaturgs on the project, and Andrew Wade is voice & text director.
Made possible in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.
World Premiere!
Welcome Home, Jenny Sutter (February 19-June 20) by Julie Marie Myatt
Production Sponsors: The Goatee Foundation, OSF Business Alliance, The Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays, Edgerton Foundation; Production Partners: C. Beth Cotner and John M. Alogna, The Kinsman Foundation; Community Partner: The Veterans of Foreign Wars, Grizzly Post 353
When U.S. Marine Jenny Sutter returns from Iraq, she lays down her rifle but isn't ready to pick up her children. Buying some time, Jenny takes a one-way trip to a desert community where misfit residents gently nurture her wounded spirit and nudge her back to her own humanity. Award-winning Chicago director Jessica Thebus premieres Myatt's humor-filled and tender-hearted tribute to those who serve and those who welcome them home. The play will move to the Kennedy Center in July.
The cast features Gwendolyn Mulamba as Jenny Sutter, OSF veterans David Kelly and Gregory Linington, as well as newcomers Kate Mulligan, Cameron Knight and K.T. Vogt.
Principal scenic designer Richard L. Hay has designed the set. Costumes are by Lynn Jeffries, lighting design by Allen Lee Hughes and music by Paul James Pendergast. Lue Morgan Douthit is dramaturg and Scott Kaiser is voice & text director. Ross Matsuda is assistant director.
Check availability online or call the Box Office at (541) 482-4331 or (800) 219-8161. OSF is offering two complimentary tickets to active duty military, reservists and veterans as a way of saying thank you and welcome home. Complimentary tickets are available throughout the run of the show (Feb. 19-June 20).
For more information about the productions, visit our video and audio page .
Previews, Openings and Tickets
Tickets remain available to previews and most opening performances. Patrons can save 40 percent on preview tickets. New this season, all C section seating in all three theatres is just $20. We invite you to check ticket availability online for all shows. Or call the Box Office at (541) 482-4331. Preview and opening times and dates are as follows (sold-out performances not included):
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Friday, Feb. 15, 8 p.m. (preview)
Tuesday, Feb. 19, 8 p.m. (preview)
Friday, Feb. 22, 8 p.m. (opening)
Fences
Saturday, Feb. 16, 8 p.m. (preview)
Wednesday, Feb. 20, 8 p.m. (preview)
Saturday, Feb. 23, 1:30 p.m. (opening)
The Clay Cart
Sunday, Feb. 17, 8 p.m. (preview)
Thursday, Feb. 21, 8 p.m. (preview)
Saturday, Feb. 23, 8 p.m. (opening)
Welcome Home, Jenny Sutter
Tuesday, Feb. 19, 8 p.m. (preview)
Thursday, Feb. 21, 8 p.m. (preview)
Friday, Feb. 22, 8 p.m. (preview)
Sunday, Feb. 24, 1:30 p.m. (opening)
An Important Note about Matinees, Parking and Access
Matinees begin at 1:30 p.m. through June 1. On June 3, when evening performances begin at 8:30 p.m., matinees will start at 2:00 p.m. Performance times will change back on August 12, when evening shows once again begin at 8:00 p.m. and matinee performances begin at 1:30 p.m. The city-owned parking facility next to the New Theatre is available for parking. Cost of parking is $1.00 during the day and $3.00 at night. A map of the campus and directions is available here.
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