Destiny of Desire

Destiny of Desire is smart, musical and effervescent with twists and turns and a moral at the end. The play contains scenes of stylized romance and sensuality, two instances of profanity, and moments of comic violence. It is suitable and delightful for teenagers who are able to handle these elements.

The Angus Bowmer Theatre is outfitted with an elevator that takes patrons to either Row E or Row K.

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival is committed to accessibility. We recognize the needs of persons with disabilities and strive to make our facilities and productions accessible to all. OSF offers a variety of accommodations, outlined here.

En esta divertidísima, provocadora y revolucionaria sátira de Karen Zacarías del género de la telenovela, las mujeres se apoderan de sus propios futuros, sus familias y sus destinos. El amor y la traición se desbordan entre un vibrante elenco de personajes de tipo clásica telenovela mexicana, con respetos a las comedias de Shakespeare y del teatro épico de Brecht. Dos muchachas – una rica pero enfermiza, una pobre pero de buena salud – están cambiadas al nacer por una intrigante reina de belleza. Dieciocho años después, las cosas se desbaratan dramáticamente cuando las dos mujeres se conocen, se hacen amigas y se enamoran de hombres que les son prohibidos de amar. José Luis Valenzuela dirige esta inteligente y vivaz producción musical, con un elenco de conjunto que destaca a Vilma Silva, Catherine Castellanos y Armando Durán.

La producción del Destino del Deseo en el Arena Stage fue premiada con un Edgerton Foundation New Play Award.

El Destino del Deseo es inteligente, musical y vibrante con giros y vueltas y una moraleja al final. La obra tiene escenas de romance y sensualidad estilazados, dos instancias de profanidad y momentos de violencia cómica. Es una obra idónea y encantadora para los adolescentes capaces de manejar estos elementos.

El Teatro Angus Bowmer cuenta con elevador que lleva a los patrones de teatro a la Fila E o la Fila K.

El Oregon Shakespeare Festival se compromete a la accesibilidad. Reconocemos a las necesidades de los patrones con discapacidades y nos esforzamos a asegurar que nuestras instalaciones y producciones les sean accesibles a todos. OSF ofrece una variedad de acomodaciones, aquí descritas here.

As a Marxist and dialectical materialist, Bertolt Brecht believed that the theatre was a forum to explore political ideas. In a direct challenge to the Aristotelian approach, which holds that a play should cause catharsis in the spectator, Brecht’s 1920s postmodernist Epic Theatre proposed that a play should not cause the spectator to identify emotionally with the characters or action before them, but rather provoke rational self-reflection and a critical view of the action on stage. He believed that the experience of climactic catharsis in the audience led to complacency, which is why he invented alienating effects so that the spectator could emotionally disengage from the unfolding of the event. Emotional engagement led the audience to pity the characters on stage and fear for the characters' lives, but, Brecht felt, did not move them to social action.

Brecht developed tropes that challenged the use of time and space in the theatre to undermine naturalism and 20th-century realism. First and foremost, he reimagined acting. He believed that the actor should not be in an immersive experience in their roles but should always be at a distance from them so that at any given moment they could comment on their situation. This is in contrast to famed Russian acting teacher Constantin Stanislavski’s “System” acting or American teacher Lee Strasberg’s “Method” acting, which require the actor to lose themselves entirely in their character.

Brechtian theatre reminds the spectator that they watch plays to observe human conduct. And although his theatre hopes to lead the goers to action once they go back into the world, Brecht believed that above all else, the theatre should be a place of superfluous fun, pleasure and entertainment.

—Carmen Aguirre 

Reprinted from OSF’s 2018 Illuminations, a 64-page guide to the season’s plays. Members at the Donor level and above and teachers who bring school groups to OSF receive a free copy of Illuminations.