Starting with one of the most famous love stories of all from our namesake playwright, this year’s exciting lineup kicks off with Romeo and Juliet. I was first introduced to William Shakespeare through this story, and since then I have seen and produced more productions of it than I can count. I have seen every movie version and many adaptations. I cannot wait to delve into my first-ever Shakespeare production and at my home theatre, the famed Oregon Shakespeare Festival.
If there’s anything the pandemic taught us, it’s the need for humanity to pull together even and especially in uncertain times. In our darkest moments, the bonds of friendship and family—and the power of music and art—are the lights that guide us through. This is the message that shines through in Jonathan Larson’s Rent, and why this Pulitzer Prize–winning musical remains as popular and relevant today as it was when it debuted off Broadway nearly three decades ago.
These two love stories aptly set the stage for the productions that follow throughout the season. The Three Musketeers, which centers on the love and commitment between comrades. Twelfth Night, another Shakespeare favorite, that focuses on the complexity and all-consuming pain of unrequited love. Where We Belong, about a Mohegan woman who loves her language and also loves the language used to replace her own. And of course, It’s Christmas, Carol!—bringing us back to our love of laughter during the winter holiday season.
Our O! Digital Stage also continues to thrive and brings our beloved OSF into new possibilities. Get ready for Cyberland—a cinema lounge featuring OSF short films; Quills Fest, our public agora at the intersection between live theatre and immersive technology; experience OSF plays from home with Theatre on Film; and witness the Visual Sovereignty Project, a digital commissioning project that recognizes Indigenous people have a story to tell, “for us, by us, now us.”
This season is our love letter to love. It’s our love letter to our incredible artists and the work they create and it’s our love letter to you, our beloved audience, both new and traditional, young and old, from across the country and around the world. We love that you are here.