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OSF’s ‘Mother Road’ Paves Thought-Provoking Path

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s 84th season is underway, marking the last with artistic director Bill Rauch before he leaves for New York’s Ronald O. Perelman Center for Performing Arts. Rauch is directing two plays in his final season, both featuring… Continue Reading

Oregon Shakespeare Festival Explores ‘Tapestry of Human Life’ in 2018 Season

This year’s Oregon Shakespeare Festival is in full swing and continues to deliver a smorgasbord of classical, modern, and musical options for stage enthusiasts. Running throughout the performances is a theme touched on during a panel discussion earlier this year… Continue Reading

Oregon Shakespeare Festival Kicks Off 82nd Season

ASHLAND, Ore.—The North State’s renowned theatrical neighbor to the north shows no signs of slowing down as it enters its 82nd season, delivering innovative Shakespeare, thought-provoking and relevant modern and historical plays, as well as delightful classical fare. The Oregon… Continue Reading

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Et in Arcadia, Libido

Upfront disclosure: Mei-lang and I had never heard of the Go-Go’s until we settled into seats G19 and G21 of Ashland’s outdoor Allen Elizabethan Theater. We opened our Playbills to learn that the new musical “Head Over Heels,” which is… Continue Reading

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Reality Soap…

…That’s the new genre that Pulitzer-winning playwright Qiara Alegría Hudes has perfected in “The Happiest Song Plays Last,” the final installment of her trilogy about her Iraq vet cousin Elliot and his ongoing internet-enabled ties with his Puerto Rican family… Continue Reading

Tony & Cleo: Celebrity Come-Uppance

From the time you first meet them, cavorting together on a royal-sized bed, the thing you notice about Derrick Lee Weeden’s Marc Antony and Miriam Laube’s Cleopatra is their physical disparity. He’s enormous — by turns the hulking “triple pillar… Continue Reading

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Oh, Dear! What Can the Meta Be?

In this, our Age of the Selfie, why shouldn’t the drama be as solipsistic as any other cultural artifact? Hence the proliferation, nowadays, of plays about players and playwrights. The Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF), ever in the vanguard, has served… Continue Reading

Night at the End of the Tunnel

In the five years since he’s moved to Ashland, director Christopher Liam Moore has distinguished himself bringing American modernist theater to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF). He’s made full use of the Bowmer Theater, OSF’s hi-tech proscenium stage, to project… Continue Reading