Ashland, 2012: Misalliances Under the Sadie Hawkins rules of Leap Year, romantic initiative becomes a wide-open free-for-all. No wonder if the course of true love gets even more roiled than usual. Apt, then, that in the current leap year the… Continue Reading
“Twelfth Night” at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF). Director Darko Tresnjak, an Oregon Shakespeare Festival neophyte, comes to the festival with a long list of credits from other top theaters, including several opera companies. His operatic pedigree shows in this crowd-pleasing,… Continue Reading
In case you thought of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) in Ashland as just a summer extravaganza, you could be missing out on some of the prime (but relatively unsung) joys of life here in Jefferson State. Even though they… Continue Reading
Anybody who’s ever had – or been – a kid can probably remember those mix-and-match picture books with pages split three ways: a set of miscellaneous heads, assorted midriffs and a selection of feet or tails. The joy of it… Continue Reading
Euro-trash academics can equivocate all they please, but we Americans have long known what to make of England’s king Henry VIII: a debauchee and serial wife-killer. So it may come as a surprise to see a considerably cuddlier Henry portrayed… Continue Reading
The rural hamlet of Chikka Arasinakere in the South Indian state of Karnataka is run by an ox named Basava. Not exactly landlord or mayor; more like an oracle. All major decisions, public or private, are put to Basava and… Continue Reading
After nearly half a century of bringing Shakespeare’s works to West Coast audiences, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) this year presents The Bard in a new way – as a character, rather than an author. The world-première of Bill Cain’s… Continue Reading
Looking for Louie, Part 6 of 6 This is the house that Trinity built: a sprawling, ruined heap of terracotta tile and Chinese-baroque curlicues, a 1920s Oriental version of a gaudy McMansion. The dilapidated shambles in front of us is… Continue Reading
Looking for Louie, Part 5 of 6 For 6,783 miles Mei-lang and I have traced Trinity merchant Louie Chow’s homecoming route back to his native province of Canton, China (see previous installments). Now we have come to this massive banyan… Continue Reading
Looking for Louie, Part 4 of 6 Shrimp dumplings, taro crescents and “phoenix claws” (braised chicken feet). Sticky-rice tamales, radish cake and egg tarts, all washed down with countless pots of chrysanthemum tea – RMB 65 (about $8) for two.… Continue Reading
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