Tucked away in an unassuming little town in southern Oregon is one of the nation's most brilliant cultural gems: the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF). The Festival, as it's known by locals, started out 65 years ago in Ashland, Ore., when Angus Bowmer, a teacher at what is now Southern Oregon University, decided to create "America's first authentic Elizabethan theatre." Since then, OSF has gone on to become the second largest repertory theatre in the world.

Inspired by similarities between sketches of William Shakespeare's original Globe Theatre, and the remaining walls of a torn down performance house in Ashland, Bowmer staged what he insisted be called "the first annual" Oregon Shakespeare Festival in July 1935. The weekend production of The Merchant of Venice and Twelfth Night was presented with great success by a single group of actors on a simple stage built within the dramatic old walls. Since then, OSF has done more to sustain the vanishing art of repertory theatre (a series of plays performed by a single acting troupe) than any other company in the country. OSF now employs some 450 professional actors, dancers, musicians, directors, and support staff who work to put on an eight-month season (February through October) featuring 11 plays presented on three separate stages, six days a week.

Over 350,000 theatergoers a year migrate from around the world to partake in this most succulent of artistic feasts, and they are seldom, if ever, disappointed.

"Our family has come to Ashland for a week of play watching every year since 1995," says Dylan Myer, a father of two from Seattle, Wash. "The quality of the acting is always superb and the productions are visually stunning. Going to OSF is one of the few things our whole family gets into doing, even my 15-year-old daughter who is hoping to be an actress, is excited to go."

Triple The Stage Space -- Triple The Fun
In addition to staging a consistent selection of Shakespeare's famous and not-so-famous pieces in virtually every imaginable combination of timeframe, setting, and dress, OSF also presents a diverse array of modern-era and newly commissioned plays. This panoply of performances is staged in three distinctly different "state of the art" environments: The Angus Bowmer theatre, a modern indoor stage named for the festival's founder; the Black Swan, a small funky "black box" venue; and the festival's star attraction, an outdoor Elizabethan amphitheater.

Though it has enjoyed numerous improvements over the years, the outdoor theater that Bowmer dubbed "America's First Elizabethan Theatre" is still in use today amid the walls of the old performance house that contribute so much to its distinctive ambiance. The bi-level pavilion seats 1,200 audience members and operates throughout the summer (June through October) presenting exclusively Shakespeare plays as they were meant to be experienced: under a starlit canopy on a warm summer night.

The Angus Bowmer theatre is designed to make audiences feel like they are in the same space as the events taking place on stage and every one of the 600 seats really is a good one. Its ultra hi-tech light and sound system give it the ability to smoothly support even the most ambitious of productions. OSF designers use it for all it's worth, staging sensory-rich productions, and bringing to life those plays which are brilliant primarily for their simplicity.

The Festival's youngest venue is the 140-seat Black Swan Theatre, a space that has been "especially well suited to intimate material and plays that are more edgy," says OSF Artistic Director Libby Appel. "Intimate and edgy" as it is, the Swan is scheduled to be replaced by a more efficient modern version. While the new improved Swan will still be designed to accommodate intimate theatre experiences, according to Appel, "it will increase seating capacity to 350, and allow for multiple stage configurations during the same season." The new $10 million Black Swan stage is due to open in March 2002.

The Cast and Crew
Festival actors are some of the hardest working professionals in the business. The standard OSF season sees more than 750 performances and many actors in the company perform in more than one play each season, sometimes with more than one character per play.

"There aren't many theatre companies left in the world that have the budget and staff to stage full scale productions of Hamlet and Henry V in the same season," says Festival actress Melanie Bell. "It's an honor to have this much artistic challenge and freedom all at the same time."

On top of performing in multiple plays throughout the week, the Festival's cast and support crew must also prepare for the next season by auditioning, rehearsing, making costumes, and plotting technical elements.

"It is always a thrill to put together a new season" says Appel. "For 2001 we tried to take into consideration a variety of theatrical styles and select plays that will engage our audiences on many levels."

OSF's 2001 lineup is a distinctive mix of classic and contemporary plays including the Bard's final work, The Tempest, as well as Merchant of Venice, Troilus and Cressida and The Merry Wives of Windsor. The Bowmer theatre will host Anton Chekhov's Three Sisters; the west coast premier of Life is a Dream by Pedro Calderon de la Barca; and a play written by Anna Deavere Smith, called Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992, to be presented by an eight woman ensemble. The Black Swan will host two new plays: David Lindsay-Abaire's Off-Broadway hit, Fuddy Meers and Nilo Cruz's Two Sisters and a Piano.

OSF ticket prices range from $22 to $52 and reservations for lodging and Festival shows are highly recommended. More information is available at their Web site at www.orshakes.com, or via phone at: (541) 488-4331.

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About the Author: Johnathon Allen lives with his wife and two children in Ashland, Oregon where they happily maintain one black cat, an organic garden and an intentionally car-free lifestyle.