OREGON SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL- 2008-Part 1

OREGON SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL (OSF); P.O. Box 158, 15 South Pioneer Street, Ashland, OR 97520. 541-482-2111, 541-482-0446 fax, 541-482-4331 box office; www.osfashland.org

OSF, established in 1935, with the exception of the WW II years 1941-1946 has been in continuous operation. They present 11 plays in an eight-month season – four by Shakespeare and seven by classic and contemporary playwrights – in rotating repertory in three theatres: the outdoor Elizabethan Stage (seats 1,190), the Angus Bowmer Theatre (seats 601), and the intimate New Theatre (seats 270-360). OSF employs approximately 450 theatre professionals and has received many prestigious awards, and has reputation for excellence in their acting and production staff.

This is Bill Rauch’s first full year as Artistic Director. He comes with an excellent reputation as a stage director and an astute, innovative artistic director. In the 2006-2007 seasons, he received accolades for his directing of “Romeo & Juliet” and “Two Gentlemen from Verona.” Apparently, he is dedicated to the idea of “concept productions” of Shakespeare’s plays and this 2008 season demonstrates that dedication continuing under the mantel of Shakespeare for a New Generation, a national theatre initiative sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts. This is a concerted effort to make Shakespeare palatable for younger audiences, giving the plays a fresh patina emphasizing the universality of the writing. Of the seven plays seen during the opening weekend of the Elizabethan Stage, ushering in the Spring Season, four are highly recommended and three are a bit problematic.

Fences by August Wilson and directed by Leah C. Gardiner is one of the must see shows. The time is 1957 and it is the sixth in August Wilson’s 10-play cycle that chronicles the African American experience from 1904 to 1997. It is a powerful play of unfulfilled dreams, hardships and resentment. The construction of the play relies on long external/internal monologs to define character by vocalizing previous experiences. Such construction requires superb acting and directing to prevent the evening from becoming long and tedious. OSF’s production is an unqualified success and it is a pity the run ends July 6.

Charles Robinson and Shona Tucker portray the major characters, Troy Maxson and his wife Rose with internal conviction that translates into heart-rending realism. The supporting cast of Josiah Phillips, Kevin Kenerly, G. Valmont Thomas and Cameron Knight are individually unique and provide expressive sounding boards for Robinson’s powerful verbal justifications and diatribes.

The action plays out on the Scott Bradley’s fantastically realistic set of the Maxons’ back yard around which Rose wishes to build a fence. Jim Bono (Josiah Phillips), Troy’s best friend replies, “Some people build fences to keep people out and other people build fences to keep people in. Rose wants to hold on to you all.” You may have to break down the fences to see the play since the spontaneous standing ovation at the end of the play indicates potentially sold out performances.

Our Town by Thornton Wilder and directed by Chay Yew is one of the problematic productions. The decision to stage this intimate play on the expansive three level Elizabethan stage and to resort to non-traditional casting quickly builds a barrier in the audience that is not overcome until the beautiful, heart-tugging third act, effectively acted downstage-center with Mahira Kakkar as Emily and Anthony Heald as the stage manager, pulling out all the emotional energy to make the evening memorable. Director Yew desires to “set aflame American stages with new plays that reflect(ed) . . . the pulse of society” calling the play a “hymn to humanity.” The universality he desires does not materialize even though Donald Margulies in the forward to the paper back edition of the play suggests, “it is inappropriate to . . . dismiss Our Town as an idealized view of American life.”

Wilder has created a specific time, May 7, 1901, and place, “Grover’s Corner, New Hampshire –just across the Massachusetts line: latitude 42 degrees 40 minutes etc.” It deals with ordinary happenings of ordinary people in everyday lives that make living worthwhile. The inhabitants are of “English brachiocephalic blue-eyed stock . . eighty-six percent Republican . . . eighty-five percent Protestants.” When the man from the audience suggests that they “do something about” “social injustice and industrial inequality”, Mr. Webb, the town publisher responds “. . . we do all we can to help those that can’t help themselves and those that can we leave alone.”

If you are looking for Wilder’s stance on social injustice, read or go to see his Pulitzer Prize winning play The Skin of our Teeth.” It is not necessary to gussy-up the stage directions with “clever (?)” directorial conceits and it is wrong to place the Church hymnal rehearsal on the third level outdoor stage. To appreciate Wilder’s intent in Our Town, rent a copy of the 1989 Lincoln Center production with Spalding Gray as the stage manager.

The Further Adventures of Hedda Gabler by Jeff Whitty and directed by Bill Rauch is a fun-filled intellectual romp that you will want to see again since the many literary references come at you in a fast, furious pace. Bill Rauch describes his friend Jeff Whitty, Tony Award winner for Avenue Q, as a “take no prisoner” writer. His fertile, inventive mind must be slightly askew to come up with this inventive look at the foibles of literary creations. Whitty conjures an imaginary furnace from which springs the characters that appear in fiction. Most of those who spring from this “furnace of fiction” are destined for a quick death, strewing the landscape with their bodies. Then there are those who live forever in edition after edition or in innumerable stage productions. Hedda Gabler is one of those living forever and ever in the minds of the living.

The play begins with the stage in darkness and the characters from Ibsen’s play reading their lines until the final shot as Hedda kills herself. Lights up. Hedda (a brilliant Robin Goodrin Nordeli) and her ineffectual husband Tesman (scene-stealer Christopher Duval) and their black servant (slave) Mammy (delightful Kimberly Scott), from Gone with the Wind are on stage. Hedda has had enough of this eternal life and if “this life is all made up” she sure as hell can go back to that furnace and confront that “God or whoever made me up!” She wants a happy conclusion. With Tesman and Mammy in tow, she heads out to find the furnace and confront Ibsen.

Before this happens, we meet Medea, Cassandra and a TV woman pitching hand cream. The challenges Hedda must meet are the dark, dark scary forest (take your pick from The Wiazrd of Oz, Red Riding Hood or Into the Woods?) and “turbulent waters of concept.” We meet, characters from Law & Order, Orphan Annie, Icarus and Tosca (they both continually fall to their death), Phantom of the Opera, a flapper, a junkie and 3 concepts of Jesus and on and on. Then we meet Patrick (Anthony Heald, he plays the Stage Manager in Our Town) and Steven (Jonathan Haugan) from The Boys in the Band who take charge, ferrying the remaining group across the turbulent waters of concept in the African Queen boat.

Haugan and Heald are incisive and humorous with their banter as they deliver the cutting/satiric/funny lines with perfection. Most of the cast double in minor roles and to single out individuals does not seem right. Kate Mulligan begins with a fantastic interpretation as Medea and carries that skill into her ensemble roles. Gregory Linington and Gwendolyn Mulamba are both excellent in all of their roles. Rather than pass out specific honors for the bravo staging that adds immense pleasure to the evening, let’s just list the entire production staff: Scenic Designer: Christopher Acebo; Costume Designer: Shigeru Yaji; Lighting Designer: Geoff Korf; Composer: Paul James Prendergast

2008 SEASON:
Angus Bowmer Theatre

A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare (February 15 – November 2).
Director: Mark Rucker; Scenic Designer: Walt Spangler; Costume Designer: Katherine Roth; Lighting Designer: Robert Peterson; Composer: Todd Barton.

Fences by August Wilson (February 16 -July 6).
Director: Leah C. Gardiner; Scenic Designer: Scott Bradley; Costume Designer: Elizabeth Hope Clancy; Lighting Designer: Dawn Chiang; Composer: Michael Keck.

The Clay Cart attributed to Sudraka, translated by J.A.B. van Buitenen (February 17- November 2)
Director: Bill Rauch; Scenic Designer: Christopher Acebo; Costume Designer: Deborah M. Dryden; Lighting Designer: Christopher Akerlind; Composer: Andre Pluess; Choreographer: Anjani Ambegaokar.

The Further Adventures of Hedda Gabler by Jeff Whitty April 15 - November 1
Director: Bill Rauch; Scenic Designer: Christopher Acebo; Costume Designer: Shigeru Yaji; Lighting Designer: Geoff Korf; Composer: Paul James Prendergast.

A View from the Bridge by Arthur Miller (July 23- November 1)
Director: Libby Appel; Scenic Designer: William Bloodgood; Costume Designer: Deborah M. Dryden; Lighting Designer: Jane Cox; Composer: Irwin Appel.

New Theatre

Welcome Home, Jenny Sutter by Julie Marie Myatt (February 19 -June 20)
Director: Jessica Thebus; Scenic Designer: Richard L. Hay; Costume Designer: Lynn Jeffries; Lighting Designer: Allen Lee Hughes; Composer: Paul James Prendergast.

Coriolanus by William Shakespeare (March 26 - November 2)
Director: Laird Williamson; Scenic Designer: Richard L. Hay; Costume Designer: Deborah M. Dryden; Lighting Designer: Robert Peterson; Composer: Todd Barton.

Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner by Luis Alfaro (July 1 - November 2)
Director: Tracy Young; Scenic Designer: Robert Brill; Costume Designer: Nephelie Andonyadis; Lighting Designer: Russell H. Champa; Sound Designer: Jeremy J. Lee.

Elizabethan Stage/Allen Pavilion

Othello by William Shakespeare (June 3 -October 10)
Director: Lisa Peterson; Scenic Designer: Rachel Hauck; Costume Designer: Christopher Acebo; Lighting Designer: Alexander Nichols; Composer: Paul James Prendergast.

Our Town by Thornton Wilder (June 4 - October 11)
Director: Chay Yew; Scenic Designer: Richard L. Hay; Costume Designer: Anita Yavich; Lighting Designer: Robert Peterson; Composer: Todd Barton.

The Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare (June 5-October 12)
Director: Penny Metropulos; Scenic Designer: Michael Ganio; Costume Designer: Paul Tazewell; Lighting Designer: Robert Peterson; Composer: Sterling Tinsley.