Our Regional Theater is a National Treasure
By: Professor Alan Rose
Issue date: 3/13/09 Section: Opinion
The Oregon Shakespeare Festival, located
in Ashland, or, a short two-hour drive north of Simpson University, is among the top three regional theater companies in the United States. Offering performances from mid-February through the end of November, OSF features eleven major productions on its three stages in
the 2009 season, including The Music Man, Don Quixote, Macbeth, Henry VIII, Much Ado About Nothing, The Servant of Two Masters, and All's Well That Ends Well.
Simpson University has a unique relation
with the company in that by ordering tickets through our Arranger of Adventures (the ever diligent Alan Rose, Professor of Comedies and Errors) we can get 40% discounts on ticket prices throughout the spring and fall, be forgiven the $7.50 handling fee for phone or e-mail ticket
orders, and enjoy an extra special (and very generous) refund and exchange policy. On top of all this, he can arrange for you to sit right next to that special someone-providing that special someone is already attending the same performance.
Of the three stages, the indoor Angus Bowmer Theatre offers semi-circular seating in front of a playing area that juts out into the audience, is sometimes raked at a 15 degree angle, can be raised or lowered during a performance, and on
occasion spins around in a circle to change the set. The indoor New Theatre is rather undecided- sometimes the playing area is rectangular, sometimes square, sometimes U-shaped, and sometimes round. One just never knows what to expect. And, of course, the crowning glory is the outdoor Elizabethan Stage, open to the stars (and the rain), built like a Tudor townhouse, and sporting a genuine balcony complete with box seats and a roof over that part of the audience. When it rains, the performers on stage and the patrons in the more expensive front row seats get wet. But rain or shine, the show must go on, even if the actors have to put plastic raincoats over their exquisite period costumes.
And speaking of period costumes, one never
in Ashland, or, a short two-hour drive north of Simpson University, is among the top three regional theater companies in the United States. Offering performances from mid-February through the end of November, OSF features eleven major productions on its three stages in
the 2009 season, including The Music Man, Don Quixote, Macbeth, Henry VIII, Much Ado About Nothing, The Servant of Two Masters, and All's Well That Ends Well.
Simpson University has a unique relation
with the company in that by ordering tickets through our Arranger of Adventures (the ever diligent Alan Rose, Professor of Comedies and Errors) we can get 40% discounts on ticket prices throughout the spring and fall, be forgiven the $7.50 handling fee for phone or e-mail ticket
orders, and enjoy an extra special (and very generous) refund and exchange policy. On top of all this, he can arrange for you to sit right next to that special someone-providing that special someone is already attending the same performance.
Of the three stages, the indoor Angus Bowmer Theatre offers semi-circular seating in front of a playing area that juts out into the audience, is sometimes raked at a 15 degree angle, can be raised or lowered during a performance, and on
occasion spins around in a circle to change the set. The indoor New Theatre is rather undecided- sometimes the playing area is rectangular, sometimes square, sometimes U-shaped, and sometimes round. One just never knows what to expect. And, of course, the crowning glory is the outdoor Elizabethan Stage, open to the stars (and the rain), built like a Tudor townhouse, and sporting a genuine balcony complete with box seats and a roof over that part of the audience. When it rains, the performers on stage and the patrons in the more expensive front row seats get wet. But rain or shine, the show must go on, even if the actors have to put plastic raincoats over their exquisite period costumes.
And speaking of period costumes, one never
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