September 9, 2010
The Oregon Shakespeare Festival
From humble beginnings in 1935, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland has grown to be the largest art institution in the state, with a $21 million annual budget and a season that stretches from February to November on three stages.
During summer months you can see Shakespeare under the stars (and occasionally in the rain) on the festival's outdoor Elizabethan Stage. The Angus Bowmer Theatre, named after the founder, seats 700 indoors; and the New Theatre provides a stark black box for a more intimate setting and for experimental and new work.
One of the best regional theaters in the country, the festival had a special relationship with the late August Wilson; his "Gem of the Ocean" will be performed here in 2007.
Here are a few suggestions on where to stay in Ashland.
Photo: Elizabethan Stage, 2005
all text and images © 2005-06 by Bob Keefer
no reproduction allowed in any form without written permission