S is for...Shakespeare Festival

Today we move closer to the end of our A-Z Blogging Challenge and encounter the letter S.  There are a lot of things in Oregon that could qualify for this letter, but I'm going with something that spreads a little culture to everyone...
 Shakespeare Festival

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival is renowned and awesome.  The festival takes place in Ashland, Oregon in the southern part of the state.   Originally conceived in 1893 as part of the Chautauqua adult education movement, the theater could accommodate up to 1500 spectators in an outdoor arena.  Soon, a domed stage was built on the site.  When the stage fell into disrepair, the Chautauqua movement faded away in Ashland.  However, in 1935 a drama professor, Angus Bowmer, at the Southern Oregon Normal School (today's Southern Oregon University) wished to use the location to present Shakespearean plays.  He was given limited funds ($400) to put on two plays as part of the city's Independence Day celebrations and required to add a boxing match to supplement the certain deficit of funds.  Bowmer agreed and production moved forward billed, optimistically, as "The First Annual Oregon Shakespearean Festival".  The first plays were Twelfth Night and The Merchant of Venice; Bowmer directed and played the lead in both plays.  The event was a huge success (the boxing matches weren't necessary, but still occurred) and the event has continued every year since that day, aside from 1941-1945 when Bowmer served in World War Two.
Today, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival occupies a four acre plot adjacent to Lithia Park and is comprised of three theaters and multiple support buildings.  Since its founding, the Festival has gone on to include other productions, but at least five Shakespeare plays are required to be performed every season; it has staged the complete canon of Shakespeare three times since 1935 (the first completion was in 1958, followed by 1978 and 1997).  Since 2000, the company has begun including one new play every season as well.  Running from February to early November, the company puts on between 700 and 800 productions of eleven plays in the three main theaters.  The company consists of about 325 full-time personnel, including over 100 actors, 175 part-time personnel, and nearly 700 volunteers.  Between 375,000 and 400,000 people attend the festival every year.

For this years lineup, go here :)

Happy Monday, fellow A-Zers!
 

Comments

  1. Liz A.April 23, 2013 at 1:50 PM

    I've never seen a Shakespeare play live. Must do that one day.

    Been to Ashland once. Great town.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. MelApril 25, 2013 at 11:36 AM

      Yes, you must! I've seen one, but never at the Shakespeare Festival...haha. Ashland is a wonderful town.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Get Wordy!

Popular posts from this blog

2016 A-Z Blogging Challenge Theme Reveal

Image
Oooo...the day is getting closer; creeping stealthily, it will smack you in the face in no time! While we impatiently await the start of the challenge, it's time to reveal our themes.  Yay!  I'm going for something drastically different this year.  Something much more challenging than I've ever done in my previous four years participating in this particular challenge.  Normally my posts are pretty straight-forward, contained, not overly ambitious.  This year is going to be another beast all together. My mission, should I choose to accept it, will be to write one continuous story for the entire challenge.  I know my characters, setting, and where I want it to go...kind of.  All I need to figure out is how to get from point A to point Z.  The first word of each post will start with the letter for the day; some of these will definitely be more difficult than others, but I'm determined. I look forward to writing this, receiving feedb...
Read more

B is for...Black Hole Sun and Boy Who Blocked

Image
Day two has arrived in the A-Z Blogging Challenge and we're moving on to the letter B.  Today I bring you... "Black Hole Sun" - Soundgarden This is when I fell in love with Chris Cornell.  That love has only continued to get stronger as the years have passed...through Soundgarden, Audioslave, Temple of the Dog, and his solo work.  That gravely voice...mmmm.  I don't care that he's old enough to be my dad.  It was the 90s, it was grunge, and it was awesome.  The lyrics are sad and melancholy, but the music is beautiful.  Such a great juxtaposition! *Fun Fact :  "Black Hole Sun" won the 1995 Grammy for Best Hard Rock Performance. "The Boy Who Blocked His Own Shot" - Brand New   My all-time favorite band, Brand New, came out with "The Boy Who Blocked His Own Shot" on their sophomore album, Deja Entendu .  The album is lyrically and musically brilliant, but this song speaks to me despite the ...
Read more

Bianca's Vineyard (Book #13)

Image
I've had Teresa Neumann's Bianca's Vineyard for a while now, thanks to my grandmother, but have been skipping over it to read other books.  I don't know why I did this because it was actually a great read.  Neumann is a local author who decided to write a novel about family history.  The majority of the novel is based on factual evidence and personal family interviews.  There is one portion, which I won't give away, that is only speculated at by Neumann, but what she does choose to speculate is a highly probably scenario. The book is written in a way that suggests it is being told to the reader, as well as Egisto's son and his wife, through flashbacks from Bianca in her 80's.  We know this because the font and boldness of these sections gives personal reflection from Bianca and foreshadows what she will eventually reveal.  She takes you back to the beginning of what changed the course for this family, mainly one brother of the Bertozzi family moving to A...
Read more