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99-694: The Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) is a regional repertory theatre in Ashland, Oregon, United States, founded in 1935 by Angus L. Bowmer . From late April through December each year, the Festival now offers 800 to 850 matinee and evening performances of a wide range of classic and contemporary plays not limited to Shakespeare to a total annual audience of nearly 400,000. The Festival welcomed its millionth visitor in 1971, its 10-millionth in 2001, and its 20-millionth visitor in 2015. At any given time between five and eleven plays are offered in daily rotation six days

198-661: A Black box theatre . In 2003, Time named OSF as the second best regional theatre in the United States (Chicago's Goodman Theater was first). The Festival opened the 2020 season on February 28 with performances of A Midsummer Night's Dream , Peter and the Starcatcher , and The Copper Children in the Angus Bowmer Theatre. Bring Down the House (a two-part adaptation of Shakespeare’s Henry VI plays)

297-425: A Pulitzer Prize (1982), a Tony Award (1986), and a Jujamcyn Award (1985). In Russia and much of Eastern Europe , repertory theatre is based on the idea that each company maintains a number of productions that are performed on a rotating basis. Each production's life span is determined by its success with the audience. However, many productions remain in repertory for years as this approach presents each piece

396-644: A 1987 interview for the festival's program notes. The danger isn't so much not doing new work as in ignoring the old work. Besides, just because a play was written a long time ago doesn't make it old.” Under Turner's leadership, OSF received the Antoinette Perry Award ( Tony Award ) in 1983. Turner also received an honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters at Pacific University in 1985, the George Norlin Alumni Award from

495-517: A 32-member Board of Directors nominated and elected for eight-year terms. The endowment itself has a net worth in excess of $ 30 million that returns about $ 1.2 million to support the annual operating budget. It is managed by seven trustees who are selected for five-year terms by the Board of Directors. In the past, OSF offered non-voting memberships at eleven levels beginning at $ 35, each with its own privileges. Starting in 2022, these have been replaced by

594-503: A 4-acre (16,000 m) campus adjacent to Lithia Park and the Plaza in Ashland, Oregon. The primary buildings are the three theatres, Carpenter Hall, and the Camps, Pioneer, and Administration buildings, all surrounding an open central court locally known as "The Bricks" that ties everything together into an architecturally coherent whole and facilitates movement. It also provides a stage for

693-452: A British movement started in the early 1900s that focused on shorter runs of a single new work, rather than having several plays ready to perform at any given time. For weekly rep and for a typical three-act play, the actors' week would start on Tuesday, and go as follows: Today, repertory theatres employ a wide range of actors, who can play a variety of types. Before the modern repertory system, acting ensembles were normally made up of

792-512: A Change Makers donor program in eight categories starting at one dollar and providing for deep engagement. To further extend access to as many people as possible, 2022 ticket prices were reduced and now range from $ 35 to $ 75. The paid staff is organized into artistic, production, education, administrative and development sections. The Artistic Director selects the plays and directors for each season and chooses 70-120 actors, musicians and dancers. In August 2019, Nataki Garrett succeeded Bill Rauch as

891-524: A balcony and two boxes, further improving sightlines and acoustics. Vomitoria (colloquially, "voms"), the traditional name for entryways for actors from under the seating area, were added and the lighting scaffolds were eliminated. An April 1968 report by the Bureau of Business and Economic Research of the University of Oregon pointed to the lost economic opportunity represented by the thousands of people

990-408: A benefit concert in 1966 that brought many luminaries to Ashland. 1952 saw the birth of a tradition following the curtain call ending the last outdoor play of each season. Company members, not just actors, each carrying a candle, silently enter the darkened theatre to the traditional English folk tune Greensleeves . A company member selected for the honor speaks Prospero's words from Act IV Scene I of

1089-501: A big comeback in cities such as Little Rock, AR , Washington, DC , Minneapolis , Indianapolis , Milwaukee , Cincinnati , Chicago , Los Angeles , Nashville , New York , Houston , Boston , San Francisco , San Diego , Buffalo , Kansas City , and Seattle . Festival theatre now provides actors with work in the summer. There are many ways to rehearse repertory theatre. The most prolific American repertory theatres are an example of that. Utah Shakespeare Festival rehearses two plays

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1188-508: A costume props area and a vented paint room. Upstairs is a dye room, lounge, laundry, storage room, and office. During the height of costume production each season, a wig shop and additional studio is open in the basement of the Angus Bowmer Theatre. The Festival acquired Carpenter Hall (I) in October 1973, renovating it to accommodate lectures, concerts, rehearsals, meetings and Festival and community events. The Bill Patton Garden (K) provides

1287-525: A dance group from Mexico or India one night, clowns doing ballet on stilts the next, and a classical music quartet on another. A fire show, juggler, or magician might be seen along with improv, metal, or rock-n-roll variations on Shakespeare. Individual performers, groups, choirs, bands, and orchestras may present Afro-Cuban, baroque, blues, classical, contemporary, cowboy, funk, gospel, hip-hop, jazz, mariachi, marimba, poetry, marionette, renaissance, or salsa, sometimes combined in unexpected ways. As suggested by

1386-529: A day split between an eight hour period. This is common. Some theatres only rehearse one play a day and add shows into rotation as the season progresses, like The American Shakespeare Center. They rehearse one play for a little over two weeks before it opens; then, they begin the next one. The length of rehearsal also varies. American Players Theatre has a six-week-long rehearsal period compared to Oregon Shakespeare Festival 's eleven-week-long one. America's oldest resident repertory theatre, Hedgerow Theatre ,

1485-452: A few times in a given season, not enough to exhaust the potential audience pool. After the fall of the Soviet regime and the substantial diminution of government subsidy, the repertory practice has required re-examination. Moscow Art Theatre and Lev Dodin 's Maly Drama Theatre of St. Petersburg are the world's most notable practitioners of this approach. Rotation Repertory system is still

1584-633: A meeting room. The Festival's costume production shop occupies the Pioneer Building at the northwest corner of campus and an annex in the Administration building. The staff creates the costumes and accessories in three main studios on the lower floor of the building and in an extension of the Administration Building. Also in this area are offices and fitting rooms for the costume designers and costume design assistants,

1683-559: A new domed structure was built at the site, but it fell into disrepair after the Chautauqua movement died out in the 1920s. In 1935, the similarity of the remaining wall of the then-roofless Chautauqua building to Elizabethan theatres inspired Southern Oregon University drama professor Angus L. Bowmer to propose using it to present plays by Shakespeare. Ashland city leaders loaned him a sum "not to exceed $ 400" (approximately equivalent to $ 7,459 in 2019) to present two plays as part of

1782-534: A number of his own translations of Swedish and Norwegian plays including The Dance of Death , An Enemy of the People , The Father , Ghosts , Peer Gynt , Rosmersholm , and The Wild Duck . Turner loved both classical texts and new work, and always sought to find in both ways to surprise and stimulate audiences. He was considered both a risk-taker and a traditionalist. “Expanding an audience’s horizons doesn’t necessarily mean doing new work,” he said in

1881-519: A parking building, a remodeled administration building and box office, a scene shop and exhibit hall that later would become the OSF Black Swan, landscaping, and street realignment. $ 896,000 was approved in April 1969, to match an equal amount to be raised through private donations. The fund drive quickly exceeded its goal and ground for the new theatre was broken on December 18, 1969. The theatre

1980-609: A reputation for quality productions. Angus Bowmer's first wife Lois served as art director, creating both costumes and scenery during the formative years of the Festival from 1935 to 1940. In 1939, OSF took a production of The Taming of the Shrew to the Golden Gate International Exposition in San Francisco that was nationally broadcast on radio. The lead actress, learning at the last minute

2079-760: A separate article, Production history of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival . In addition to the plays, since 1951 a free outdoor "Green Show" drawing audiences in the hundreds, often including non-playgoers, precedes the evening plays from June through September, Wednesday through Saturday nights, from a modular steel stage with a sprung floor for the dancers, a removable wheelchair ramp for performers with disabilities, and built-in storage facilities that eliminate carting equipment from and to distant storage facilities. Originally, it offered Elizabethan music and dancers. From 1966 until 2007 it consisted of three Renaissance-themed shows in rotation inspired by

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2178-524: A stage management office, a recording studio, a movement studio focused on the Feldenkrais Method , a studio for work on vocal technique, stamina, and dialect; a loading dock, a conference room, showers, two warmup spaces that double as small meeting rooms, two green rooms equipped with refrigerator, storage cases, sink, dishwasher, tables custom-made by the prop shop, and chairs. OSF is a non-profit corporation managed under US and Oregon law by

2277-465: A stage of 663 square feet (61.6 m) is surrounded on all four sides by 360 seats. In three-quarter thrust mode, a 710 square feet (66 m) stage is surrounded on three sides by 270 seats, and in avenue mode, a 1,236 square feet (114.8 m) stage provides 228 seats on two sides. There is a  trap room  under the stage and a  fly loft  at one end. A computer controls 300 circuits and over 400 lights of various types. The remainder of

2376-604: A week in its three theatres. Each year, two or three plays are staged in the outdoor Allen Elizabethan Theatre, two or three in the intimate Thomas Theatre, and four or five in the traditional Angus Bowmer Theatre. OSF has completed the entire Shakespeare canon of 37 plays in 1958, 1978, 1997, and 2016. Since 1960, it has also offered non-Shakespearean plays. Since 2000 there has been at least one new work each season from playwrights such as Octavio Solis and Robert Schenkkan , several of which have gone on to other venues and numerous awards (see below). A complete list by year and theatre

2475-679: Is also produced by the Summer Theatre season at Frinton-on-Sea . Organizations in Canada include North America's largest classical repertory theatre company, the Stratford Festival , founded in 1953 primarily to present productions of William Shakespeare 's plays. Canada also hosts North America's second largest repertory theatre company, the Shaw Festival , founded in 1962, which presents plays written by or set during

2574-474: Is available here: Production history of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival . OSF also provides a broad range of educational programs for middle schools, high schools, college students, teachers, and theatre professionals. In 1893, the residents of Ashland built a facility to host Chautauqua events. In its heyday, it accommodated audiences of 1,500 for appearances by the likes of John Philip Sousa and William Jennings Bryan during annual 10-day seasons. In 1917,

2673-604: Is equipped with a sophisticated sound system and has six rehearsal halls, three of them some 3,000-square-foot (280 m), sufficient to precisely duplicate stages in any of the three Festival theatres. All six include fully sprung floors to prevent injuries when dancing, rehearsing stage combat, or similar physical activities. The LED lighting system is zoned and dimmable, the ceilings have steel tracks which allow for suspension of scenery, lights, loudspeakers, and even people. Some have additional features such as small conversation areas and dance-style mirrors. The building also includes

2772-574: Is located in Rose Valley, Pennsylvania . It was founded by actor Jasper Deeter in 1923. The present producing artistic director is actress and director Penelope Reed. Other notable repertory theatres include the Guthrie Theater , which was set up as a regional repertory theatre concept that is free from commercial constraints in the choice of repertoire. It is aligned in objectives to the repertory and resident theatre movement that emerged in

2871-692: Is no longer possible, owing to restrictions from British Equity , which came to mandate just eight shows a week, including perhaps two matinées. The practice of repertory ("rep") is still seen in large cities. Actors now have the luxury of at least three weeks of rehearsal , however. Repertory can still be found in the UK in a variation of guises: in Sidmouth (12 plays), Wolverhampton (eight), and Burslem and Taunton (four each). The Sheringham Little Theatre produces an in-house repertory season each summer, running from June until September. Weekly repertory theatre

2970-451: Is spent on further local goods and services, estimated at 2.9 for OSF, resulting in the figures shown in bottom row of the table. Differences from year to year are largely accounted for by variations in seating configurations in the theaters and total number of performances including occasional cancellation of outdoor performances due to wind born smoke from distant forest fires, particularly in 2018. In addition to its economic importance to

3069-532: The Elizabethan Stage . Jerry Turner was born in Loveland, Colorado during 1927. Turner earned a BA and MA at the University of Colorado and a PhD in theatre from the University of Illinois . He began his career at OSF as an actor in 1957 and as a director in 1959. From 1957 to 1964 he also was associate professor of drama and department chairman at Humboldt State College and from 1964 to 1970 he

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3168-707: The 1930s to the 1960s, two impresarios dominated the field of British rep, mostly in the North. They were Harry Hanson and his Court players, and Frank H. Fortescue's Famous Players, with the Arthur Brough Players in Folkestone in the South. When an actor joined one of their companies, it could mean "twice-nightly" shows, and a new play to learn every week. Actress Rosemary Harris has told of her 50 consecutive weeks of doing that at Bedford rep. However, this

3267-611: The Allen Elizabethan Theatre, Revenge Song in the Allen Elizabethan Theatre, King John in the Angus Bowmer Theatre, Confederates in the Thomas Theatre, It’s Christmas, Carol! in the Angus Bowmer Theatre. In addition, OSF presented The Cymbeline Project , a multi-episode, digital adaptation of the Shakespeare play . In April 2023, OSF announced an emergency fundraising campaign as the company

3366-519: The Arts School of Theater. Her forté and passion are fostering and developing new work. She has produced over 150 mainstage, black box, and developmental projects including world premieres of Book of Will , Two Degrees , Zoe's Perfect Wedding , The Great Leap , and American Mariachi . She directed the world premiere of Pussy Valley , and the U.S. premieres of Jefferson's Garden and BLKS . In her first effort in her new position, she directed

3465-648: The Black Swan led to the design and building of a third theatre that provided flexible seating and increased capacity while maintaining the intimacy of the Black Swan. Opened in March 2002 and originally named the New Theatre, it was renamed the Thomas Theatre in 2013 as a result of a generous $ 4.5 million gift from a group of donors. The name recognizes the contributions of longtime OSF development director Peter Thomas, who died in March 2010. The Thomas Theatre expands

3564-399: The Festival completed the $ 7.2 million purpose-built 71,544 square feet (6,646.7 m) (6,646.7 m2) Production Building in neighboring Talent, Oregon now home to a multi-function staff. The building houses custom-designed technologically advanced set and prop construction and scene painting facilities. The scene shop has an extensive pit area that precisely duplicates the trap doors in

3663-478: The Festival from around the country. The programs led Life magazine to do a story on the Festival in 1957, bringing even more people to the plays. The NBC programs and the subsequent attention go a long way to explaining how a tiny out-of-the-way timber town in the Northwest became a theatrical and tourist Mecca. Angus L. Bowmer retired in 1971, and leadership of the Festival passed to Jerry Turner , who widened

3762-450: The Festival hosted the fifth biennial national Asian American Theater Conference and Festival. In addition to a full slate of conference sessions during the week, the event included six original plays, five play readings, and three Green Shows (see above). Participants also had an opportunity to see several regular Festival performances, two of which had an Asian setting and one an Asian-American theme. The Oregon Shakespeare Festival occupies

3861-481: The Festival opened a third theatre, dubbed the Black Swan (see below), in what originally was an auto dealership, and attendance reached 300,000. By 1979, the year Bowmer died, the Festival was offering the now customary 11 plays a season. In 1983 OSF won both its first Tony Award for outstanding achievement in regional theatre and the National Governors' Association Award for its distinguished service to

3960-461: The Festival repertory to production of classics by the likes of Molière, Ibsen, and Chekhov. When Turner retired in 1991, actor/director Henry Woronicz took control through 1996. OSF then recruited Libby Appel from the highly respected Indiana Repertory Theatre . She served as Artistic Director from 1996 through 2007. Bill Rauch succeeded Libby Appel as Artistic Director, serving from 2008 to 2019. He incorporated musicals and non-western plays into

4059-587: The OSF received the President's Volunteer Action Award; in 1987 it initiated Daedalus, a fundraiser to help victims of HIV/AIDS that has continued annually ever since. A second theatre, the indoor Angus Bowmer Theatre (see below), opened in 1970, enabling OSF to expand its season into the spring and fall; within a year, attendance tripled to 150,000. By 1976, the festival was filling 99% of its seats while offering some 275 performances of eight plays each season. In 1977,

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4158-685: The Oregon Shakespeare Festival was turning away each year. It further noted that the Festival had become an important economic engine for southern Oregon, and recommended addition of an indoor theatre. This led the City of Ashland to apply to the Economic Development Administration of the Department of Commerce in Fall 1968 for a $ 1,792,000 project grant with the Angus Bowmer Theatre as the keystone. The plan also called for

4257-552: The Park," was soon erected in Lithia Park adjacent to the Festival campus as a temporary replacement venue. A single set was designed and built to serve four very different shows, and the shows themselves were re-staged while keeping the artistic vision of each as intact as possible. Thirty-one performances were held in the tent and averaged 82% of capacity, generating approximately $ 650,000 in revenue against approximately $ 800,000 for

4356-724: The Tempest beginning, "Our revels now are ended. These our actors, As I foretold you, were all spirits and Are melted into air, into thin air…" On completion of the speech, all extinguish the flames and file silently out of the theatre. The tradition of opening the outdoor season with a Feast of Will (originally the Feasting of the Tribe of Will) was initiated in 1956 in Lithia Park with Miss Oregon and then-state senator Mark Hatfield attending. The City of Portland approached OSF in

4455-442: The United States in the 1960s. This sought to establish an alternative and decentralized theatre network outside of New York, one which would have non-profit-making status and would be focused on the art of the theatre as well as the development of artists, craftsmen, and administrators. Publicly funded theatres that belong to this type have been receiving erratic support since the 1980s. The Association of Producing Artists (APA)

4554-464: The United States, the repertory system has also found a base to compete with commercial theatre. Many summer stock theatre companies are repertory in nature. College students and young professionals making up much of the acting company are supported by guest stars or actors who are further along in their careers. Repertory theatre with mostly changing casts and longer-running plays, perhaps better classed as "provincial" or "non-profit" theatre, has made

4653-433: The abandoned Chautauqua theatre. Bowmer extended the walls to reduce the stage width to fifty-five feet, and painted the extensions to resemble half-timbered buildings. He designed a thrust stage—one projecting toward the audience—with a balcony. Two columns helped divide the main stage into forestage, middle stage, and inner stage areas. Illustrating the improvised nature of it all, actors doubled as stage hands, stage lighting

4752-501: The annual selection, and sought connections between classic plays and contemporary concerns. He also started the Black Swan Lab in which 15–20 OSF actors developed new works for the stage. Inspired by Shakespeare's 37 plays, Rauch also initiated a 10-year program to commission up to 37 new plays collectively called American Revolutions: The United States History Cycle, 32 of which have been commissioned and ten of these have reached

4851-637: The arts, the first ever to a performing arts organization. In 1988, the Oregon Shakespearean Festival was renamed the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. In 1997, the OSF-commissioned The Magic Fire was presented at the John F. Kennedy Center and named by Time among the year's best plays. In 2002, the Thomas Theatre (see below) replaced the Black Swan as the venue for intimate or experimental productions in

4950-413: The auditorium can swing in to close down the playing area or open to accommodate larger productions. Illustrating these characteristics, the first picture is the set for August Wilson's Fences . The second, taken two hours later on the same stage, is the set for the ancient Hindu classic The Clay Cart . Stage crews for the two indoor theatres must complete set changes of this scope six days a week between

5049-522: The balcony stage. A low railing gave a finished appearance to the forestage. Chairs arranged to improve sight lines replaced bench seating. Backstage areas were added gradually and haphazardly, until the ramshackle result was ordered torn down as a fire hazard in 1958. The next year saw the opening of the current outdoor theatre, whose name was changed from Elizabethan to Allen Elizabethan Theatre in October 2013. Patterned on London's 1599 Fortune Theatre and designed by Richard L. Hay , it incorporated all

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5148-570: The broadcast would be to a national audience, suffered a panic attack, was rushed to the hospital, and the stand-in took over. The scripts didn't arrive on the set until three minutes before air time. The Festival achieved widespread national recognition when, from 1951 to 1973, under the direction of Andrew C. Love (1894–1987), NBC broadcast abbreviated performances each year that were carried by more than 100 stations nationally and, after 1954, on Armed Forces Radio and Radio Free Europe. The programs won favorable reviews from critics that drew audiences to

5247-401: The building is given over to downstairs and upstairs lobbies, concessions, access distribution, archives (see below), storage, laundry room,  green room , quiet room, warm-up room, dressing space for 18 actors, showers/restrooms, costume and wig rooms,  stage manager 's office, maintenance space, and storage for props and set pieces. The Box Office (J on the OSF campus map above) is on

5346-544: The city's Independence Day celebration. However, they pressed Bowmer to add boxing matches to cover the expected deficit. Bowmer agreed, feeling such an event was in perfect keeping with the bawdiness of Elizabethan theatre . The Works Progress Administration helped construct a makeshift Elizabethan stage on the Chautauqua site, and confidently billing it as the "First Annual Oregon Shakespearean Festival", Bowmer presented Twelfth Night on July 2 and July 4, 1935, and The Merchant of Venice on July 3, directing and playing

5445-440: The cost of the temporary tent theatre itself, unresolved. The Black Swan (G on the OSF campus map above) served as the Festival's third theatre from 1977 to 2001. The building, originally an automobile dealership , was bought in 1969 as a scene shop and rehearsal hall. Company members began using it to stage "midnight" readings for one another and invited friends who brought other friends. Artistic Director Jerry Turner recognized

5544-557: The early 1950s. There are many noted Resident companies or repertory companies , such as the Artists Repertory Theatre . Murray, Stephen. Taking Our Amusements Seriously . LAP, 2010. ISBN   978-3-8383-7608-0 . Jerry Turner (theater director) Jerry Turner (1927–2004) served as artistic director of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival from 1971 to 1991. He transformed

5643-418: The end of a matinee and the "call" before the evening curtain and again the next morning in time for the matinee (the outdoor stage changes daily). This illustrates the nature of true repertory theater, which allows the playgoer to see different plays on the same day on the same stage, but requires designing and making sets to withstand constant rapid assembly, disassembly and return to accessible storage to await

5742-535: The festival from a summer program for semi-professional actors into one of the top regional theaters in the country by leading the Ashland, Oregon -based company beyond its Shakespearean repertoire. He produced plays by Bertold Brecht , Henrik Ibsen , George Bernard Shaw , and August Strindberg and added the Angus Bowmer Theatre in 1970 and the Black Swan in 1977 to the festival's original theater,

5841-881: The first modern repertory theatre in Manchester after withdrawing her support from the Abbey Theatre in Dublin. Horniman's Gaiety Theatre opened its first season in September 1908. The opening of the Gaiety was followed by the Citizens' Theatre in Glasgow and the Liverpool Repertory Theatre . Previously, regional theatre relied on mostly London touring ensembles. During the time the theatre

5940-476: The first performance of Twelfth Night was presented on July 2, 1935. The design for the first outdoor OSF Elizabethan Theatre was sketched by Angus L. Bowmer based on his recollection of productions at the University of Washington in which he had acted while a student. Ashland, Oregon obtained WPA funds in 1935 to build it within the 12-foot (3.7 m) circular walls that remained in the roofless shell of

6039-411: The form of project or individual session work, and participate in play selection and workshops for upcoming seasons. Repertory A repertory theatre , also called repertory , rep , true rep or stock , which are also called producing theatres, is a theatre in which a resident company presents works from a specified repertoire, usually in alternation or rotation. Annie Horniman founded

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6138-400: The imaginatively staged 2019 Oregon Shakespeare production of How to Catch Creation .[8]  Once the plays have opened, the voice and text staff are on hand to help actors with vocal challenges that may arise, attend periodic performances to provide helpful ideas, work with understudies, teach voluntary voice classes to the acting company, provide ongoing professional development support in

6237-581: The invitation of the City of Portland, OSF established a resident theatre in the Portland Center for the Performing Arts in 1988. It became independent in 1994 as Portland Center Stage . Those six seasons ran November–April, allowing many OSF company members to work in both cities. In 1990–1991 Portland imported rotating repertory from OSF, a company of 10 actors performing 43 roles. In 1986,

6336-539: The late 1970s about joining the art scene there, leading to the building of a new center in Portland. In 1986, OSF was again approached about producing in the new Portland Center for the Performing Arts , leading to the launch in November 1988 of a season of five plays including Shaw's Heartbreak House and Shakespeare's Pericles, Prince of Tyre , the first of four productions that transferred to or from Ashland. At

6435-558: The lead roles in both plays himself. Reserved seats cost $ 1, with general admission of $ .50 for adults and $ .25 for children (approximately equivalent to $ 19, $ 9, and $ 5 in 2019). Ironically, the profit from the plays covered the losses the boxing matches incurred. The Festival has continued ever since (excepting 1941–1946 while Bowmer served in World War II and most of 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic). It quickly developed

6534-566: The lifetime of Bernard Shaw , or that follow Shaw's ideal of socially provocative theatre. However, Canadian repertory companies follow a model that differs somewhat from the years-long rotation repertory system found in Europe. In Canada, productions often stay on the repertory for one season, running in repertory with other productions in the same year. The actors are not employed full time long term, but instead work on contracts usually maximum 8 months long. The Vagabond Repertory Theatre Company

6633-438: The middle of the stage. For instance, in one production, it became a crucifix after adding a horizontal piece. The theatre reverted to its earlier roles in 2002 when it was replaced by the New Theatre, now renamed the Thomas Theatre. Among those roles are rehearsal space, meeting and audition rooms, classes, and since 2011 as a home for the Black Swan Lab (see above). The limitations stemming from adapting an existing building as

6732-608: The most commonly used business model of live theatre in Eastern and Central Europe, specifically in countries such as Austria, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Slovakia and Czech Republic. In Germany, Schaubuhne and some other theatres run on a repertory system. A combination company was a touring theater company which performed only one play . Unlike repertory companies, which performed multiple plays in rotation, combination companies used more elaborate and specialised scenery in their productions. A similar term, "weekly rep," denotes

6831-470: The next change of set. It also requires actors able to simultaneously play different parts in very different plays. Just two hours before the 18 June 2011 matinee a crack was discovered in the seventy-foot long, six and one-half foot high main ceiling support beam of the Bowmer Theatre. Shows were immediately relocated to other venues as work progressed to repair the beam. A 598-seat tent, "Bowmer in

6930-490: The nightly Green Shows (see above) from June through September. The Black Swan (G), now serves as a laboratory for the development of new plays. Off-campus buildings include the production facility, classrooms, the Hay Patton Rehearsal Center, and costume storage and rental facilities described below. The Allen Elizabethan Theatre has evolved since the founding of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival when

7029-418: The opportunity to take risks with unconventional staging and subjects, and called for its development as a third OSF theatre. Fitting a theatre into the existing building was challenging. It could hold only 138 seats, all within five rows of the stage. There had to be, as designer Richard Hay put it, a "certain amount of tucking and squeezing." Each director had to solve the problem of an immovable roof support in

7128-537: The origin of the repertoire tradition. One of the earliest examples of this system is the Moscow Art Theatre circa 1898. An even earlier example are the theatres of Germany. See the Deutsches Theater, a privately owned German theatre founded in 1883 to produce plays in rep. While variations appeared before, the modern repertory system did not become popular until the twentieth century. In

7227-448: The original hillside, giving an excellent view of the stage from each seat. The old Chautauqua theatre walls, now ivy-covered, remain as the outer perimeter of the theatre. The $ 7.6 million Paul Allen Pavilion was added in 1992. It houses a control room, and audience services including rental of infrared hearing devices, blankets, pillows, and food and drink, both of which are allowed in the auditorium. Several hundred seats were moved to

7326-506: The plays showing in the Allen Elizabethan Theatre. Beginning in 1990, live music was supplied by resident ensemble The Terra Nova Consort, with numerous guest musicians, and Elizabethan dancers. In 1998, Terra Nova was joined by modern dance troupe Dance Kaleidoscope. This collaboration continued through 2007. In still another innovation by Bill Rauch , the Green Show was revamped in 2008. The shows now vary widely with performers such as

7425-437: The possibilities for experiment and innovation while maintaining the intimacy of the Black Swan, no seat being more than six rows from the stage. Richard L. Hay designed the theatre space. Architects Thomas Hacker and Associates of Portland designed the building. The contractor was Emerick Construction, and acoustical engineering was provided by Dohn and Associates. The seats can be arranged in three configurations. In arena mode,

7524-628: The region, OSF is an active community member. It often participates in Ashland's Martin Luther King celebration, Juneteenth celebration of the Emancipation Proclamation, and Fourth of July Parade. The Green Show is free. The Daedalus Project, managed by company members since 1987 in support of HIV/AIDS charitable organizations, traditionally featured a morning fun run, an afternoon play reading, an "arts and treasures" sale and an evening variety show and underwear parade. In 2016,

7623-564: The removal of the scene construction shop in 2014 to the new Production Building, a thirteen-month transformation began of the old one into the Hay-Patton Rehearsal Center by demolishing everything except the masonry exterior and the steel framework and raising the second floor three feet. Following a plan developed by Ogden Roemer Wilkerson Architecture carried out by Adroit Construction at a cost of $ 4.4 million, it hosted its first rehearsal on 29 December 2015. The building

7722-431: The same courtyard as the Thomas Theatre. The Festival acquired the Administration Building (C) in April 1967. Forming the northern boundary of the campus, the building houses the artistic, business, community productions, development, education, group sales, literary (D), human resources offices, development, and the mailroom. The adjacent Camps Building (A) houses the members' lounge, communications and marketing offices, and

7821-621: The sixth artistic director of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. She earned her MFA in directing from the California Institute of the Arts and has more than 20 years experience as a theatre administrator, director, producer, playwright, educator, activist and mentor, most recently as acting artistic director of the Denver Center for the Performing Arts and Associate Dean of the undergraduate acting program at California Institute of

7920-412: The size of the outdoor theatre, it more than doubled audience capacity by making it possible to hold matinee performances and to extend the season into spring and fall. The design by Richard L. Hay and architects Kirk, Wallace and McKinley of Seattle and contractor Robert D. Morrow, Inc., of Salem, Oregon was at once basic, flexible, functional, and innovative. All seats are within 55 feet (17 m) of

8019-495: The stage dimensions mentioned in the Fortune contract. The trapezoidal stage was retained but the façade was extended to three stories, resulting in a forestage, middle stage, inner below, inner above (the old balcony), and a musicians' gallery. The wings were provided with second-story windows. Each provides acting areas, creating many staging possibilities. A pitched, shingled roof enhances the half-timbered façade. A windowed gable

8118-517: The stage, arranged with only two side aisles and wide spaces between rows. Dark colors resist reflection and draw the eye to the stage. The forestage is on a hydraulic lift system that can emulate the thrust stage of the OSF Allen Elizabethan Theatre, form a more conventional proscenium front that can move below auditorium floor level to form an orchestra pit, or drop two stories for storage of equipment or scenery. The walls of

8217-459: The stage, several to great acclaim including Tony awards. Bing Crosby served as an honorary director of the Festival from 1949 to 1951. Charles Laughton visited in 1961, saying "I have just seen the four best productions of Shakespeare that I have ever seen in my life." Laughton begged to play King Lear, but died in 1962 before he could fulfill the dream. Stacy Keach was a cast member in 1962 and 1963. Duke Ellington and his orchestra presented

8316-464: The stage. The original specifications sometimes say no more than "to be built like the Globe," for which there are no plans or details. The remotely operated lighting, on scaffolding on either side of the stage, of course did not exist in the original, and the current site rather than the original architecture largely determined the shape of the auditorium. Twelve hundred seats in slightly offset arcs ascend

8415-597: The standard stock company and later the touring company. The stock company would usually consist of a leading man and lady, a character actor and actress, younger actors to play romantic roles, and the rest of the actors would be a variety of ages and body types. The acting ensemble was typically around twelve. This was most popular prior to the Restoration. Post Restoration and into the nineteenth century, stock companies remained, but they were joined and then replaced by traveling companies. These ensembles consisted of

8514-571: The stars and actors hired to play a very specific role as a single production toured around. Examples of rep performers who went on to become well-known are John Gielgud , Ralph Richardson , Laurence Olivier , Rosemary Harris , Christopher Plummer , Harold Pinter , Peter O'Toole , Jeremy Brett , Geraldine McEwan , Vanessa Redgrave , Judi Dench , Ian McKellen , Michael Gambon , Imelda Staunton and Patrick Stewart . Dirk Bogarde wrote about his start at Amersham rep in 1939, and Michael Caine has recounted his time spent at Horsham rep in

8613-494: The table below, OSF has a major economic impact in a town of only 20,000. That impact stems from direct sales of tickets but also expenditures at some 125 restaurants (a variety and density per resident similar to that in New York and Paris), hotels and motels in Ashland, and shops (second to last row of the table). These in turn create further economic activity, the economists’ “multiplier effect” that measures how often each dollar

8712-399: The tent itself, $ 1,000,000 in lost revenue from ticket returns, and $ 330,000 in repair costs. The Bowmer reopened on 2 August, a month ahead of the initial estimate. The Festival filed an insurance claim for $ 3.58 million and received checks in March 2012 for $ 330,000 to cover the cost of repairs and $ 2.984 million covering much of the lost revenue, leaving about $ 200,000, primarily representing

8811-471: The theatres themselves, allowing for precise sizing, testing of assembly and disassembly, and automating elevator cues. Lighting in the painting areas duplicates that in the theatres, guaranteeing desired colors. The building also houses OSF's costume warehouse and rental business, which has over 50,000 costumes and over 15,000 costume props such as armor, crowns, and wigs available for rent by other theatres, television and movie producers, and corporations. With

8910-504: The venue for free informal summer noon talks by OSF actors and staff. The Tudor Guild operated the Tudor Guild Gift Shop (B) and Brass Rubbing Center (K) for many years, both now operated by OSF itself, and will facilitate campus tours beginning in 2022. Just off campus, a purpose-equipped fitness center helps actors stay fit for physically demanding roles that often require acrobatics, fights, and pratfalls. In November 2013

9009-488: Was being run by Annie Horniman, a wide variety of types of plays were produced. Horniman encouraged local writers who became known as the Manchester School of playwrights. They included Allan Monkhouse , Harold Brighouse —writer of Hobson's Choice —and Stanley Houghton , who wrote Hindle Wakes . Actors who performed at the Gaiety early in their careers included Sybil Thorndike and Basil Dean . From

9108-476: Was extended from the center of the roof to cover and define the middle stage. Just before each performance, an actor opens the gable window, and in keeping with Elizabethan tradition signaling a play in progress, runs a flag up the pole to the sound of a trumpet and doffs his cap to the audience. The result is an approximate replica of the Fortune Theatre. The known but incomplete dimensions apply only to

9207-622: Was formed in March 2009 by artistic directors Nathaniel Fried and Ryan LaPlante, and currently resides and performs in Kingston, Ontario . It shuttered in 2019. The old English-style repertory theatres such as Ottawa 's CRT (Canadian Repertory Theatre) and Toronto 's Crest Theatre no longer exist—although they did have a version of summer theatre in smaller holiday districts, such as the "Straw Hat" players of Gravenhurst and Port Carling at Ontario 's vacation Muskoka Lakes area. State-subsidized theatres on continental Europe have been suggested as

9306-507: Was housed in coffee cans, and string beans were planted along the walls to improve sound quality. Fifty-cent general admission seating was on benches just behind the one-dollar reserved seating on folding chairs. This theatre was torn down during World War II. The second outdoor Elizabethan Theatre was built in 1947 from plans drawn up by University of Washington drama professor John Conway. The main stage became trapezoidal, with entries added on either side, and windows added above them flanking

9405-416: Was in financial crisis and needed to raise $ 2.5 million to continue the season as planned. By June, the fundraising effort had exceeded its goal. Artistic director Nataki Garrett resigned on May 5, 2023, with Octavio Solis stepping in to help search for a replacement. Tim Bond of TheatreWorks Silicon Valley was named new artistic director on July 6, 2023. The complete record of all OSF plays can be found in

9504-661: Was one of the most successful repertory theatres in the United States, touring for four years and holding residencies in several cities before finally joining the Phoenix Theatre in New York City, where it was known for staging plays with modest prices. Currently, the American Repertory Theatre is considered one of the most distinguished repertory theatres in the United States. Since its foundation in 1979, it has earned several awards including

9603-570: Was presented in the Thomas Theatre. However, on March 11 the Covid-19 pandemic forced closing of OSF for the rest of the season. With the pandemic seeming to moderate, the Shakespeare Festival announced an April to December schedule of live performances for 2022 as follows. Once on This Island in the Angus Bowmer Theatre, unseen in the Thomas Theatre, How I Learned What I Learned , in the Angus Bowmer Theatre, The Tempest in

9702-809: Was professor and chairman of the department of drama at the University of California, Riverside . In 1970 he received a UC Humanities Institute Fellowship to study theatre in Sweden . He learned Swedish, and later learned Norwegian, and returned to the U.S. to become Oregon Shakespeare Festival ’s second producing director, then its artistic director (a title change only), retiring in 1991. Turner died of heart failure on September 2, 2004. Turner directed more than 40 productions at OSF, including The Iceman Cometh , Julius Caesar , King Lear , Long Day's Journey into Night , Major Barbara , Macbeth , Mother Courage and Her Children , Pericles Prince of Tyre , The Tempest , and The White Devil . He directed

9801-584: Was ready just five months later and opened with a production of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead , selected to recognize the Shakespearean origin of the Festival but to signal Festival readiness to broaden its horizons by incorporating modern plays into its repertoire. Reinforcing that signal, The Fantasticks and You Can't Take it with You were also presented during that first six-week season. The Angus Bowmer Theatre seats between 592 and 610 patrons depending on configuration. Although about half

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