prologuemagazine for members fall 2013 logue Introducing The 2014 Season! Women Can Roar The Contents of Box 91 Toward Insurgency 2014 Season Prologue Angus Bowmer Theatre The Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s The Tempest magazine for members William Shakespeare Fall 2013 Directed by Tony Taccone Editor The Cocoanuts Catherine Foster Music and lyrics by Irving Berlin; book by George S. Kaufman, with additional text by Morrie Ryskind; adapted by Mark Bedard Design Directed by David Ivers Craig Stewart The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window Contributing Writers Lorraine Hansberry Julie Felise Dubiner, Associate Director, Directed by Juliette Carrillo American Revolutions: the United States History Cycle A Wrinkle in Time Catherine Foster, Senior Editor World Premiere Gwyn Hervochon, Digital Project Based on the book by Madeleine L’Engle Archivist Adapted and directed by Tracy Young Otis Ramsey-Zöe, Freelance Writer Kerry Reid, Freelance Writer The Great Society Amy E. Richard, Media and World Premiere Communications Manager Robert Schenkkan Commissioned by and co-produced with Seattle Repertory Theatre Production Associate Directed by Bill Rauch Beth Bardossi Thomas Theatre Proofreaders The Comedy of Errors Pat Brewer William Shakespeare Nan Christensen Directed by Kent Gash Oregon Shakespeare Festival Water by the Spoonful Artistic Director: Bill Rauch Quiara Alegría Hudes Executive Director: Cynthia Rider Directed by Shishir Kurup P.O. Box 158 Family Album Ashland, OR 97520 World Premiere Administration 541-482-2111 Book and lyrics by Stew; music by Stew and Heidi Rodewald Box Office/Membership 800-219-8161; Directed by Joanna Settle 541-482-4331 Box Office/Membership fax 541-482-8045 Elizabethan Stage/Allen Pavilion Membership email: Richard III [email protected] William Shakespeare Directed by James Bundy www.osfashland.org Into the Woods Mission Statement Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim; book by James Lapine Directed by Amanda Dehnert Inspired by Shakespeare’s work and the cultural richness of the The Two Gentlemen of Verona United States, we reveal our William Shakespeare Directed by Sarah Rasmussen collective humanity through illuminating interpretations 2014 opening weekend: February 21–23 of new and classic plays, deepened by the kaleidoscope Cover: of rotating repertory. Lorraine Hansberry, playwright of The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window, Photo: Corbis Images ©2013 Oregon Shakespeare Festival 2 Prologue | Oregon Shakespeare Festival From the Director of Literary Development Prologue Contents The Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s and Dramaturgy magazine for members Lue Morgan Douthit Fall 2013 4 Women Can Roar Editor Catherine Foster A majority of non-Shakespeare plays at OSF next season are written or Design co-created by women. That’s still Craig Stewart a rarity in the larger theatre world. By Kerry Reid Contributing Writers Julie Felise Dubiner, Associate Director, 7 The Contents of Box 91 American Revolutions: OSF’s adaptation of The Cocoanuts the United States History Cycle includes songs not heard since the Catherine Foster, Senior Editor original Broadway show in 1925. Gwyn Hervochon, Digital Project By Julie Felise Dubiner Archivist Otis Ramsey-Zöe, Freelance Writer 8 Toward Insurgency Kerry Reid, Freelance Writer In The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window, Amy E. Richard, Media and Forgiveness Communications Manager its inhabitants are called upon to put their true beliefs on the line, and live them. Production Associate When Bill Rauch spoke to staff recently about the 2014 plays, it struck us how many of them Beth Bardossi By Otis Ramsey-Zöe had the need for forgiveness as the takeaway: The Tempest, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window, Water by the Spoonful and to a lesser degree Family Proofreaders 10 A Building Grows in Talent Pat Brewer After 11 years of being crammed Album and The Comedy of Errors. Nan Christensen into too-small spaces, several OSF production departments will According to Dr. Fred Luskin, a leading expert on forgiveness, “To forgive is to give up all Oregon Shakespeare Festival soon move into their new home. hope for a better past.” Holding onto what has happened leaves you less time for living in Artistic Director: Bill Rauch By Catherine Foster the now and will sabotage your future. To move forward, one must consciously release the Executive Director: Cynthia Rider past. And what might have once been relegated to the worlds of religion and politics is now 13 A Canonical Accomplishment seen as a health issue: People who forgive seem to be happier and healthier. P.O. Box 158 Scott Kaiser and Richard L. Hay, both longtime OSF artists, Ashland, OR 97520 Of course, happy people don’t usually make for interesting drama, but watching someone have worked on each of Administration 541-482-2111 transform in front of our very eyes does. So many of the plays in 2014 begin in anger and/ Box Office/Membership 800-219-8161; Shakespeare’s plays at least once. or confusion and end with understanding and a renewed belief in a different future. Worlds 541-482-4331 By Amy E. Richard that have literally been split apart (The Tempest, The Comedy of Errors, A Wrinkle in Time) Box Office/Membership fax 541-482-8045 Membership email: 14 “Many Brave Noises” become whole again. [email protected] Thanks to grants and much hard work, OSF’s collection of film and sound How Richard III fits into this, I’m not exactly sure. The idea posited by experts who talk www.osfashland.org spanning its entire history is now about the power of forgiveness is that one must seek peace, not justice. being preserved and made accessible. Mission Statement By Gwyn Hervochon I have often said that theatre is the rehearsal for life, as if it is a kind of laboratory. Current Inspired by Shakespeare’s work cognitive research has found that when we watch characters take actions, it stimulates the same part of our brains as if we were doing the actions ourselves. What’s interesting is and the cultural richness of the that this empathic connection only happens when the actions are living in front of us, as in United States, we reveal our live theatre. It doesn’t happen when we go to the movies. There are many reasons to go to collective humanity through the theatre—entertainment better be one of them—but I’m excited about 2014 because it is shaping up to be about us. “To err is human; to forgive divine.” How do we forgive? illuminating interpretations Perhaps this set of plays can show us. I’m really looking forward to those lessons and the of new and classic plays, subsequent discussions with you. deepened by the kaleidoscope of rotating repertory. All photos by Jenny Graham unless otherwise credited. 3 Women Can ROAA majority of non-Shakespeare plays at OSF Rnext season are written or (Left to right) Quiara Alegría Hudes, Tracy Young, Heidi Rodewald. co-created by women. That’s still a rarity in the larger theatre world. By Kerry Reid hen it comes to Dead White Males of the Great Theatri- search of their missing father. Young, who also directs the piece, cal Canon, William Shakespeare is the poster boy. But that has previously adapted and directed The Imaginary Invalid and The doesn’tW mean that Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s programming— Servant of Two Masters for OSF, as well as co-adapted and co-direct- or that of any other classically oriented company—has to be a boys’ ed (with Artistic Director Bill Rauch) Medea/Macbeth/Cinderella. club. In addition to the Festival’s long history featuring the work of women directors and designers, for the first time, OSF’s 2014 sea- • Water by the Spoonful, which won the 2012 Pulitzer in Drama for son was selected so that a majority of the non-Shakespeare plays playwright Quiara Alegría Hudes, is the second of a trilogy known were created or co-created by women. They include: collectively as “The Elliot Plays,” based on her own Philadelphia- raised family of Puerto Rican descent, including her cousin Elliot, a • Lorraine Hansberry’s The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window is set veteran of the Iraq War. The drama focuses on a group of recovering in early sixties leftist bohemian Greenwich Village against the drug addicts searching for community. Water by the Spoonful opens backdrop of a campaign for a reform politician. The play closed its in the Thomas Theatre in March. short world-premiere run on January 10, 1965 and has not been seen much since. OSF celebrates the play’s 50th anniversary with • Finally, playing on the Thomas stage from July 1 to August 31 its production that opens in February in the Angus Bowmer Theatre is the award-winning team of Stew and co-composer Heidi Rode- under Juliette Carrillo’s direction. wald—whose Passing Strange was up for the Best Musical Tony Award in 2008 and won the Best Book Tony for Stew. The duo • Next up at the Bowmer in April is Tracy Young’s adaptation of reunites for the world premiere of Family Album, in which a middle- Madeleine L’Engle’s beloved 1962 sci-fi fantasy, A Wrinkle in Time, aged rock band moves in with a family. The work draws heavily on about a plucky young woman and her clairvoyant little brother in the 18-years-plus creative partnership between Stew and Rodewald. 4 Prologue | Oregon Shakespeare Festival Ahead of the curve, but . written by a woman (An Iliad, presented in “There are political and cultural things It would be nice to say that there isn’t their smallest studio space, was co-written that need to be parsed in our world from anything remarkable in presenting by Lisa Peterson and Denis O’Hare, and 400 years ago,” says Douthit, who credits female-centric seasons at large theatres.