The Tony Award-winning Oregon Shakespeare Festival opened its 74th year the weekend of February 20-22 and celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Elizabethan Stage. In honor of that milestone, OSF is dedicating the 2009 season to principal theatre and scenic designer, Richard L. Hay, acknowledging his creative work that spans more than 50 years at OSF and includes the design of all three theatre spaces, beginning with the current Elizabethan Stage in 1959, half a century ago.
"I am deeply moved as I reflect on the achievement and commitment of our extraordinary theater artist, Richard Hay," OSF Artistic Director Bill Rauch said, "whose dedication to our artform and to OSF is an inspiration to all of us. The remarkable spaces he designed allow for a connection between actors and audiences that make OSF's theater experience unique and richly satisfying. And he remains an unstoppable creative force, designing scenery for two world premiere adaptations this season: The Servant of Two Masters and Don Quixote."
The 2009 season opened at 8:00 p.m. Friday, February 20, in the Angus Bowmer Theatre on the battlefields of Scotland with William Shakespeare's tragic play, Macbeth, directed by guest artist Gale Edwards. On Saturday, February 21 at 1:30 p.m. in the Angus Bowmer Theatre, theatergoers will have the opportunity to see the rarely produced Death and the King's Horseman, written by Nigeria's Nobel Laureate playwright Wole Soyinka and directed by Goodman Theatre resident artist Chuck Smith. At 8:00 p.m. that evening, audiences will be treated to Meredith Willson's classic American musical The Music Man, directed by Rauch. The final opening of the weekend is Sarah Ruhl's comic tale Dead Man's Cell Phone, at 1:30 p.m. Sunday, February 22 in the New Theatre, directed by guest artist Christopher Liam Moore.
Later this season OSF will open seven more plays on its three stages. Also playing in the Angus Bowmer Theatre is the world premiere production of Bill Cain's Equivocation, directed by Rauch (opening April 18); and Clifford Odets' Paradise Lost, directed by OSF artistic director emerita Libby Appel (July 25). Opening in the New Theatre on March 28 is Carlo Goldoni's The Servant of Two Masters, adapted by Oded Gross and TraCy Young and directed by Young; and William Shakespeare's All's Well that Ends Well will open July 4 under the direction of Amanda Dehnert.
Productions on the Elizabethan Stage open the weekend of June 12-14. Kicking off the outdoor season is Shakespeare's spectacular Henry VIII, directed by John Sipes, who last directed King John in the New Theatre. A new adaptation by Octavio Solis of Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra's Don Quixote will be open Saturday night and is directed by OSF veteran Laird Williamson. One of Shakespeare's favorite comedies, Much Ado about Nothing, will open on Sunday night under the direction of Kate Buckley, who directed the wildly popular The Taming of the Shrew in 2007.
Biographies of directors, designers and actors for the 2009 season can all be found here.
OSF's 2009 season runs from February 13 until November 1, offering 784 performances of 11 productions. The season is sponsored by US Bank. This year OSF celebrates with US Bank its 20th year as a Production Sponsor, beginning with the 1989 production of Cyrano de Bergerac to this season's production of Macbeth.
Macbeth (February 13 - November 1) by William Shakespeare
Lead Sponsor: US Bank; Production Sponsor: The Chautauqua Guild; Production Partners: James Morrison Collier, Amy and Mort Friedkin, Mrs. Donald Hare
The Scottish play is not for the faint of heart. Brutal, bloody and often deemed accursed, the play deals with the question of kingship and heirs, witches and demonology, love, sex and murder, and the Gunpowder Plot. It is believed that the play was written to honor James I and was performed in court in 1606 before the King. It was not performed again until 1611, perhaps because James feared the presentation of an assassination of a king and, quite likely, the incantations of the witches.
Directed by award-winning director Gale Edwards, the play is a must see for its language, its plots, its twists and turns, but also because it is linked closely with Bill Cain's world premiere Equivocation, opening at OSF on April 18. If Shakespeare was commissioned by King James to write a play about the Gunpowder Plot, as Cain posits, what would Shakespeare do? Is Macbeth the play? These two plays in conversation with each other, and with Henry VIII, the King responsible for centuries of religious persecution in England and creating an environment where a Gunpowder Plot could occur, will have audiences buzzing.
The cast of Macbeth features 24 actors and includes Peter Macon as Macbeth, Robin Goodrin Nordli as Lady Macbeth, Kevin Kenerly as Macduff, Rex Young as Banquo, Jeany Park as Lady Macduff, Jeremy Peter Johnson as Malcolm, and Josiah Phillips as the Porter. A complete cast list is located here in the Artist section.
Scenic design is by guest artist Scott Bradley; costumes by guest designer Murell Horton, lighting by guest artist Mark McCollough and music by resident composer Todd Barton. Lue Morgan Douthit is dramaturg; Bonnie Raphael is voice & text director; and Shana Cooper and Linda Alper are assistant directors.
