The Ashland Shakespeare Festival, officially known as the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, has a long history of quality theater known through out North America.
clydesan, Creative Commons
The festival began in the 1930's when Angus Bowmer, Drama Instructor, at Southern Oregon College began producing the plays of William Shakespeare in a small outdoor theater next to Lithia Park. In the beginning the season was short, and the number of plays small.
Today eleven plays are performed each year in three theaters from February through October. Three to four of the plays are always by Shakespeare and at least one of them is a comedy. Seven to eight of the plays are by other authors and most of those are from the 20th Century.
Elizabethan Theater
clydesan, Creative Commons
The outdoor Elizabethan Theater is patterned after the Seventeenth Century Fortune Theater of London. The stage looks like a street in Tudor England. It is a delightful experience to watch a play on this stage on a warm southern Oregon evening under the stars. The seating is in a semi circle around the stage and I don't think there is a bad seat in the lot. The season for this theater runs from late June to early October. All performances are at night.
Angus Bowmer Theater
The indoor Angus Bowmer Theater seats 600 and has matinees as well as evening performances. It offers five plays each year from February through October.
New Theater
This is the smallest and most versatile theater. It can be configured many different ways to meet the requirements of the production. Experimental and innovative theater can be presented here.
Ashland Shakespeare Plays 2008
A Midsummer Night's Dream - by William Shakespeare
Fences - by August Wilson
The Clay Cart - by Sudraka
The Further Adventures of Hedda Gabler - by Jeff Whitty
A View from the Bridge - by Arthur Miller
Welcome Home, Jenny Sutter - by Julie Marie Myatt
Coriolanus - by William Shakespeare
Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner - by Luis Alfaro
Othello - by William Shakespeare
Our Town - by Thornton Wilder
The Comedy of Errors - by William Shakespeare
Ashland Shakespeare Festival Map
A-B Elizabethan Stage/Allen Pavilion
C Angus Bowmer Theatre
D Black Swan Theatre
E New Theatre
F The Bricks
G Administration Building
H Box Office
I Welcome Center
J Tudor Guild Gift Shop
K Campus Building
L Pioneer Building
M Carpenter Hall
N Bill Patton Garden
O Brass Rubbing Center
Ashland Shakespeare Festival Tickets
Phone: (541) 482-4331
Toll-Free: (800) 219-8161
Fax: (541) 482-8045
Oregon Shakespeare Festival
15 S. Pioneer Street
PO Box 158
Ashland, OR 97520
The Box Office is open Monday: 9:30 a.m.– 5:00 p.m.
Tuesday – Sunday: 9:30 a.m. – performance time.
When you attend an evening play you want to get there early so you can enjoy the Green Show on the Festival Courtyard Stage.
You can also take a tour of the backstages of the theaters. You need reservations and tickets for these. Call the Box Office number above. Beware: tours include six flights of stairs.
