Even though I arrived in my newest location yesterday (9/8), I'm going to backtrack and get you up to date with Ashland. Unfortunately I don't have particularly reliable internet access out here (no wireless, just dial-up! Ack!). This means that blog updates may become a little sparse until I'm back in a place with regularly accessible (read: convenient aka wireless!) internet.
I'm going to lay it out like I did for my Davis, CA update. That seemed to work well.
OREGON SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL
Sat 9/5: Arrival day! I got to the Iris Inn just before 4pm, but my check-in time wasn't until 5pm. Unlike when I was in Santa Barbara, there was no one there to let me in yet. So I sat outside in my car for an hour, chatting it up with friends and family. I think Vicki- the innkeeper- must have arrived around 4:30pm because she said she saw me sitting in my car “chatting away” while she was cleaning up/preparing for my arrival.
Once I got all settled in, I debated between staying in and relaxing or heading over to the festival for a night performance. Ultimately I decided to go to the Festival because...well, why not?
So I walked over (the Festival was just blocks away from the Inn!) a little after 6pm and visited the box office to inquire about available seats. Turns out the only show available was Much Ado About Nothing, in the Elizabethan theater, which only had standing room tickets left.
\I went ahead and bought one, feeling adventurous. I still had 2 hours before the show, so I sat down in the grass to watch the Green Show, which is a free performance by volunteer artists.
That night's performers were members of a dance troupe called Axis, which is composed of people both with and without physical disabilities. All four dancers were awesome, and the choreography incorporated the two wheelchairs in very interesting ways.
When that show ended the house had opened for Much Ado, so I hurried inside to get a good spot. The show was kind of long at just under 3 hours, but entertaining nonetheless. The only downside to the whole night was that I had not brought along a jacket, and by 8:30pm it was cold!!! I also didn't have any cash on me, and the hot chocolate station didn't take cards. The walk back to the inn at 11pm was equally as frigid, so it was a relief to finally crawl into my cozy bed!
Sun 9/6: I had been debating whether or not to buy ticket's for the night's performance of Henry VIII, but after a chance discovery at the little Minute Market across the street from the Inn, I decided it was fate and went ahead with the purchase!
What exactly was it that I found at the Minute Market that helped me make up my mind?
King Henry salted almonds!
It was just too big of a coincidence for me to pass it up, so I quickly purchased a bag and set off towards the Festival. I managed to snag a seated ticket this time, yay! I also bought a ticket for the backstage tour on Monday morning.
Once I had my tickets taken care of, I spent the rest of the afternoon in Lithia Park.
At the show that night, I discovered that I was sitting next to the heads of the social work program at George Fox University. I told them about how I'm looking into social work, too!
I ended up enjoying Henry VIII more than I thought I would. I'm pretty sure part of it was because I had taken the time to read up on the play and get some historical background so I could follow along, but mostly it was because of the acting...and the costumes! My favorite actress was the woman who played Queen Katharine (Vilma Silva-she was incredible! Undoubtedly carried the entire show). And the costumes...oh, they were gorgeous! I'm a huge fan of the Victorian era architecture and dress, so whenever I got lost in the plot I just focused on the elegant dresses the women were wearing.
Henry VIII was slightly shorter than Much Ado, which was nice. But at least this time I wasn't as cold, since I had remembered a jacket and cash for hot chocolate (I had two!).
Mon 9/7: Probably because of the holiday, the festival was dark all day. I went to dinner with my mom's business partner, Gary, and his group of fellow theater-goers, but I wan to save that story for a different entry so I can stay focused on my OSF experiences!
Tues 9/8: I ate breakfast at 9 (instead of my usual 9:30) so I could get to the 10am backstage tour (I also needed to check out, as I was hitting the road yet again). I was really excited about the tour because I would be able to see inside the two theaters in which I had not seen a show.
During the tour I learned so much about the history of the Festival and each of the individual theaters! I can only remember a fraction of all the information, but I'll do my best to regurgitate as much info as I can!
NEW THEATER
The set on stage was for All's Well That Ends Well. The stage was set up in a three-quarter thrust formation (audience on 3 sides). I'm pretty sure this was the theater that started as a black box theater, but that may have been the Black Swan (an even smaller studio where, after the last performance of the night, cast members would perform random scenes for each other in what came to be called the “Midnight Projects”). The New Theater had four levels (we were sitting on 3rd level), and we heard a funny story about laundry room frustrations: when the New Theater was built they put laundry units on the the bottom level so that costume managers didn't have to drag costumes all the way to the Angus Bowmer theater's basement and back (especially in the rain, snow, wind, etc). Speaking of costumes, the speaker mentioned casually that there used to be costume try-ons!! I was so jealous! I was picturing myself wearing the Queen Katharine or Anne Bullen gowns of Henry VIII. Maybe someday!
After the presentation in the New Theater, we headed outside to be split up in to groups for the rest of the tour. Our group's tour guide was David. He was a cast member of two shows I did not see, and was quite attractive! To borrow a phrase from my brother, though: I could not figure out if he was “Friends” or “Family.” Given my history with men, I'm sure friends was all would have been, anyway. Oh, well.
Anyway. The next leg of the tour was even more exciting, because we got to go backstage and see where the actors hung out before and during shows! David took us to the common area for the Bowmer and Elizabethan theaters, where he showed us some nifty monitors that enable the casts to watch the productions happening in either theater simultaneously. There was also a speaker system with a switch that allows you to hear either the show in Bowmer or the Elizabethan! Then we got to watch a turn-over (changing one set to another) on video and learn about costume production (“mock ups” are made first using muslin).
ELIZABETHAN
The Elizabethan is the oldest theater, the original OSF performing arena. It's design is based on the only known drawing of what they think an Elizabethan theater looks like (a sketch done by a young man 400 years ago!).
This was the only theater we were allowed to take pictures of, and even then only when we were in the “bowl” (on the stage- hence the lack of tour photos, sorry!). While we were in the wings I saw the head of the dragon from Henry VIII!! David also showed us the crazy-detailed cue sheet for all the stage runners and producers involved in the behind-the-scenes work of a production. As David said, “it's a whole other show, one the audience doesn't even get to see.” I had no idea being a stage manager was such hard work!
The most exciting part of the tour (though all of it was amazing!) was when David took us out onto the stage of the Elizabethan! It still had many of the Henry VIII set pieces out. Here are the pictures I took while David was taking questions:
(stay tuned, there are actually a few more photos, which I've posted at the end of this entry! You'll see why when you get there!)
ANGUS BOWMER
The tour ended with the Angus Bowmer Theater.We spent the least amount of time in that theater because of an unexpected understudy rehearsal (they kicked us out!). The set was for what David referred to as “the Scottish play,” because it's a superstition to say Macbeth while you're in a theater venue!
After the tour, a select few of us were not quite done having our fun on the Elizabethan stage. We hurried back inside while the doors were still open.
While I was in there I climbed up on to the set and had one of my fellow conspirators take my picture:
From my perch I could see all the way through the audience!
A lady suggested that I act out the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliette, and I obliged:
I wasn't actually sure if I was allowed to be up there, so I hurried down and we all scurried out of the theater before we got in too much trouble!
I promise this sign was like this when David took us in during the tour!
Okay, this entry is starting to rival my adventures in Davis, so I'll leave off now with a few of the interesting tid-bits I learned about the OSF as well as general theater superstitions and facts!
NEAT STUFF:
-(FACT) the term ”break a leg” actually means take a lot of curtain calls (bows)!!! In the olden days the curtain would have a wooden 'leg' at the bottom, to give it weight. With each curtain call the leg would go up and down so many times it would eventually break.
-(SUPERSTITION) The green room got it's name because in the olden days before electronic lighting, gas lamps were used. The gas in the lamps would emit a faint green glow when lit, so when they were not being used they were stored in a room that came to be called the 'green' room (in reference to the glow). Or it could be where plants were stored...
-In the common area between the Bowmer and Elizabethan theaters, a bulletin board showed a sign-up sheet for something called SHARES. It stands for: SHakespearean Actors Requiring Employment Soon!!!! It is a way for people to hook each other up with potential employment at the end of the Festival season.
-80% of the OSF's revenue is from ticket sales (that's amazing!)
-the Festival trains understudies for EVERYONE!!! Cast AND crew!
-The word voms is the name for the entry/exit aisles that cut through the audience (as opposed to entering/exiting from the wings on either side of the stage). It comes from Greek word vomitus, which means 'to spew forth' (because the actors can go forth into the audience).
The rest of my Tuesday morning (before I hit the road for my current destination) was an entirely new adventure, so I'll post about that later, along with my dinner with Gary and company.
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