I'm a theater buff. I am passionate about theater. I see as many plays as I can as often as I can. I go to lectures, previews, prefaces, backstage tours, dramatic readings, dress rehearsals, post matinee discussions, talks in the park and an occasional cast party. If I'm not there, I would like to be. I have my BA in dramatic arts from UC Berkeley, my MA from San Francisco State and I'm currently studying directing at Southern Oregon University. I volunteer for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and recently I understudied a walk-on part in "Trip to Bountiful" at Oregon Stage Works.
Susan Aversa-Orrego directs Jean Giraudoux’s “The Madwoman of Chaillot” which opens Friday, June 26, 2015 at the Randall Theatre. The play, which was written during the Nazi occupation of Paris in World War II, mirrors our current economic and environmental state of affairs. During the play, corporations that are attempting to drill an oil well in the middle of Paris clash with the local Bohemian community. Aversa and I visited at the Wild Goose in Ashland.
SA: The setting of the show, as it’s written by Giraudoux, says: “The time is the spring of next year.” We set the play in 2015. It works very well. By making it 2015 it really speaks to the audience now. Now it’s not just a period piece. You can see that undercurrent of evil. It’s just so relevant to what is happening now. We’re staging it in our time period because there’s such intensity about the fracking that’s going on now, and how it’s causing earthquakes.
There’s a line in the show, “What would you rather see in your backyard, an almond tree or an oil well?” There is a very callous attitude toward taking care of the world and life in general. There is that Wall Street greed. And they don’t care. Continue reading The Madwoman of Chaillot→
Southern Oregon University’s extraordinary production of William Shakespeare’s “The Winter’s Tale” is filled with passionate performances, skillful direction and dynamic staging. As the play opens, King Leontes, falls into a jealous rage over his wife’s interest in his best friend; the tragic and comic consequences drive the rest of the story. I chatted with play director David McCandless and actors Esau Mora (King Leontes) and Aleah Zimmer (Queen Hermione) on the mezzanine of the Southern Oregon University Student Union.
EH: The Shakespearean verse was so clearly delivered, what was your process of putting the play together?
DM: We began around the table for three days going through the play, going through the verse, talking about what things meant in a sort of micro-sense. Some of the language is rather obtuse, especially Leontes’ lines; the syntax is so tortuous and the meaning is really allusive. Continue reading SOU digs deep into ‘The Winter’s Tale’→
At the the Ashland Independent Film Festival awards ceremony on April 12 at the Historic Ashland Armory, AIFF Director of Programming Joanne Feinberg said her goodbyes to two standing ovations and a surprise staff-produced tribute film. During the five-day event, many filmmakers mentioned that Feinberg’s involvement was one reason they brought their films to the AIFF. I met Feinberg for coffee at Mix on the Plaza in Ashland. This is the first of a two-part interview. The next column will be published on May 14.
EH: How did you first get interested in film?
JF: When I was 9, I went to a small private alternative school. I had a teacher who was a photographer. He gave me a camera and built a darkroom in the school. I just fell in love with taking pictures, developing the film and printing the images; I learned that whole process. I decided I was going to become a photojournalist and travel the world. In my senior year of high school video came in. I got a little taste of what that was like, and how you could tell stories with interviews and moving images. Continue reading Joanne Feinberg→
Judith Rosen and Don Matthews recently performed together in a charming production of Neil Simon’s “Same Time Next Year” at the Randall Theatre in Medford. Both actors have played in numerous productions at theaters throughout the Rogue Valley. Both actors have successful full-time careers. Matthews is classical music director and host at Jefferson Public Radio and a voice instructor at Southern Oregon University. Rosen is development director of the Jackson County Sexual Assault Response Team and writer/dramaturg for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. We met at Liquid Assets in Ashland. This is a first of a two-part column.
EH: Were you in theater before you came to Ashland?
JR: As a child, yes. People often come from one of two directions. They’re the constant exhibitionists and performers or, as I was, excruciatingly shy. So I could hide in a role and do things I could never do (as myself) in public. As you mature a bit, you realize that you can’t hide in a role. Continue reading Community actors balance day jobs, stage life→
Richard Hay has designed Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) theaters and sets for more than 50 years. In recent OSF seasons, Hay designed “Animal Crackers,” Coconuts” and “Tartuffe,” to name a few. He is currently finishing his design for “Anthony and Cleopatra.” This is the second of a two-part column. The first was published on March 5.
EH: You have designed sets for the entire Shakespeare canon?
RH: Actually I designed the canon twice. There are 36 plays in the canon. Some I have designed several times: Three of “As you Like It,” four of “Hamlet,” and a lot of the popular Shakespeare plays more than twice. I didn’t complete all 36 plays twice until last summer when we did “Richard III.” I had to wait a long time for that.
Richard Hay, legendary scenic designer at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, has been with OSF since its inception. Besides designing sets for more than 200 plays at OSF, Hay designed the interiors of the three theaters: the Angus Bowmer Theatre, the Thomas Theatre and the Allen Elizabethan Theatre. We visited over lunch at the Standing Stone Brewery.
EH: How did your association with OSF begin?
RH: I was a student at Stanford, majoring in civil engineering and architecture at the time. But I spent all my spare time over in the Drama Department, and consequently got to know people there. I got to be very good friends with Bill Patton (who later became OSF’s executive director). This was in the early ’50s; he was doing lighting for the festival in the summer time. It was just a summer operation then. Continue reading Richard Hay’s vision on display at Ashland’s Oregon Shakespeare Festival→
Richard Manley’s romantic comedy, “A Question of Words,” which debuted as a reading at the Ashland New Plays Festival in 2013, is now is now fully produced and playing at the Camelot Theatre in Talent until March 1.
After a successful career in marketing and design, Manley embarked on a writing career when he and his wife decided to leave their jobs, sell all of their possessions, and travel. We met at Ashland’s Café 116 on Lithia Way one winter afternoon.
Ashland Theatre 