Tag Archives: Actress

Interview

A conversation with Ashley Kelley, who plays Dorothy in OSF’s ‘The Wiz’

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Ashley Kelly

Ashley D. Kelley plays Dorothy in Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s “The Wiz” opening June 18 in the Allen Elizabethan Theatre. The daughter of a Baptist minister, Kelley developed her musical abilities singing in the choir. She graduated from Temple University with a major in theater and has been working ever since. In the last eight years she played upwards of 30 roles in regional theaters. We met at Mix Bakeshop in Ashland.

EH: When did you know that you wanted to act?

AK: Since I was able to talk — ever since I was a little kid, I was always performing in front of people. My parents would have friends over, and I would always be the center of attention.

EH: Tell me about your lifestyle as a performer.

AK: A lot of traveling, a lot of new places, a lot of new faces, which is awesome. You’re always meeting new people, working with new directors, new choreographers. So there’s that bit of excitement. It can be a little tiring, picking up your life and moving from place to place. I love it; I’m always hungry for more. Continue reading A conversation with Ashley Kelley, who plays Dorothy in OSF’s ‘The Wiz’ →

Interview

Helena de Crespo to perform at Fringe Festival

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Helena de Crespo
Helena de Crespo

Helena de Crespo is on her way to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival with her one-woman-performance of “Elective Affinities” by David Adjmi. The play is often staged in a beautiful home, featuring Alice Hauptmann, full of charm and charisma.

In 2012, De Crespo performed the piece for an invited audience at Stan and Maurine Mazor’s chateau in Ashland. In 2011, “Elective Affinities” was performed by Zoe Caldwell in the Soho Rep’s site-specific production in an Upper East Side apartment in New York City.

De Crespo and I visited as we drove through heavy traffic to the Portland Airport.

EH: What is the Fringe Festival? Continue reading Helena de Crespo to perform at Fringe Festival →

Interview

SOU digs deep into ‘The Winter’s Tale’

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Esau Mora and Aleah Zimmer
Esau Mora and Aleah Zimmer

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’ →

Interview

Community actors balance day jobs, stage life

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Judith Rosen and Don Matthews
Judith Rosen and Don Matthews

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 →

Interview

Rogues: Tales from the Valley

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Actor/director/producer Lyda Woods is preparing for her next production, “Rogues: Tales from the Valley,” based on her satiric mystery, serialized in the Tuesday edition of the Ashland Daily Tidings. It is a take-off on the San Francisco Chronicle’s 1980s “Tales of the City” by Armistead Maupin, which was later turned into a PBS series. A staged reading starts at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 7 and 8, at Paschal Winery and Vineyard. Woods and I got together, on a rainy winter day, at the Black Sheep restaurant in Ashland.

LW: ”Tales of the City” explored San Francisco at a very critical time: San Francisco was becoming a Mecca for alternative life styles. I loved that series, and it always stuck with me.
I would really love to explore the characters that make up the Rogue Valley, and there are so many of them. Each character is not based on any one person, but a mosaic based on experience and imagination. I’m looking at how these characters can transform. I see the Rogue Valley as one organism. I wanted to explore how we are all interconnected and what that means. There are so many micro-cultures, yet we are interdependent. I want to be entertaining and grab the audience.

Continue reading Rogues: Tales from the Valley →

Interview

Vanessa Hopkins

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Vanessa Hopkins
Vanessa Hopkins

Actress, director and choreographer Vanessa Hopkins will be starring in Ashland Contemporary Theatre’s next production, “Mr. Williams and Miss Wood,” written by Max Wilk and directed by Jeannine Grizzard. It opens Saturday, June 14, at the Ashland Community Center. The play is based on the relationship between Tennessee Williams and his editor Audrey Wood. Hopkins and I visited over lunch at her attractive Ashland cottage.

EH: What forms of theater attract you?

VH: I do like experimental theater. I love avant-garde theater. I’ve done a lot of Brecht and Beckett. It pushes you. The audience isn’t just lulled and just satisfied. They walk away saying, “What was that?” I don’t want to alienate people, either. There is some avant-garde theater that is too extreme, and nobody gets it. It is just for the performer, and it’s just self-indulgent.

Continue reading Vanessa Hopkins →

Interview

Kelly Jean Hammond

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Kelly Jean Hammond
Kelly Jean Hammond

In Camelot Theatre’s musical production of “The Producers,” the role of Ulla Inga Hansen Benson Yonsen Tallen-Hallen Svaden-Svanson, the stunning Swedish singer/ secretary/ receptionist, is played by Kelly Jean Hammond. The production features a number of stellar performances and a great ensemble cast.

Hammond, a graduate of Ashland High School, earned a bachelor’s degree in music from Notre Dame de Namur University and did some post-graduate studies at American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco before returning to Ashland, where she now works as a buyer at Paddington Station by day and performs musical theater at night. We met at Starbucks in downtown Ashland.

Continue reading Kelly Jean Hammond →