Anne and Gary Lundgren’s feature film “Phoenix Oregon” recently premiered at the Ashland Independent Film Festival. It was the Lundgen’s fourth feature film, and it was filmed in rural Oregon. Their other films were “Black Road,” “Redwood Highway” and “Calvin Marshall.” We visited at their studio on East Main Street in Ashland.EH: Are your films thematically linked?
GL: I think they all are. There’s definitely a main character that is unhappy, not being fulfilled by life.
AL: I think there is a lot of grace and love for all of these characters. They have passion and are wanting more.
GL: Wanting more out of life or wanting certain doors to open that are not opening. I think “Phoenix Oregon” is the same kind of story. A midlife crisis: two guys feel the clock ticking. They are not living the life they want, so they have to do whatever they can to change it, and take those risks.
British actor John Rainer is preparing for his poetry recital honoring the British Poets Laureates, opening at the Ashland Library on Saturday April 6th. Rainer’s recent solo performance “Prufrock’s World” featuring poems by T.S. Eliot played to sold-out audiences. Those of us who were lucky enough to see it were astounded by the brilliance of the poetry and the talent of the man. I chatted with Rainer at the Pony Espresso Café.
Jessica Sage is the artistic director of the new Rogue Theater Company, which will open March 8 with her play “Fragments,” directed by Liisa Ivary, at the Bellview Grange in Ashland.
Penny Metropulos is directing “Electra” by Sophocles, opening Feb. 21, in Southern Oregon University’s Black Box Theatre, with a modern adaptation by Timberlake Wertenbaker. This classic Greek tragedy involves hubris, murder and revenge. Themes it deals with include fate versus free will, gender equality and moral ambiguity. I met with Metropulos at Noble Coffeehouse in Ashland.
Artistic Director Willene Gunn is directing Brava! Opera Theater’s next production: “Hansel and Gretel.” Composed by Engelbert Humperdinck in 1893, the opera is softer and more fanciful than the well-known fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm.
Resident Artist, Amelia Acosta Powell, shared with me insights into the 2019 Season at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.
Ashland Theatre 