OSF Offers $10 Community Rush Discount

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival is offering discounted $10 rush tickets for 12 performances to benefit ACCESS and theAshland Emergency Food Bank. Those wishing to participate are asked to bring at least one non-perishable food item for each $10 ticket purchased. Patrons may also make a cash donation to receive this special rush price.

"It was delightful and inspiring to see community members lining up with their cans of food in hand when we last offered this Community Rush deal during previews in February," OSF Marketing Manager Bob Hackett said. "We are grateful to our community for their ongoing support of the Festival and for the vital services both ACCESS and Ashland Emergency Food Bank provide in the Rogue Valley."

Tickets will be available starting two hours prior to curtain time on the day of the show only for these Community Rush tickets. That means11:30 a.m. for matinees and 6:00 p.m. for evening performances. Tickets will be sold at the OSF Box Office windows only, on a first-come, first-served basis. Bins will be provided for food and/or cash donations in the Box Office lobby.

In addition, OSF always offers $5 Rush tickets to any rushing performance for holders of Oregon Trail cards.

The select rush performances to benefit ACCESS and Ashland Emergency Food Bank are:

Sunday, September 18
8:00 p.m. Hamlet

Sunday, September 25
8:00 p.m. The Winter's Tale

Tuesday, September 27
8:00 p.m. Great Expectations

Sunday, October 2
8:00 p.m. Hamlet

Tuesday, October 4
8:00 p.m. The Winter's Tale

Sunday, October 16
8:00 p.m. Twelfth Night

Thursday, October 20
1:30 p.m. Great Expectations

Sunday, October 23
1:30 p.m. Roe
8:00 p.m. Great Expectations

Wednesday, October 26
1:30 p.m. Timon of Athens

Thursday, October 27
1:30 p.m. Great Expectations

Sunday, October 30
8:00 p.m. Twelfth Night

ACCESS provides food, housing, warmth and other essential services to Jackson County's low income children, families, seniors and people with disabilities. As the Community Action Agency of Jackson County, ACCESS has been helping Jackson County residents break the cycle of poverty since 1976. With a focus on education, ACCESS helps people through economic crisis by guiding them through changes in habits to help them become self-sustaining. ACCESS currently serves local residents through 15 programs designed to address problems from one-time emergencies to longer-term issues.

Ashland Emergency Food Bank provides food, free of charge, to residents of Ashland, Talent and surrounding rural communities who would otherwise go hungry. AEFB customers include the unemployed, under-employed, disabled, working poor, students, seniors and homeless. Twenty-five percent of those served are children under the age of 18. AEFB also distributes nonperishable food items to several organizations that offer prepared meals, or that serve a specific niche of people in need. These groups include Uncle Foods Diner, St. Vincent De Paul, and the Catalyst and Maslow Programs at Ashland High School. In 2015, Ashland Emergency Food Bank served an average of 600 households (approximately 1,500 children and adults) every month. Each family received enough food to provide breakfast, lunch and dinner for 2-3 days.

Founded by Angus Bowmer in 1935 and winner of a 1983 Tony Award for outstanding achievement in regional theatre, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival presents an eight-month season of 11 plays that include works by Shakespeare as well as a mix of classics, musicals, and new works. The Festival also draws attendance of more than 400,000 to almost 800 performances every year and employs approximately 575 theatre professionals. In 2008, OSF launched American Revolutions: the United States History Cycle, a 10-year cycle of commissioning new plays that has already resulted in several OSF commissions finding success nationwide