OSF to Honor Donor James M. Collier

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival's ticket sales center will be christened the James M. Collier Box Office later this month to recognize Collier's decades-long support and attendance. The public is invited to the dedication event on Tuesday, October 18, at 4:00 p.m. in front of the OSF Box Office and the Thomas Theatre.

"The benefits that Jim Collier's generosity have brought not just to OSF, but to the fine arts throughout the Rogue Valley, are vast and inspiring," said OSF Executive Director Cynthia Rider. "We are humbled and so very grateful to Jim for his ongoing support."

"I am happy and proud to have my name on the OSF campus," Collier said, "particularly the box office, where it will welcome new generations to the Festival for years to come. That feels like a very worthwhile legacy."

"I first became aware of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in the mid-1950s as an Iowa high school student discovering Shakespeare," Collier reminisced recently. "I said to myself, 'I need to go there some day.'" That dream became a reality in 1970 when Collier was an English teacher in Delano, Calif., and visited Ashland for the first time.

"I took the Greyhound bus to Ashland and stayed at the Columbia Hotel on Main Street," Collier said. "I looked out at the mountains east of Ashland and knew I was in a special place. I came every year after that, often bringing my students for their first experience with Shakespeare. Meeting and interacting with other Shakespeare enthusiasts has always been such a wonderful part of the OSF experience."

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.