Christiana Clark News

 Movement and music unite to deliver a poetic glimpse into the mind of history’s ultimate Renaissance man in Mary Zimmerman’s The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci—one of the most popular works in Goodman Theatre history—in a major revival nearly 30 years after its premiere.

Ashland New Plays Festival's 29th annual flagship Fall Festival features four new plays by Thomas Brandon, TyLie Shider, Meghan Brown, and Andrew Lee Creech. This year the festival takes place virtually with livestream readings and talkbacks October 21 through 24 at 6 pm PT each day, with an encore week of on-demand presentations available from October 26 through 31.

Building upon Play On Shakespeare’s mission to enhance the understanding of Shakespeare’s plays, Play On Podcasts bring timeless tales directly to modern audiences. Following the success of Macbeth, the series – presented by Play On in partnership with Next Chapter Podcasts –continues today with the release of Ellen McLaughlin’s Pericles.

Ashland New Plays Festival will present Craig-Galván's new play Berth Breach/Breech Birth with two live Zoom performances

This past Friday evening, Oregon Shakespeare Festival artists, supporters, patrons and arts supporters from around the world gathered for a virtual, fun and inspiring live stream event focused on supporting both OSF and the Rogue Valley communities it serves.

In their continued and laudable feat of presenting diverse voices in theater, Orange County's South Coast Repertory is currently staging another stirring new drama, this time from playwright Donja R. Love entitled FIREFLIES, which continues performances through January 26, 2020 in Costa Mesa under the admirable direction of Lou Bellamy. At times heartbreaking and devastating, but ultimately empowering and (slightly) hopeful for future generations, FIREFLIES is a must-watch drama with searing emotions and real-world importance, highlighted by powerful performances from its two talented leads.

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival, which is entering its 85th year, today announced the casts for the 2020 season, featuring some of the most beloved performers from OSF's history alongside newcomers from around the country. OSF is one of the most prominent theatre companies across the nation that have joined the Jubilee, a yearlong nationwide commitment by theatres to feature work generated by those who have traditionally been excluded from or marginalized by the theatre industry. Five Shakespeare plays staged as four productions, alongside two new plays inspired by him, take the Festival's stages in 2020. Two more commissions from OSF's multi-decade commissioning program American Revolutions: the United States History Cycle will also premiere.

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival will open How To Catch Creation, helmed by Incoming Artistic Director Nataki Garrett in her OSF directorial debut, on July 27 in the Thomas Theatre. Preview performances are July 23, 25 and 26, and the play runs through Oct. 26, 2019.

Oregon Shakespeare Festival will host its annual Juneteenth Celebration on Monday, June 17. The day's activities include a variety show on OSF's Courtyard Stage, a play reading and an exhibit. The celebration also continues Wednesday, June 19, at the Ashland Public Library with a book reading and panel discussion.

Goodman Theatre's THE WINTER'S TALE is one of the most inventive and playful productions of Shakespeare I've seen.

No modern American director is better at making a play's iconic moments pop with fresh irreverence' (Chicago Tribune). Artistic Director Robert Falls reimagines The Winter's Tale-one of William Shakespeare's final and most wildly theatrical works-following his celebrated revivals of Measure for Measure (2013) and King Lear (2006) at Goodman Theatre. 

Director Lavina Jadhwani had a clear intention underlying casting and concept in the Guthrie's current production of AS YOU LIKE IT: to enable audience members from many different heritages and sexualities to see themselves represented on stage. Her intent was fueled, in part, by her own memories of going to theater as a child, and loving it, but never seeing someone who looked like her on stage; she is of South Asian descent. This production is, in Jadhwani's words, meant to be "hereish and nowish" and is informed by a deliberately intersectional feminist lens.

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival will open the world premiere of Idris Goodwin's The Way the Mountain Moved, directed by May Adrales, on July 14 in the Thomas Theatre. Preview performances are July 10, 12 and 13, and the play runs through Oct. 28, 2018.

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival will host its annual Juneteenth Celebration on Monday, June 18. The day's activities include a variety show, a play reading, a tribute to G. Valmont Thomas and a roundtable discussion. All events are free or pay what you can, though donations will be accepted for the Juneteenth Scholarship Fund and future Juneteenth celebrations.

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival invites audiences to enjoy two plays by William Shakespeare-plus one about saving his words and securing his legacy-under the stars when its flagship outdoor theatre opens the weekend of June 15-17, 2018. The Allen Elizabethan Theatre will feature Romeo and Juliet, directed by Damaso Rodriguez; Lauren Gunderson's The Book of Will, directed by Christopher Liam Moore; and Love's Labor's Lost, directed by Amanda Dehnert. Previews begin June 5, and all three shows will run through the weekend of October 12-14.

Chicago Shakespeare Theater (CST) presents Short Shakespeare! A Midsummer Night's Dream-a 75-minute abridgment of William Shakespeare's riotous tale of mismatched love among mischievous fairies, young lovers, and an amateur theatrical troupe of local workers.

Chicago Shakespeare Theater (CST) begins rehearsals for Short Shakespeare! A Midsummer Night's Dream a 75-minute abridgment of William Shakespeare's riotous tale of mismatched love among mischievous fairies, young lovers and an amateur theatrical troupe of local workers. Directed and adapted by Jess McLeod and featuring a power-packed ensemble cast, this production will bring the magic to life for 1,000 students each day in the innovative, new venue The Yard at Chicago Shakespeare during its six-week run. Short Shakespeare! A Midsummer Night's Dream will be performed for the public on Saturdays February 3 March 10, 2018 at 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m.

General ticket sales are underway for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival's (OSF) 83rd season, which begins with the first preview on Feb. 16 and continues through Oct. 28. The 2018 season features four plays by William Shakespeare, a re-imagined classic musical, two West Coast premieres, one U.S. premiere and two world premieres as well as a host of events and opportunities to further engage with the onstage works.

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival invites the public to its 30th annual Daedalus Project, a benefit for HIV/AIDS organizations. The 2017 Daedalus Project, themed "On a Wing and a Prayer: Witnessing 30 Years," includes a full day of fund-raising activities on Monday, Aug. 21, culminating in the Daedalus Play Reading of Cabaret and the Daedalus Variety Show, which are both likely to sell out.

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival's Play on! project, which has commissioned 36 playwrights to translate Shakespeare's plays into contemporary modern English, will present a staged reading of Shishir Kurup's translation of Julius Caesar on Sunday, July 9 at 1:30 pm at the Mountain Avenue Theatre at Ashland High School.