Oregon Shakespeare Festival Closes 2019 Season

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival wrapped up its 2019 season October 26-27 with the final performances of Mother Road, How to Catch Creation, As You Like It, La Comedia of Errors, Indecent, Between Two Knees, Hairspray - The Broadway Musical, and Cambodian Rock Band. Preparations for the 2020 season and this month's 2020 Member Presale are already underway. The 2020 opening weekend is March 6-March 8; preview performances begin February 28.

The season closed with attendance of 360,199-82.1% of capacity. Ticket revenue was approximately $21.3 million. The season included 11 productions, with the most performances by OSF to date-850. Student attendance from 47,336 tickets generated approximately $1.5 million in revenue. In total, contributed income was up approximately 24% in 2019.

"It was incredibly inspiring to witness the passion, energy and talent of OSF's company throughout this full repertory season of classics, new plays and commissioned works, which also included an array of exceptional music and musical productions," OSF Artistic Director Nataki Garrett said. "I am grateful to OSF's passionate and invested audiences, who allowed and enabled these extraordinary groups of actors and artists to present and explore 11 remarkable stories across its stages throughout the 2019 season."

Garrett continued, "I believe the point of theatre is transformation, and have watched OSF for the last 12 years under Bill Rauch, lead the charge in transforming and elevating the work on its stages, creating spaces in which people who come from all different experience can do their work. The 2019 season, like many that came before it, truly excelled in accomplishing that extraordinary feat."

While air-quality issues from Southern Oregon wildfires played a role during the Festival's summer season, as it has in several summers since 2013, no performances scheduled for the Allen Elizabethan Theatre were cancelled throughout the entire 2019 schedule of outdoor shows. Audiences enjoyed 38 performances moved to the Mountain Avenue Theatre located at Ashland High School, resulting in 13,751 tickets sold-92% venue capacity.

The 2019 Green Show season welcomed 55 performance groups to OSF and the Ashland community, from local to regional to national, for 66 performances presented to approximately 33,000 patrons. OSF livestreamed over half of Green Show performances, beginning on July 31 and continuing doing so through the end of its outdoor season. All past and current livestreamed performances are available to view on osfashland.org/greenshow.

The 2019 playbill included As You Like It, Macbeth, All's Well That Ends Well, Alice in Wonderland, Hairspray - The Broadway Musical, Mother Road (world premiere), Cambodian Rock Band, Between Two Knees (world premiere, American Revolutions co-commission with New Native Theatre), Indecent (American Revolutions co-commission with Yale Repertory Theatre), La Comedia of Errors and How To Catch Creation.

2019 education events included:

• 56 Festival Noons (a series of conversations, demonstrations and lectures) for 2,451 ticketholders.
• 71 pre-show Prefaces for 4,554 ticketholders.
• 15,605 ticketholders attended Student and Family Day Prologues, 30-minute play-specific talks with OSF educators that discuss structure, gender issues, and historic and political context.
• 10,553 ticketholders participated in 294 backstage tours, 132 of which were sold out.

The OSF production of Cambodian Rock Band by award-winning playwright Lauren Yee, featuring songs by Dengue Fever and directed by Chay Yew, will move to La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego, November 12- December 15, and then to Portland Center Stage, May 30-June 28, 2020. Mother Road by Octavio Solis, seen by more people than any world premiere in OSF's history, moves to Arena Stage in Washington, D.C., as part of the 2019/2020 season, running from February 7 through March 8. This production will also be directed by Bill Rauch.

The 2019 season was dedicated to the memory of Paul Allen, and all those who have chosen to make a difference in the world through their generosity. The Paul G. Allen Family Foundation has supported multiple OSF programs and helped construct both the Thomas Theatre and the current iteration of OSF's flagship Allen Elizabethan Theatre.

OSF's 2019 season was sponsored by U.S. Bank, proud partner since 1978.

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