Searching for a New Plot for Ashland’s Shakespeare Festival

This story was published originally by Oregon ArtsWatch media partner Ashland.news, and is republished here with permission.

The sustainability, continuity, and revitalization of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) post-Covid were the main focuses of a community forum “One Brick at a Time: Rebuilding the Oregon Shakespeare Festival,” part of the Big Ideas series, sponsored by the Jackson County Library and the Association of University Women (AAUW). The forum took place in a room filled to capacity at the Ashland Public Library earlier this month.

The two main presenters, Amy Cuddy (current OSF board member, former administrator with OSF, philanthropic advisor, and regional director for Southern Oregon Community Foundation), and OSF Artistic Director Tim Bond (previously OSF’s associate artistic director under Libby Appel from 1996 to 2007). The two leaders essentially laid out a two-tiered plan (marketing and broad-appeal programming) for how the festival would gain financial sustainability by implementing old and new approaches for attracting larger audiences to OSF’s upcoming 90^th season.

Cuddy discussed how the board and artistic staff have been working to create a sustainable strategic model for funding and preserving the festival into the future. A big part of that plan involves bringing back marketing strategies that worked in the past — such as the reinstatement of OSF’s membership program, offering a 25% discount for members who buy tickets early, along with member events for tiered giving levels that include bonus activities such as panel discussions and dinners.

The plan also includes reopening the gift shop and conducting campus and summer tours. There will also be continuing “Post Show Talkbacks” to engage audiences. The 2025 Membership Presale Ordering Guide is filled with a number of perks, including youth pricing that offers a 20% discount for ages 6 to 17.

Cuddy said a major goal of marketing is to include “the whole Rogue Valley.” She and Bond reported that OSF received more than $5 million in grant funds over 2023-2024, with $2.5 million coming from the Oregon Community Foundation and $2.6 million coming from the state of Oregon. Cuddy also said that over that time period the festival had seen a 20% increase in attendance.

Bond agreed the state funding had been a boon to the organization, saying, “The support we got from the state last year was really important for us,” but implied that this type of funding may not always be available, hence the marketing and outreach plans.

To bolster its vision, OSF has also brought on key personnel with years of experience in regional theater promotion. Referring to his track record with the festival, Cuddy said bringing Bond back as artistic director was a good start. Bond and Cuddy agreed that bringing on Executive Director Gabriella Calicchio was another wise move.

Calicchio has a wide range of experience supporting the arts. Most recently, she served as the director of cultural services and executive director of the Marin Cultural Association. She has also served as CEO for The Walt Disney Family Museum (San Francisco) and managing director of the Tony Award-winning Children’s Theatre Company (Minneapolis).

OSF has also brought back Paul Adolphsen as director of literary development. Adolphsen is a dramaturg, writer, and educator originally from Seattle. He served as literary manager at OSF for three seasons, and at Asolo Repertory Theatre in Sarasota, Florida, for two seasons. As a dramaturg, Adolphsen has worked with Arena Stage, Hartford Stage Company, Seattle’s Book-It Repertory Theatre, and Five College Opera.

Kaytlin McIntyre, who, according to her online bio, has a strong interest in “developing new plays and musicals,” joins the administrative lineup as director of repertory producing.

Bond reported he is really happy with the variety of plays being offered for the 2025 season. Nine distinct productions that span a range of human experience have been chosen, including three of Shakespeare’s plays — Julius Caesar, As You Like It, and The Merry Wives of Windsor.

August Wilson’s Jitney — from his Pittsburgh cycle and about the Black experience of family, impoverishment, and tragedy in a Pittsburgh hamlet in the 1970s — is in production, as is Steven Sondheim’s dark, ironic fairytale, Into the Woods, along with the classical western Shane.

Bond stipulated he wants a “rotating repertory,” which essentially means he wants to give resident actors the chance to play a number of roles, while also introducing new plays to enhance the lineup. He will continue to promote plays with an appeal to a wide range of audiences, while at the same time challenging them to be forward-thinking.

One of these will be Julius Caesar, directed by Rosa Joshi, with an all-female, nonbinary cast and presented in association with upstart crow collective. Initiated a few seasons ago, the collective produces classical plays with racially varied and nontraditional casts.

Asked what OSF might do to mitigate smoke days in the future from nearby wildfires, Bond joked, “Buy more fans,” which elicited some laughs. There was also some discussion of whether “rush” tickets will be offered for the coming season.

Referring to the challenges ahead, Bond stated, “Sometimes we are compelled by our circumstances in life to take to the forest — or are pushed to new frontiers — and just when we feel lost, we actually find ourselves anew.”