Recovered from COVID, Ashland again teeming with creative plays, visitors to Shakespeare Fest
The Oregon Shakespeare Festival has plenty to celebrate this season. It’s the 90th season for the repertory theater company, whose theatrical offerings go beyond the bard. This is also the festival’s biggest season since COVID-19 interrupted theaters worldwide.
In other words: Even though it never went anywhere, the festival is back.
So too is Ashland, the festival’s hometown. Though in recent years it was dotted with vacant storefronts, the town has sprouted new shops and restaurants (including the oft-recommended Nous, which serves Alsatian fare) and its sidewalks are full of people.
“There’s so much to do there,” said Melanie Ransom, Harlequin Productions’ costume shop manager and a regular visitor to Ashland with her husband, Tim Ransom.
“Before we went to Ashland the first time, I was reading an article and the writer referred to Ashland as ‘Disneyland for adults,’ ” she said. “I don’t know if that’s quite accurate, but it’s Disneyland for me.”
If the town were Disneyland, the festival’s plays would be the main attractions — though rafting the rapids of the nearby Rogue River is quite a ride, too.
The 2025 season features nine productions, each running in repertory for several months; that’s more than any season since 2019, when there were 11 shows. In mid-June, ticket sales had already surpassed 2024’s total.
The offerings vary widely, with three written by William Shakespeare and another — James Ijames’ 2022 Pulitzer-winning “Fat Ham,” an audience favorite — inspired by his work. “Ham,” a joyous and comic riff on “Hamlet” that unfolds at a family barbecue, closed at the end of June.
Also received with great enthusiasm: August Wilson’s “Jitney,” about a group of Black men working at an unlicensed car service in 1977 Pittsburgh. (The licensed cab companies refused to serve the city’s predominantly Black “Hill District.”) Considered Wilson’s finest play, “Jitney” closes July 20. In other words, catch it if you can.
For the rest of the shows, there’s time. The festival runs through the end of October, though the outdoor Elizabethan Theatre closes for the season on Oct. 12, and wildfire smoke sometimes forces the cancellation of outdoor performances.
Playing in the Elizabethan, based on London’s 1599 Fortune Theatre, are Shakespeare’s “The Merry Wives of Windsor” (through Oct. 12), which reimagines Falstaff as the leader of a jolly motorcycle gang, and a playful and beautifully costumed production of Stephen Sondheim’s fairy-tale mashup “Into the Woods.”
Also by the bard: “Julius Caesar,” produced in cooperation with upstart crow collective, which specializes in staging Shakespeare with only female and non-binary actors; and a musical version of “As You Like It,” set in the 1960s.
Rounding out the season are Oscar Wilde’s “The Importance of Being Earnest,” set in Malaysia; “Quixote Nuevo,” a “Don Quixote” adaptation centering on a brilliant professor who’s battling dementia; and “Shane” (opening July 31), an adaptation of the classic Western that incorporates the reality of life in 1889 Wyoming.
The festival also produces free entertainment in the form of the Green Shows. The performances, mostly concerts, happen at 6:45 p.m. five days a week through Sept. 27 in the festival courtyard.
The shows draw crowds of locals as well as visitors — and this year, you can munch on fresh popcorn while you watch. It’s for sale on show nights from Bugg’s Toys, located in the courtyard in the former home of the festival gift shop.