OSF Elizabethan Theatre
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The OSF Elizabethan Theatre has evolved since the founding of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.
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[edit] Original Elizabethan Theatre
The design for the first purpose-built outdoor OSF Elizabethan Theatre was sketched by Angus L. Bowmer on the back of an envelope based on his recollection of productions at the University of Washington in which he had acted as a student. Ashland, Oregon obtained WPA funds in 1935 to build it in the roofless shell of the abandoned Chautauqua theatre, the twelve-foot high circular walls of which remained after the dome had been removed. Bowmer extended the walls to reduce the stage width to fifty-five feet, and painted the extensions to resemble half-timbered buildings. He designed a thrust stage—one projecting toward the audience—with a balcony. Two columns helped divide the main stage into forestage, middle stage, and inner stage areas. Curtains were attached to the columns, which also supported the roof, on which two speakers were mounted. Fifty cent general admission seating was on benches just behind the one dollar reserved seating on folding chairs. This theatre was torn down during World War II.
[edit] Second Elizabethan Theatre
The second outdoor Elizabethan Theatre was built in 1947 from plans drawn up by University of Washington drama professor John Conway. The main stage became trapezoidal, with entries added on either side, and windows added above them flanking the balcony stage. A low railing gave a finished appearance to the forestage. Columns still supported the roof and attached curtains, helping to define the stage areas as before. Chairs arranged to improve sightlines replaced bench seating. Backstage areas were added gradually and haphazardly, until the ramshackle result was ordered torn down as a fire hazard in 1958.
[edit] Current Eizabethan Theatre
The next year saw the opening of the current outdoor Elizabethan Theatre, patterned on London’s 1599 Fortune Theatre. Designed by Richard Hay, it incorporated all the stage dimensions mentioned in the Fortune contract. The trapezoidal stage was retained but the façade was extended to three stories, resulting in a forestage, middle stage, inner below, inner above (the old balcony), and a musician’s gallery. The wings were provided with second-story windows. Each provides acting areas, creating many staging possibilities. A pitched, shingled roof enhances the half-timbered façade. A windowed gable was extended from the center of the roof to cover and define the middle stage, again supported by columns, although the curtains were eliminated. Just before each performance, an actor opens the gable window, and in keeping with Elizabethan tradition signaling a play in progress, runs a flag up the pole to the sound of a trumpet and doffs his cap to the audience.
The result is not an exact replica of the Fortune Theatre. The known but incomplete dimensions apply only to the stage. The original specifications sometimes say no more than “to be built like the Globe,” for which there are no plans or details. The remotely operated lighting, on scaffolding on either side of the stage of course did not exist in the original and the current site rather than the original architecture determines the shape of the auditorium. Twelve hundred seats in slightly offset arcs ascended the original hillside, giving an excellent view of the stage from each seat. The old Chautauqua theatre walls, now ivy-covered, remain as the outer perimeter of the theatre.
The $7.6 million Paul Allen Pavilion was added in 1992. It houses a control room, and audience services including infrared hearing devices, blankets, pillows and food and drink, which is allowed in the auditorium. Several hundred seats were moved to a balcony and two box seats, further improving sightlines and acoustics. Vomitoria, the traditional name for entryways for actors from under the seating area, were added and the lighting scaffolds were eliminated.
Each year, three plays are offered in rotation Tuesdays through Sundays in the Elizabethan Theatre from late June to early October. In 2007, the plays will be Romeo and Juliet, Taming of the Shrew, and The Tempest.
[edit] References
Based on text and photographs in Angus L. Bowmer (1978) Shreds and Patches: The Ashland Elizabethan Stage. Ashland: Oregon Shakespeare Association. Used with the permission of Amy Richard, Media Relations, OSF: media@osfashland.org.
