Oregon Shakespeare Festival

[cjsmith]

Rob and I spent a wonderfully relaxed weekend in Ashland, Oregon. We stayed with friends apparentparadox and markens, who were wonderful hosts. We saw two shows produced by the Oregon Shakespeare Festival; we puttered about in the little shops downtown; we ate leisurely restaurant breakfasts; we put our feet up and scritched the dog.

I can understand how people could get hooked on living in Ashland. What a place to retire! (Presuming you have your health. I hate that I always have to think of that now. Also, presuming you can afford it. Living there is not cheap.) There are yummy eateries everywhere, lots of stuff is within walking distance of lots of other stuff, there are many cute shops and a few nice galleries, and during the Shakespeare Festival season three shows a night are presented in the three downtown theaters.

The night we arrived we saw The Merry Wives of Windsor in the outdoor theater. This was a fun romp of a play. I liked both "Ford" and "Falstaff" in this one; Ford's agonizing over mistrusting his wife was very well portrayed, and Falstaff played up his role with humor. I was also amused by the elaborately goofy costumes and hairdos. We were grateful that we were seated under the balcony for this show, because it rained during the second act. Actors and audience alike took it in stride.

The following day, we poked our heads into that same theater to see it reconfigured for the next show. There's an awful lot of the Merry Wives set that looked like part of the building but wasn't. I've done just enough set work to understand that these guys are good.

We missed a chance to visit Dagoba Chocolates due to timing. They're open only on weekdays. But they're not far from the airport, so next time I don't have a job it'd be great to go up there and get a tour of the place.

Saturday afternoon Mark drove us to nearby Jacksonville, a historic town preserved by its distance from the railroad. I found a quilt shop and strained everyone's patience. I did finally purchase a beautiful little wall-hanging-size quilt with a diagonally-set nine-patch of Hmong reverse applique. I oohed and aahed over a king-size quilt in black, red, and white, also covered with Hmong reverse applique blocks. The amount of work...! But in the end I brought home only my pretty wall hanging.

Saturday evening's show was Intimate Apparel, which I loved. It was hopeful and it was sad; there was laughter and there was poignancy. I couldn't help but think how these people's lives would have played out in a different time with different constraints. Several of the characters were people I would want to befriend were I to meet them. The night we were there the audience gave this one a standing ovation.

Sunday morning we had a very leisurely breakfast at Morning Glory, where we got to see Penny, and we took off for home in the early afternoon.

Man, that was nice. It's the first time we've been away from home for a vacation for quite a while, and the relaxed pace was just what the doctor ordered.

Comments

[plymouth.livejournal.com]

I don't suppose you found your way into a little clothing and accessories shop called Atomica? It's run by the person who organizes the artcar portion of the 4th of July festival up there... she drives the Flutterbug, which is a totally gorgeous artcar. But you wouldn't have seen it because this past weekend she was down in the bay area for ArtCarFest :)

I love Ashland.

[juverna.livejournal.com]

How wonderful! I adore Ashland. We haven't been in years.

[lkeele.livejournal.com]

Mmm, sounds absolutely lovely. Hurrah for weekends away!

[anirishpenguin.livejournal.com]

I grew up in Yreka & spent MUCH time in Ashland. The Shakespeare Festival is the best! I'm envious, I haven't been there in years. Did you get to go to Lethia(sp?) Park? I think it's a beautiful park.

[lcohen]

ooooh. that sounds fabulous.

if i had known you were going, i would have asked you to hug tim for me!

[elflet.livejournal.com]

Y'all missed Ambar and me by a week!

I had already made a family trip in June (Merry Wives, Two Gentlemen, Winter's Tale, The Importance of Being Earnest), then Ambar and I made our own trip -- Cyrano, King John, Jekyll & Hyde. I'm not sure which show Ambar liked best; I was thoroughly taken by the acting in Jekyll & Hyde (but then again, I'd probably pay to watch James Newcomb read from the phone book!)

Funny, we also browsed Jacksonville (briefly) on the way up to Medford to hit the Rogue Creamery. We also shopped around Ashland including the new quilting shop there (Fabric of Vision) and generally had a lovely relaxed time.

[ambar.livejournal.com]

Wait... you went there the weekend AFTER we did?

Next time must be more coordinated. :-)

[ozdachs.livejournal.com]

We've become hooked on Ashland. redozdachs and I go up 3 - 4 times a season. The past couple years he's seen all the plays while I avoid repeat comedies but see the rest. (I'm behind, but my thoughts on this year's shows are collecting on my blog (http://ozdachs.livejournal.com/tag/plays).)

Tim and Mark set you up well, it sounds. If they're not available to play concierge -- and Penny, Matt, Hollis, and Mary Pat aren't either -- the OSF website (http://osfashland.org/) does a nice job of letting you scope out available tickets -- and this time of year they have seats available most all of the time.

During our annual August trip we stay at a very nice, very expensive B&B at the edge of town, Country Willows (http://www.countrywillowsinn.com/). That's a very relaxing place, but the breakfasts are so good that we cannot go to Morning Glory. MG is where we go on our other trips when we're staying with friends.

Hope to see you on the bricks in the future.

[datagoddess.livejournal.com]

Oh, my, that looks fun! I think I'll have to drag my loves down there next year!