The Bard

For the Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s production of "To Kill a Mockingbird" last year, the set and costumes had to transport viewers back to 1930, the beginning of the Great Depression. In their search for footwear to match a female character’s worn cotton housedress, designers scrutinized dozens of pairs of shoes before finding the right ones — old, scuffed men’s work shoes — in the festival’s costume warehouse.

"The Imaginary Invalid" was another popular offering of 2011. Shoes purchased from an online catalog were perfect for one character — except for their precarious 12-inch heels. The group’s cobbler altered the shoes, including cutting eight inches off the heels, so the actor could easily walk in them.

For each pair of shoes in "Measure for Measure," three to 15 pairs were obtained, tried and returned. Performers wore 83 pairs of shoes, meaning the costume department handled several hundred pairs before final choices were made.

It’s all in a day’s work for this theater group, which, established in 1935, ranks among the oldest and largest professional regional repertory theaters in the United States. Each year, the company presents 11 plays — four by Shakespeare and seven by classic and contemporary playwrights. It has put the little town of Ashland, Ore. (population: 20,000), on the radar of sophisticated travelers who enjoy quality theater, fine food and wine, and adventures in the great outdoors.

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival traces its beginnings to the Chautauqua movement, which brought culture, education and entertainment to rural areas of America. The movement started in Chautauqua, N.Y., in 1874 and spread across the country through the early 1900s.

Presentations included plays, concerts from opera to bell ringing, and lectures on political, social and cultural issues. Ashland’s first Chautauqua was held on July 5, 1893. More than four decades later, the curved, 14-foot-high concrete walls of a building used for Chautauqua programs caught the eye of Angus L. Bowmer, a young instructor of English at Southern Oregon Normal School (now Southern Oregon University).

The domed roof of the building had been removed in 1933, but the walls, for some reason, had been saved. To Bowmer they resembled London’s Globe Theatre, built by the company that employed William Shakespeare.

"I began to do some research and got excited about the possibility of producing a Shakespearean work (in Ashland)," Bowmer recalled in an article published in 1979 by The Oregonian.

Bowmer said Ashland had few economic prospects. "Agriculture had gone about as far as it could go," he said. "Lumber had reached its peak. The only hope appeared to be the tourist industry. That’s why we settled on a festival and not a play. A festival would draw people to stay for a time and to spend money in the community."

Bowmer proposed a "festival" of two plays in conjunction with Ashland’s Fourth of July celebration in 1935, and persuaded city officials to advance him a sum "not to exceed $400" for the event. A makeshift stage was constructed for productions of "Twelfth Night" and "The Merchant of Venice." Bowmer directed the plays in addition to appearing in them along with college students, teachers and citizens from Ashland.

Reserved seats cost $1. General admission tickets were 50 cents — 25 cents for children. Five hundred tickets were sold, generating enough revenue to cover expenses as well as the losses from a boxing match at the same location (city officials had scheduled the match because they thought it would make money and the plays would wind up in the red).

Thus, the Oregon Shakespearean Festival was born (its name was changed to Oregon Shakespeare Festival in 1988). Over the decades, the event grew in size, length and prestige. By the time Bowmer retired as producing director in 1971, he had directed 30 plays, performed 32 roles and produced all 37 works in Shakespeare’s canon.

Bowmer died in 1979, but his ideals continue to influence the group’s mission of "creating exceptional art … guided by thoughtful resource stewardship and a deep commitment to education and audience engagement."

The festival’s three theaters stand within 100 yards of each other in the heart of Ashland. Now covered with ivy, the imposing walls that inspired Bowmer surround the 1,190-seat Elizabethan Stage, built in 1959 with the sky as its ceiling. It is the oldest existing full-scale venue of its kind in the Western Hemisphere.

Performances also take place in the 600-seat Angus Bowmer Theatre, opened in 1970, and the New Theatre, unveiled in 2002, which seats 270 to 360, depending on the configuration.

"We take pride in the knowledge that thousands of theatergoers from all over the West Coast come to Ashland as a form of pilgrimage," Executive Director Paul Nicholson said.

As the 2012 season unfolds, work is already under way on next year’s productions. The 2013 lineup — which includes "My Fair Lady," "A Streetcar Named Desire," "The Taming of the Shrew" and "A Midsummer Night’s Dream" — was announced last month.

In September about 60 members of the artistic, administration and production departments started reading and considering options for 2013.

"Because we are a destination theater, and many people come to see three or more plays, it’s important to have a good mix of comedies, tragedies, dramas, classics, new works and so on," Nicholson said. "We also need to select plays with roles for both men and women. Shakespeare’s plays often have many roles for men and not so many for women. And we want to have student-friendly shows; student groups buy 15 percent of our tickets."

From May through October, auditions will be held in Ashland, Los Angeles and New York.

Meanwhile, design teams will work on sets, sound, costumes and lighting. Some shows also require choreographers, puppet designers and projection designers, who create backdrops to enhance the settings.

The artistic and production departments are in close touch early in the design process. Because the shops are handling multiple shows at the same time in a limited time frame and with limited personnel, space and storage, some designs must be kept small and simple. As many as 90 people could be involved with building a show, a process that could take as long as five months.

"That’s because we’re working in repertory," Nicholson said. "If the shops were working on only one show, they could get it done quickly, but because they are working on a number of shows at the same time, it can be a lengthy process. In fact, the scene shop might be able to construct a set in a month, but they are continually tweaking elements of it."

When the house lights dim and the stage is illuminated, audiences can expect polished, provocative performances. Small wonder 88 percent of them travel more than 125 miles to attend the festival, and many see three to nine shows during their stay.

The festival wrapped up its 2010 season with record attendance of 414,783 (94 percent of capacity) and revenues of $18.5 million. (It was on track to beat those figures last year, but major repairs necessitated the closure of the Angus Bowmer Theatre for more than six weeks.)

Bowmer summed up the theater group’s goals in his 1975 book, "As I Remember, Adam: An Autobiography of a Festival":

"We are not a museum … not an antiquarian display place," he wrote. "The past is certainly our nurturing source and continuing inspiration, but we are in no way bound by the past. We don’t stand still. We are a living, breathing, changing and growing theatre, with a future still to discover."