Ashland Review

The new season at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland celebrates the 450th anniversary of Shakespeare’s birth. Included this spring are one of his earliest works, “The Comedy of Errors,” and “The Tempest,” the last play considered to be written by Shakespeare alone.
The Festival’s version of “The Comedy of Errors,” set during the exciting Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s and performed in the small Thomas Theatre, is the most endearing, funniest production of the play I’ve ever seen.

As the Eugene Symphony's month-long, city-wide Counterpoint Festival continues, the symphony and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival prepare to collaborate on a groundbreaking version of Romeo and Juliet on November 23rd. It combines a full symphony orchestra performing music from Prokofiev with Shakespeare's classic text, brought to the stage by three actors from the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Eric Alan speaks with Terri McMahon, who directs OSF's participation.

The Eugene Symphony presents its second Counterpoint Festival, partnering with a variety of community and arts organizations to explore the themes of “Love and Fate,” in events across the spectrum of the creative arts. That includes two performances by the Eugene Symphony: Symphonie Fantastique on November 14th, then Romeo & Juliet and Porgy & Bess on November 23rd, including collaboration with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Eric Alan speaks with the symphony’s executive director Scott Freck, and music director and conductor Danail Rachev.