Just out., May 18, 2007, Page 23, Image 23

WAV 18. 280?
They will also have a lot of firsts to celebrate this
year as they move their family to the Beaver State
from the Los Angeles basin in mid-June. That is when
Rauch officially takes over full creative duties as the
first openly gay artistic director of the 72-year-old
Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Rauch and Moore will
also transplant their sons, 7-year-old soccer juggernaut
Liam and 2-year-old Latin heartthrob Xavier, both of
whom they adopted from birth.
“We are all very excited to make the move to
Ashland. 1 can’t wait to have my family here with
me,” says Rauch.
His new appointment has him managing every
minute of his life artfully at the moment as he is
directing Romeo and Juliet at OSF and wrapping up
teaching duties as rhe Claire Trevor Professor of
Drama at University of California at Irvine, all while
trying to catch all of Liam’s soccer games.
“My appointment at OSF means a lot to me not
only as an artist and an individual, but also as a gay
man. 1 am proud to be in this leadership position,
setting a very public example of a happily coupled
individual in a stable same-sex relationship of 23 years
and with two beautiful and well-adjusted kids," says
Rauch.
As an out director and artist, he has encountered
his share of adversity. “I have had audience members
on rare occasions express their discomfort with my
openness about my sexuality,” says Rauch. “However,
those few encounters have been vastly outweighed by
the number of times that people have gone out of their
way to express support for our family.. .on airplanes, in
grocery stores and in theaters in which I work."
While the foursome will call Ashland home,
Moore, an actor by trade, will commute to Tinseltown
» to shixn a second season of his sitcom, TBS’ 10 Items
or Less. He plays Richard Mednick, a focused cashier
by day who dreams of being a professional ice dancer.
You might recognize Mtxire from television in roles
in Friends, 3rd Rock from the Sun, Star Trek: Voyager,
Judging Amy and It’s Like, You Know.... But he has
primarily been a stage actor during his career, perform­
ing in more than 40 Cornerstone Theater Company
prixiuctions and with several nationally known
theater groups, including Pasadena Playhouse and Yale
Repertory Theatre, throughout his esteemed career.
He has also received Garland, Dramalogue and LA
Weekly Awards; was nominated for Washington,
iUStlOUtlza
"My appointment at OSF means a lot to me
not only as an artist and an individual,
but also as a gay man.
I am proud to be in this leadership position,
setting a very public example
of a happily coupled'individual in a stable
same-sex relationship of 23 years and
with two beautiful and well-adjusted kids."
D.C.’s Helen Hayes Award and the Connecticut
Drama Critics Circle Award; and has served as adjunct
faculty at University of Southern California.
The couple met at Harvard, where they were both
members of the theater department. While Moore
pursued the spotlight, Rauch knew where he wanted
the spotlight positioned. As a youth Rauch wanted to
be an actor, nurturing his love of the stage through
summers as an usher at a community theater in
Connecticut, but he found his true passion in his
freshman year at college. During his four years at
Harvard, Rauch directed 26 shows.
Shortly after graduation, the New Jersey native, his
partner and nine of their peers founded Cornerstone
Theater Company. Rauch served as artistic director
from 1986 to 2006, directing more than 40 prixiuc­
tions. Cornerstone wandered rural and urban America
for five years, introducing the theatrical experience to
those who might not otherwise have been able to
express themselves on stage or see their stories told as
audience members.
The bulk of the company’s projects are produced
out of dialogue from rhe community and the ensem­
ble. Cornerstone’s projects t<x>k issues from commu­
nities and created plays to echo their voices, telling
both sides of the stories. In 1991 the company settled
in Los Angeles, where the majority of its projects are
now staged.
Highlights of Rauch’s career with Cornerstone
include Steelbound, a collaborative project with un­
employed steelworkers staged in an abandoned steel
plant in Pennsylvania; The Central Ave. Chalk Circle,
a prixluction staged after a 15-month residency in the
Los Angeles community of Watts; and The Black
AIDS/Black Faith Project, a collaborative experience
between black clergy and African Americans affected
by H1V/AIDS. Cornerstone also produced many
projects exploring queer issues, such as the communi­
ty’s relationship with organized religion.
While Rauch incubated the talent and the stories
of those who didn’t believe they had stories to tell, he
collaborated with other theaters around the country,
including Yale Repertory Theater, South Coast
Repertory, Pasadena Playhouse, Guthrie Theater and
New Haven at Long Wharf Theater. In 1999 he testi­
fied to the House Appropriations Subcommittee for
—Bill Rauch
Continued on Page 24
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