theater
BY ANNA GRACE
Gala Opening, Grand Exit
Oregon Shakespeare Festival season dedicated to retiring executive director Paul Nicholson
wanted to do something more with my life … I
wanted something that would connect with my
heart,” Paul Nicholson says, explaining how a
corporate man from New Zealand came to be executive
director of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Nicholson
has spent the past 32 years supervising the business end of
Ashland’s world-class theater and will take his fi nal exit at
the conclusion of this season.
When I call him up to chat about OSF history and the
new season, Nicholson bubbles over with enthusiasm for
this year’s offerings as well as his past three decades with
the organization. He sounds more like a man just returning
from vacation than a fellow about to hang up his hat.
“It’s going to blow your socks off,” Nicholson says about
this coming season, which has been dedicated to him.
In his 32 years at OSF, Nicholson has witnessed a lot of
change. He’s seen artistic directors come and go, or come and
stay. He helped navigate last summer’s broken beam fi asco
(see EW, July 14, 2011). Nicholson had a hand in maneu-
vering OSF from pre-professional status to one of the coun-
try’s premier theaters. But when asked what’s really changed,
Nicholson focuses on the scale of the operation as a whole.
“When I arrived, we ran on an operating budget of $2.4
million,” Nicholson says of his inaugural year in 1980. This
year they’re looking at $30.1 million. Audience size has
doubled.
Most importantly, according to Nicholson, the company
has stabilized. “One-third of the company has been with us for
more than ten years,” he says with obvious pride. From an au-
dience standpoint, I’m happy to know these artists have found
a home, but does that necessarily make for good theater?
“Well, we don’t make the same mistakes twice,” Nicholson
quips. But more than that, he says, “Theater is about relation-
ships. We don’t have the angst here that other theaters have.”
The list of things Nicholson says he’ll miss after he
retires from OSF is long: “The relationships, the patrons, the
board, the sense of being connected to the arts in a deep and
personal way.”
OSF artistic director Bill Rauch has said that “this season
celebrates the adventurous spirit of our company and our
audience.” Nicholson seems similarly energized about
what’s in store for Ashland audiences. “I’m really excited
about the season,” he says. “We’re offering a wonderful
smorgasbord, and we hope people will fi ll up their plates
and gorge themselves.”
“I
sports
THE WHITE SNAKE
PHOTO COURTESY OREGON SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL
Indeed, opening weekend offers up a choice of four meaty
productions. Romeo and Juliet will be set in Alta, Calif., circa
1840, where powerful Mexican land barons attempt to stand
their ground as American settlers move in. “The heat of the
time and place will really come through,” Nicholson says.
The White Snake is adapted from a Chinese fable by
Tony Award-winning director Mary Zimmerman, whom
Nicholson refers to as “one of the great theater artists.”
Strong storytelling and some serious eye candy should
distinguish this dramatic tale of magic in which a snake
spirit falls in love with a young scholar.
Seagull promises to be another satisfying Libby Appel
production of Anton Chekhov’s work. With her fi ngers on
the pulse of the 19th century’s trademark themes of desire
deferred and human fallibility, Appel’s adaptation includes
lost material from Chekhov’s original version of the play.
And what Shakespeare festival would be complete
without an offering from the Marx Brothers? All of them, you
might reply. Nicholson would not agree. Animal Crackers,
the classic vaudevillian farce, is “more of a musical, really,”
he explains, describing how the best comedic actors have
been cast in the iconic roles (Mark Bedard, John Tufts and
K.T. Vogt, to name a few). “They are having so much fun,”
Nicholson says.
Variety and innovation continue to pepper this coming
season. Other plays include Troilus and Cressida, Henry V, As
You Like It, as well as what OSF press materials call a “three-
ring tour de force”: Medea/Macbeth/Cinderella, an adaption
by Tracy Young and Bill Rauch of works by Euripides,
Shakespeare, and Rodgers and Hammerstein.
In addition to White Snake, three more plays will
receive their world premieres, including Alison Carey’s The
Very Merry Wives of Windsor, Iowa, an adaptation of the
Shakespeare comedy. The commissioned pieces in American
Revolutions: the United States History Cycle continue with
Robert Schenkkan’s All the Way (an examination of the fi rst
year of the LBJ presidency) and Party People, an aesthetic mix
of musical and literary styles that illuminates the history of the
Black Panthers and Young Lords. Party People is a creation by
Universes (Steven Sapp, Mildred Ruiz Sapp and William Ruiz,
a.k.a. Ninja.)
Nicholson says that after retiring from OSF he plans on
remaining in Ashland, as he and his wife have built a home
near the festival. “We love it here, and I want to keep seeing
the plays,” he says.
Given the fi rm fi nancial ground he’s leaving the theater on,
I imagine he continue keep seeing plays for a long, long time.
For information about OSF, visit osfashland.org
BY DANTE ZUÑIGA-WEST
Fission
Eugene’s second women’s Ultimate Frisbee team set to take off
W
ith the success of the UO women’s Ultimate Frisbee team, Fugue, which won the President’s Day Invitational
this past weekend in California, it’s no wonder the sport is enjoying such popularity in Eugene. So infectious
is the calling to play that now another women’s team is forming.
“With the size and prestige of Fugue, it’s weird there hasn’t been a B team. And this year is the fi rst year the
interest, numbers and organization can really make that possible,” says Erin Maloney, coach of Fission, UO’s up-and-
coming second women’s Ultimate Frisbee team.
Maloney is an eight-year veteran of Ultimate Frisbee. She played with local club team Further and has competed
in national tournaments. “This is a unique sport with emphasis in teamwork and sportsmanship. We get girls who are
interested every time we are out practicing.”
With help from Fugue’s captain, Christina “Shoes” Shueler, Maloney has put together a base of enthusiastic
women who are die-hard Frisbee fanatics. Some are players who didn’t make the cut for Fugue; others are dedicated
students looking for an exciting four-season sport; some are young women who walked by, saw a pick-up game and
fell in love with it.
“We have some very motivated individuals and a very new team,” says Maloney.
Fission practices are held at the UO turf fi elds on a rotating schedule. Though still in the early stages, Maloney
says the team will look to compete in a March 17-18 tournament at Pacifi c Lutheran.
FISSION TEAM MEMBER
CHELSEA SCHWARTZE
GOES DEEP
For more information on Fission, send an email to Maloney.erinm@gmail.com
PHOTO BY ROB SYDOR
DIGITALLATTE.COM
26 FEBRUARY 23, 2012
EUGENE WEEKLY
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