Excitement Mounts Behind Scenes of Shakespearean Festival
Cast Struggles With
Production Problems
By Bill Force
Mail Tribune Siaif Writer
Anyone venturing inside the vine-clad old Chautauqua shell In
Ashland last week would nave tnougni me lum annual anaices
riearean festival was due to come off the next day. He would
have found the place a nest of seething activity, peopled with
nonnescripuy cosiumea aciors, sweating electricians aim i-m-penters,
overalled gardeners and shirtless, wildly gesturing di
rectors each anDarentlv unaware of the existence of the others.
The sun-bathed, grass-carpeted ampitheater has sprung to life
again for another summer of resurrected Elizabethan drama. Sev
eral score intensely interested young actors are rehearsing roles
for plays that will delight hundreds of tourists and local residents
next month when the curtains are drawn apart on another festival
of Shakespearean plays, "played as Shakespeare might have seen
MEDFORDtPTRIBUNE
Second Section MEDFORD, OREGON, SUNDAY, JULY 2, 1950 Pages 1-6 - thrCi
iff
v 4 V::J : i I - ; A t i yt
them
Intensive Rehearsals
Though the Shakespearean
festival is still a month away,
the tempo of researsals and prep
arations has hit a near-hysteric
Ditch. Afternoon and evening,
every day, the hardworking
troupe of talented young people
labors through a back-bending
1 routine that probably no other
' 'summer theater in the world
would dream of attempting.
This festival cast is not prepar
ing one play for a week's stand
it is slowly moulding into
shape four different plays to be
presented on four successive
niehts an almost unheard of
feat.
The magnitude of the task can
hardly be imagined by anyone
who has not witnessed the pains
taking attention that is given to
every line, every gesture ana
every artful glance in each
scene of each lengthy play.
One of last week's rehearsals
of "The Comedy of Errors gives
an idea of the sweat and toil in
volved. Downstage are two act
ors, library volumes of Shakes
peare in hand, pencils poised to
mau notations. Standing in
front is Director Richard Gra-
ham of New York, stripped to
the waist in the hot sun that
beat down on the concrete
movement of the arena. With him
are Technical Adviser Dr. Curt
Zimansky of the University of
Iowa, a speech coacn ana
script-holder.
The actors start to read their
parts. Perhaps they speak a doz
en lines before Graham cuts
them off to suggest that a posi
tion be changed, that a smue is
wrong or that there is inade
quate motivation for some move
ment. The actors make careful
notes in the margins of their
books and then start the passage
over again. This time the speech
coach calls a halt. One of the
i lads has said DIS-course. He
should have said dis-COURSE.
He tries again but still does not
give the word its proper Eliza
bethan syllabic accent. After sev
eral attempts the coach is satis
fied the prosody is correct and
the rehearsal can continue.
Must Understand Parti
But not for long. A few lines
farther along .in the scene an
actor comes across an unfamil
iar word or an abstruse phrase.
"I don't understand that," he
complains, and for one of these
actors to act out a scene with
out understanding its full mean
ing would be unthinkable. Here
Dr. Zimansky goes to work.
From a long background of aca
demic research into the Eliza
bethan period, he provides the
needed information. Every mem
ber of the cast, with Dr. Ziman
sky's help, understands the role
he is playing, its meaning, pur
pose and sociological and artistic
background.
This process goes on endlessly
through the long hours of rehear
sal until a flawless finished pro
duct of artistic effort is present
ed to impressed audiences who
have little conception of the
'1 hours or tedium that have gone
into each of the four plays.
Fluff Absent
For the 10 years that the
Shakespearean festival has been
produced in Ashland, the little
group of scholars in charge has
maintained an uncompromising
devotion to one aesthetic ideal:
Shakespeare must be presented
free of any theatrical fluff not
present at the time the Bard
himself presented his plays to
the irreverent Elizabethan-age
audiences.
Angus Bowmer, the guiding
spirit behind the festival, ex
plains that this principle is so
unorthodox it astounds contem
porary producers. They consid
er that Shakespeare stripped of
all but its elemental muscle
would be devoid of audience ap
peal. Bowmer has found the
opposite to be true and a couple
of amazed directors from the
Globe theater in San Diego were
so impressed with his success
two years ago they have inau
gurated a program that is the
Oregon festival's only imitator.
(They, however, have not been
able to achieve the repertory
type program practiced here.)
On Broadway, productions of
Shakespeare are billed as "re
vivals" and the producers at
tempt to enhance the original
beauty of the plays with leg art,
anachronistic music, and theater
techniques utterly alien to the
spirit of Shakespeare. In Ash
land. Shakespeare has passed be
yond the stage of revived enter-!
tainment. It is now firmly estab- j
dished tradition, as well u one'
of Oregon's top-ranking tourist
attractions.
Problems Presented
This year's schedule is putting
an added strain on the produc
tion staff in regard to dance
scenes, music and costume. For
the comedy, "As You Like It,"
Bowmer has ordered spectacle.
The play is usually presented
straight from the script, includ
ing a somewhat unbelievable
ending. "We're not certain," he
said, "but from the historical
sources that are available, we
think that Shakespeare probably
would approve of the spectacle
type ending to show that the
final scenes are not intended to
be believable."
A court masque, a kind of
grand entertainment common to
the Stuart court of old England.
will be called for and most of
the problem has been dumped
into the lap of Miss Carol Eller.
a pert little brunette from Stan
ford university who is the festi
val's dance director. "We're
going to work on this all sum
mer and it should be pretty
spectacular," she enthused.
Does Choreography
The choreography for the two
dances that will be used is by
Miss Eller herself. Though she
knows you won't understand
what she's talking about, the
youthful instructor will patient
ly explain that the two dances
are based on pre-classic forms
allemande, bouree and gique.
She will point out further that
they will be a combination of
court and country style dances
using eight dancing girls. Miss
Eller has some historic basis for
her choreography but it is ob
vious that her close acquaintance
with Shakespeare she is also a
member of the cast will do
much to assure dance sequences
in perfect harmony with the
spirit of the production.
Working with Miss Eller on
this particular problem is How
ard Greer of Fresno who is com
posing special music for "As
You Like It." His compositions
are being orchestrated for Eliza
bethan instruments such as the
recorder, the veil d' amour, and
other instruments such as the
french and english horns that
come about as close to approach
ing instruments of that period
as any modern musicians have
at hand.
Lavish Costumes
Despite the wealth of dra
matic talent and inspired direc
tion that is available this year
for the festival, the plays would
still lack much of their popular
appeal if it were not for the lav
ish costumes that complete the
picture of Elizabethan opulence
and pageantry.
In a workshop so filled with
color that the eye is almost stun
ned at the sight, the festival as
sociation's costumier, Doug Rus
sell, and a crew of seamstresses
are surrounded with silks, laces,
brocades, velvet and upholstery
fabrics that will be used to re
create costumes that would
dazzle Queen Elizabeth herself.
Though years of research and
careful study of source materials
go into Russell s designs, he ad
mits that his costumes are not
absolutely authentic; they are
not intended to be.
Ideas Don't Jibe
"If we used true Elizabethan
costumes," he said, "they'd be
laughed off the stage because
they wouldn't Jibe with what
moderns consider to be beauti
ful and graceful." So the medi
eval form will be retained while I
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standing. I?
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DANCES PERFECTED Miss Carol- Eller, left, dance director
for the Shakespearean festival, is shown here coaching two of her
dancers in one of the sequences that will be used in the Stuart
court masque the grand finale of this year's production of "As
You Like It." With Miss Eller are Delores Bagley, center, and
Mary Jane Pitts. (Bob Mallon photo).
at the same time humoring mod
ern taste with brilliant colors
and luxurious draped effects.
The responsibility for this
delicate design problem lies with
Russell, a young (23) Stanford
university graduate who will
join the staff of Carnegie Insti
tute of Technology in Pittsburgh
next September. Besides design
ing costumes for the Ashland
production he expects to have
to make about 180 new costumes
this year in addition to some of
last year's that will be refur
bished and repaired Russell
is instructor of a class in costume
design at Southern Oregon col
lege. His workshop is used as a
laboratory for his students.
New Problem
This year Russell has a new
design problem to cope with.
The play "Antony and Cleo
patra" is. of course, one written
by an Elizabethan Englishman
about Romans and Egyptians.
Which period or locale are the
costumes to reflect? Designer
Russell has decided to incorpor
ate elements of all three into
what is expected to be a unique
effect.
Each play presents a special
problem, it seems. For the his
torical plays, in line with a pol
icy long adhered to by Bowmer,
costumes will reflect the histor
ical period depicted by the play
but "will not violate the taste
of the Elizabethan theater," to
use Russell's words.
For "The Comedy of Errors",
Russell plans highly stylized
costumes with bold, bright, solid
colors. They will be in keeping
with Bowmer's interpretation of
the comedy.
For the most part, Russell
says he relics on the paintings
of classical subjects by Veronese
as patterns for his costume de
signs. Each costume is first
sketched out by Russell himself
before it is turned over to the
Ruch Girl Is First Queen Contestant At Jacksonville
Jacksonville, July 1 First to
enter the Jacksonville Gold
Rush jubilee queen contest is
Dorothy Winningham, Ruch,
sponsored by Taylor Drug store,
Jacksonville. Others signing are
Jeannie Sletten, announced by
Ben's Food market, Jacksonville,
as candidate for that store; Ma
vis Johnson of the Applegate,
sponsored by Fluhrer's bakery;
and a "mystery" candidate en
tered by the Golden Arrow
Trading company. Identity of the
mystery candidate is not to be
disclosed until a short time be
fore closing of the contest, ac
cording to her sponsor.
Four more sponsors, making
a total of eleven, have signed up
to entqr contestants; Helen's
Kottage Kitchen and Lulu's cafe.
Jacksonville; Ashland Lions
club, Ashland, and the Golden
students and to volunteer Ash
land seamstresses to carry out.
Many Donated
Though much of the ornate
fabrics and metallic fripperies
required for the elaborate out
fits come from San Francisco
suppliers. Russell said that some
of his choicest pieces of mater
ials were donated by Ashlanders.
Considering the mountainous
size of their task, one would
think it next to impossible for
Russell and his nimble-fingered
aides to complete it within the
next month, but there are no
worried brows in the buzzing
workshop, so apparently the
Shakespearean cast this year is
to be garbed in the same eye
filling manner as in past years.
It is the art department of the
production staff that has wor
ries. Their most current prob
lems deal with gods and burlap.
The court masque in "As You
Like It" is to feature Hymen,
the god of marriage, descending
from unspecified heights into the
revelries of the court. The me
chanics of the descent have not
yet been worked out but Otto
Wilda, the festival's art director,
Summer Work Slated
At City's Schools
Additional playground surfac
ing, installation of walks and
curbs, general improvement of
grounds and some interior reno
vation is included in the sum
mer work program of the city
schools, Superintendent E. H.
Hedrick has reported.
He said the additional surfac
ing is being done at the four
grade schools and the junior
high. In general the outdoor
work is completing odds and
ends provided for in the bond
issue for school expansion and
imrovement, Hedrick stated.
Arrow Trading company, Med-
ford.
To Give Priiet
Weekly prizes will be given
the candidate selling the most
votes, according to Dr. Roy
White, chairman of the contest.
Grand prize for the contest win
ner will be a S300 wardrobe.
Second prize will be $100 in
gold; third, $50 in gold, and
fourth winner will receive $25
in gold.
Candidates or sponsors want
ing to enter the contest should
call Dr. White, phone Jackson
ville 832. The chairman also stat
ed that candidates may contact
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DAY fH Ngh
and YGirAf Ca"
jhlf y. v 4 1 V " Tif ' ' ' J
LINES AND GESTURES POLISHED These three Shakes
pearean players are pictured during one of the rehearsal periods
that go on hour nfter hour in the Shakespearean festival's Eliza
bethan theater in Ashland in preparation for the first production,
billed for August 2. These three earnest actors are, left to right,
Phil Hansen, Suzanne Lamerre and Ann Lauder. (Bob Mallon
photo).
is confident it will be nothing
short of spectacular. He declines
to reveal his plans.
Wilda is also concerned with
a problem of supply. The vast
Elizabethan staqe is to be re
curtained this year and the pro-
Lookouts Man 15
Forest Stations
The extensive forest fire look
out system of the Rogue River
national forest was fully-manned
yesterday and ready for any de
mands that may be made on it
during the hazardous summer
dry season. There are now 17
men and women manning 15
lookout stations in all four dist
ricts of the forest and they will
remain on 24-hour duty until
September 30, or later if condi
tions merit.
Lookouts in the Applegate
district are William Godfrey,
Tallowbox: Paul Slibran, Whis
key peak: Harry Helms, Cinna
bar; Arthur Chisholm, Dutch
man peak, and Don LaRose,
Squaw peak.
Lookouts in the Ashland dist
rict are Mr. and Mrs. Wayne
Oliver on Robinson butte and
Brooke Adkinson on Wagner
butte.
Those manning stations in the
Butte Falls district are Ben
Rush, Bessie rock; Mr. and Mrs.
Manly Bryant. Rustler peak:
Ray Oden, Devils peak, and
Fred Hussey, Blue rock.
In the Union Creek district
lookouts are Jack Nelson,
Hcrshbergcr; Paul McFarlan.
Mt. Stella; Bob Serber, Abbott
butte, and George Brown, Butler
butte.
sponsors who have not announc
ed candidates, including the
Big-Y market, Medford hotel,
Colonial inn and Trowbridge
and Flynn, Medford.
First weekly prize to the con
testant selling the most votes
will be given Saturday, July 8,
according to Dr. White, and suc
ceeding prizes will be given each
Saturday during the contest.
4ft
WEDNESDAY
Wednesday n
I
ject will require 450 yards of
burlap. Suppliers who have
been asked to fill the order
swallow hard and throw up
their hands and Wilda has got
almost to the point where he will
ask chance passersby if they
know where he can get 450
yards of burlap. But the re
sourceful crew that works be
hind the scenes at the theater
can be depended on to go direct
to the Indian jute mills if ncces-
yfM X" x i-vj
Today . . . Monday . . . Tuesday !
Take the Mt. Ashland Drive!
(Driving time 4 hours). For a few months during the sum
mer, a panoramic drive surpassed by none, proceeds up the
Applegate and its tributary, Beaver Creek, over Mt. Ash
land, and down again into the Rogue Valley. On a clear day
from the top of Mt. Ashland, the Pacific Ocean can be seen!
Visit Beautiful Lithia Park
Cool and restful, this natural park, constructed and land
scaped by Andrew McLaren, the man responsible for the
famed Golden Gate Park, features a 200 with many fasci
nating animals and birds. The kids will love it!
It's FUN
Southern
a
FROM JOE COLLEGE TO ELIZABETHAN GENTLEMAN
Douglas Russell, left, is fitting Fred Whited with an elegant medie
val costume like dozens of others Russell is creating to transform
casual collegians into ladies and gentlemen like those who peopled
the courts of Elizabeth's England. On the wall in the background
can be seen some of the sketches Russell has prepared as guides for
his crew of seamstresses. (Bob Mallon photo.)
sary. After 10 years of festival
production, they are beginning
to grow immune to obstacles.
Wilda is also charged with
carrying out the ideas of the
directors in the construction of
stage settings only they're not
settings, he says. When asked,
"Well then, what are they?", he
appeals to Bowmer for an ans
wer. After a moment's thought,
the director says. "Let's call
them 'suggestive set pieces.' " In
other words, the painted "flats"
common to the modern stage
are foreign to Elizabethan thea
ter techniques. Only the barest
essentials of a scene appear on
Yes, Snider's suggest a delightful 4th
of July week-end at Ashlanfl's outstand
ing celebration . . . there will be enter
tainment for EVERYONE . . . from out
door organ recitals and band concerts to
children's games, barbecue, rodeo events,
air show and fireworks displays. And, on
the side, why not make a few trips that
all the family will enjoy and enable
YOU to better inform your tourist guests
this sumrner? It PAYS to become a really
GOOD TOURIST HOST!
There are many fine camping spots near
Ashland in the Siskiyous, Greensprings
and in the Mt. Ashland and Wagner
Creek sections. Swim in Ashland's fine
pools . , . dance at the Elks Club and on
the Plaza . . . And be SURE to tell tour
ists this summer of the fun they can have
in Ashland.
to KNOW Your Own
Oregon Vacation Land!
the stage to suggest a far more
elaborate setting. Audiences
seem to have no difficulty in
using their imaginations to fill
in the blanks.
Those who crowd the pictur
esque theater on the Ashland
hillside August 2 to 24 to enjoy
polished performances will sea
litle that would reveal all the
work that went on behind the
scenes weeks before opening
night. To them the whole thing
will appear effortless and spoiv
taneous and that fact alone is
tribute enough to those respon
sible for Oregon's rarest enter
tainment treat.
FINE DAIRY
PRODUCTS