ASHLAND, ORE. - Oregon Shakespeare Festival Artistic Director Libby Appel announced the
2007 season today at OSF's board meeting. Ms. Appel noted that choosing her final season was exciting, challenging and poignant,
and while she had to leave out several plays that she would have loved to do, she believes she has come up with a wonderful
list for all three theatres. "I'm always filled with anticipation as we develop plans for the new season", she continued,
"but 2007 has the added thrill of great expectations as we celebrate our 72nd year and my final season as artistic director."
Included on the list are two commissions: a new adaptation by Ms. Appel of Chekhov's The
Cherry Orchard (from Sta literal translation by Allison Horsley, literary manager at the La Jolla
Playhouse) which she will direct, and Tracy's Tiger, a chamber musical adapted from a novel by William Saroyan by OSF
Associate Artistic Director Penny Metropulos (see director biographical information below), OSF actor Linda Alper, former
OSF Director of Literary Development and Dramaturgy Douglas Langworthy and composer Sterling Tinsley. Tracy's Tiger,
like the 2005 production of Robert Schenkkan's By the Waters of Babylon, was commissioned for the OSF company. The
play has a cast of 10 actors, with three to four musicians and will be directed by Ms. Metropulos in the New Theatre.
All three plays in the New Theatre next season are contemporary, cutting-edge work. David
Lindsay-Abaire's Rabbit Hole, a drama about a couple dealing with an agonizing loss, premiered earlier this year to
great acclaim at the Manhattan Theatre Club where it continues to run. It will open at the top of the season. Lindsay-Abaire's
quirky comedy, Fuddy Meers, produced at OSF in 2001 and directed by OSF Associate Artist James Edmondson, was hugely
popular. Mr. Edmondson will also direct Rabbit Hole.
Opening in July in the New Theatre will be Lisa Loomer's Distracted, one mother's
wild journey to figure out if her son has Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), what it is and what to do about it. Distracted
will be directed by guest artist Liz Diamond.
Ms. Appel describes the plays staged in the Angus Bowmer Theatre next season as "classic"
in nature - all of enduring excellence. At the top of the season will be William Shakespeare's As You Like It, directed
by J.R. Sullivan, who directed OSF's 2005 production of Room Service. From Tom oppard, author of the overwhelming hit Rough Crossing, will be his rollicking comedy On the Razzle, directed
by guest artist Laird Williamson. The third play to open will be the world premiere adaptation of The Cherry Orchard.
August Wilson's Gem of the Ocean, the ninth, and penultimate, play of his canon, will open in April. Directed by Associate
Artistic Director Timothy Bond, the cast will feature Greta Oglesby in the role of Aunt Ester (cast as
Ma Rainey in 2005 and Paulina in The Winter's Tale in 2006). The final show to open will be Moliére's Tartuffe,
last produced at OSF in 1978, this comic tale of hypocrisy and deception will be directed by guest artist Peter Amster.
A blockbuster outdoor season of some of William Shakespeare's most popular plays will be
produced on the Elizabethan Stage. Guest artist Bill Rauch will direct the ever-favorite Romeo and Juliet; Kate Buckley,
a newcomer to OSF, will direct The Taming of the Shrew; and Ms. Appel will return to the Elizabethan one last time
to direct The Tempest.
OSF currently has four productions running in repertory: William Shakespeare's The Winter's
Tale, Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest, Goodrich and Hackett's The Diary of Anne Frank (newly
adapted by Wendy Kesselman) and Bridget Carpenter's UP. For more information about the 2006 season and ticket availability,
go to www.osfashland.org. For tickets, visit us online or call (541) 482-4331.
2007 Playbill with Directors (subject to change)
Angus Bowmer Theatre
As You Like It by William Shakespeare
February - November
Director: J.R. Sullivan
On the Razzle by Tom Stoppard
February - November
Director: Laird Williamson
The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov
February - July
Adapted by Libby Appel
from a literal translation by Allison Horsley
Director: Libby Appel
Gem of the Ocean by August Wilson
April - November
Director:
Timothy Bond
Tartuffe by Moliére
July - November
Director: Peter Amster
New Theatre
Rabbit Hole by David Lindsay-Abaire
February - July
Director: James Edmondson
Tracy's Tiger, adapted from a novel by William Saroyan by Penny Metropulos, Linda
Alper, Douglas Langworthy and Sterling Tinsley
March - November
Director: Penny Metropulos
Distracted by Lisa Loomer
July - November
Director: Liz Diamond
The Elizabethan Stage/Allen Pavilion
The Tempest by William Shakespeare
June - October
Director: Libby Appel
Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
June - October
Director: Bill Rauch
The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare
June - October
Director: Kate
Buckley
Director's Brief Biographical Information
(For more comprehensive biographies, visit our website at www.osfashland.org/about/people/company.aspx
)
Libby Appel has directed at the Festival for 14 seasons and became Artistic Director in
1995. Her most recent directing credits include The Winter's Tale, Bus Stop, Richard III, Henry VI, Part One, Henry VI,
Parts Two & Three, Richard II, Macbeth, Henry V, Three Sisters and Uncle Vanya. She has directed at numerous
regional theatres, among them Indiana Repertory Theatre where she was artistic director from 1992-1996. She served as dean
and artistic director of the School of Theatre at the California Institute of the Arts and head of the acting program at California
State University at Long Beach.
Peter Amster has directed at the Festival for six seasons and his recent credits include
The Importance of Being Earnest, Twelfth Night, The Royal Family, Present Laughter, Idiot's Delight and Enter the
Guardsman. Mr. Amster has directed at numerous theatres and opera companies throughout the country. He has taught at Northwestern
University, CalArts, Louisiana State University and Roosevelt University, where he was the director of the musical theatre
and opera programs.
Timothy Bond came to OSF in 1996 as Associate Artistic Director. His recent directing credits
include Intimate Apparel, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Topdog/Underdog, The Piano Lesson and Who's Afraid of Virginia
Woolf?. Prior to coming to OSF he was Artistic Director of the Seattle Group Theatre from 1991-1996, where he directed
more than 20 productions. He also served as Artistic Director of the Paul Robeson Theatre in Seattle. In 2003 he was awarded
the Lorraine Hansberry Visiting Professorship at University of Wisconsin in Madison. He continues to direct at numerous other
regional theaters in the country.
Kate Buckley is a founding member and resident text coach at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater.
From 2001 to the present she has been artistic director of Next Theatre in Chicago. She has directed at numerous theatres
throughout the country including The Goodman Theatre, Writers Theatre, Utah Shakespearean Festival, Kansas City Repertory,
American Players Theatre, and others.
James Edmondson, OSF Associate Artist, has acted and directed at the Festival since 1973.
His recent directing credits include The Diary of Anne Frank, The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus, King Lear, Wild Oats,
Fuddy Meers and Rough Crossing. His numerous roles at OSF have included Lear in King Lear, Willy Loman in
Death of a Salesman, George in Of Mice and Men, Mephostophilis in The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus,
Shylock in The Merchant of Venice, and Leontes in The Winter's Tale. In addition, he directs and acts at regional
theaters throughout the country.
Penny Metropulos has been at OSF for 14 seasons as both actor (three years) and director,
and in 1996 she became one of two Associate Artistic Directors. She has directed 18 productions at OSF, among them The
Philanderer, Humble Boy, Lorca in a Green Dress, The Tempest, The Night of the Iguana, The Good Person of Szechuan, The Three
Musketeers and Death of a Salesman. She has recently directed at Arena Stage and Chicago Shakespeare Theater.
Liz Diamond, the Resident Director of Yale Repertory Theatre, returns to OSF for her third
season to direct Distracted. She directed the 2000 production of The Trojan Women and the 2005 production of
Gibraltar.
Bill Rauch was recently appointed the Claire Trevor Professor of Drama at UC Irvine. He
founded Cornerstone Theatre in Los Angeles, where he was the Artistic Director for 20 years, directing more than 40 of the
company's productions, many of them collaborations with diverse communities across the nation. He has
directed four productions at OSF including the 2005 season's world premiere of Robert Schenkkan's By the Waters of Babylon.
He has received numerous awards, including the Leadership for a Changing World Award.
J.R. Sullivan returns to OSF for his second season, having directed Room Service
in 2005. He has directed at numerous theatres throughout the country, including Studio Theatre, American Players Theatre,
Pearl Theatre, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, and Utah Shakespearean Festival, where he is the Associate Artistic Director.
He was formerly Producing Artistic Director of the New American Theater in Rockford, Illinois, a company he founded in 1972.
He has worked internationally directing; as a teacher, actor and director, he has taught at The Second City in Chicago. He
has performed more than 200 times in his own adaptation of works of the journalist and screenwriter Ben Hecht, A Child
of the Century.
Laird Williamson has been with the Festival for 12 seasons - five acting and seven directing.
In 2006 he will direct Cyrano de Bergerac. Other directing credits at OSF include Much Ado about Nothing, Julius
Caesar, Life Is a Dream, Pericles, Room Service, Loves Labor's Lost, The Alchemist, Henry V, The Two Gentlemen of Verona
and Titus Andronicus. He has extensive directing credits at American Conservatory Theater, Denver Center Theatre Company,
The Shakespeare Theatre, Guthrie Theater, Old Globe Theatre, PCPA Theaterfest, among others.
(end)
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