ASHLAND, Ore.– 2019 has shaped up to be a successful year for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.
According to the festival, it had 850 shows – the most in OSF history. On top of that, the festival had over 360,000 visitors over the course of the season generating nearly $21 million.
With a mild fire season contributing to the positive turnout, the festival says there’s a lot to be happy about.
“We had 18 performances off-campus this season as a first of La Comedia of Errors which is a translation of The Comedy of Errors,” said OSF spokesperson CJ Martinez. “A Spanish to English and English to Spanish translation and that’s a first for the company.”
Martinez says that because of the light amount of smoke this year, it seemed a lot of people returned to the festival.
“I think that’s helped us in many ways return to levels of attendance and interest from those who have to travel great distances to us in 2019,” said Martinez. “So we’re hoping that will carry over from 2019 to 2020.”
While it was good this year, OSF is still planning and preparing for the case of another bad smoky season like 2018.
This was the first year for a new artistic director as well. OSF selected Nataki Garrett to succeed Bill Rauch as artistic director. But the festival is still in the process of choosing a permanent executive director.
The hope is to find a candidate before the beginning of the 2020 season in March. To learn more about what’s in store for the 2020 season, you can find out at the OSF website.
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