'Show must go on,' OSF moves several plays indoors

ASHLAND, Ore.– The Oregon Shakespeare Festival has been forced to cancel multiple shows performed on the Elizabethan Stage this year and has moved several more indoors playing into the traditional idiom of “the show must go on.”

Plays originally set for performance at the outdoor stage have been moving indoors to Ashland High School’s Mountain Avenue theatre. OSF says the alternative is better than canceling the shows altogether but the solution isn’t set in stone.

While it’s easy to move most of the sets over to the high school if need be OSF says it wants to try to hold performances at the historic outdoor stage if possible.

It’s a day-to-day decision until the smoke eases up however and will require OSF officials to either check conditions and make the call early in the morning to move the play over to the high school or hold off and hope the weather holds out.

“If things look promising then we may decide not to do the alternate and see if we are going to be able to do that night’s performance outdoors but that still does leave open the chance that we’ll have to cancel altogether if things change and go down hill,” said Julie Cortez, communications manager for OSF.

Moving indoors helps to make back some of the money usually lost from a cancellation but it’s by no means a full recovery.

Last year, OSF says it had to cancel nine shows at the Elizabethan due to smoke. This year, that number has hit 11 (including three plays already moved to the high school) with possibly more to come.