Fascinating and compelling play, exploring the depths of what it means to be part of a subculture when you don't want to follow all the expectations and rules of that community.
Saturday, November 16, 2019
Play #24 -- Indecent, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, October 27
This American Revolutions-commissioned play by Paula Vogel shared with us a key moment in the world of Yiddish theater in the early 20th century. God of Vengeance, a play written by Sholem Asch in central Europe, was controversial for its portrayal of Jews as real people, with brothel owners, prostitutes, and a deeply loving relationship between two women. While accepted and enjoyed in Europe, its jump to America didn't go as well. Before its Broadway run could even get off the ground, the company was arrested for public indecency.
Play #23 -- La Comedia of Errors, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, October 26
The only Shakespeare play we saw at OSF this year (!), La Comedia was a much more interesting take on one of Shakespeare's classic "mistaken identity" plays, The Comedy of Errors, than I expected.
Done entirely bilingually, the play's linguistic confusion enhanced the storyline's "twins separated at birth" identity confusion in wonderfully entertaining ways. I mean, who conceives a plot line where each of two sets of twins shares the same name? Who would be so silly?
Anyway, in this setting, the twins were separated when their Mexican parents were flying from Canada to Mexico and had a crash landing in the southern U.S. One set of brothers (one from each twin pair) stayed in the U.S. and became English speakers, and one set was deported back to Mexico. The play begins as the Mexican duo is in the U.S., searching for their brothers. They find them, or rather, are found by people who (think they) know them (wife, friends), and much hilarity ensues.
The bilingual aspect worked well, too, as rather than translate every phrase pedantically, they enlisted the help of "la vecina" (the neighbor), who sat a few chairs away from us in the audience and would break in every so often to express her opinion about the proceedings, and in the process help explain what was happening to those whose language was not being spoken as much at the time.
A surprising treat! And Bill Rauch's last directing effort (along with Mother Road) of his tenure at OSF. Since this was closing weekend, this play's audience was full of OSF company members, including Bill, Christopher Liam Moore, Danforth Comins, William DeMeritt, and possibly others I wasn't recognizing. The woman sitting beside La Vecina looked rather familiar; I think it might have been Alejandra Escalante, who wasn't in the company this year. If it was her, she was pretty incognito, though.
https://www.osfashland.org/LaComediaOfErrors
Done entirely bilingually, the play's linguistic confusion enhanced the storyline's "twins separated at birth" identity confusion in wonderfully entertaining ways. I mean, who conceives a plot line where each of two sets of twins shares the same name? Who would be so silly?
Anyway, in this setting, the twins were separated when their Mexican parents were flying from Canada to Mexico and had a crash landing in the southern U.S. One set of brothers (one from each twin pair) stayed in the U.S. and became English speakers, and one set was deported back to Mexico. The play begins as the Mexican duo is in the U.S., searching for their brothers. They find them, or rather, are found by people who (think they) know them (wife, friends), and much hilarity ensues.
The bilingual aspect worked well, too, as rather than translate every phrase pedantically, they enlisted the help of "la vecina" (the neighbor), who sat a few chairs away from us in the audience and would break in every so often to express her opinion about the proceedings, and in the process help explain what was happening to those whose language was not being spoken as much at the time.
A surprising treat! And Bill Rauch's last directing effort (along with Mother Road) of his tenure at OSF. Since this was closing weekend, this play's audience was full of OSF company members, including Bill, Christopher Liam Moore, Danforth Comins, William DeMeritt, and possibly others I wasn't recognizing. The woman sitting beside La Vecina looked rather familiar; I think it might have been Alejandra Escalante, who wasn't in the company this year. If it was her, she was pretty incognito, though.
https://www.osfashland.org/LaComediaOfErrors
Pub #22 -- Standing Stone Brewing Company, Ashland, Ore., October 26
Standing Stone is Ashland's longstanding brew pub, situated right downtown near OSF. Not the first in town (Rogue Brewery actually started here back in the late 80s!), it is the oldest one still standing. As it were. Ahem.
Steeped in sustainability and locavore values, Standing Stone raises its beef and lamb at One Mile Farm, a nearby farm project they started in 2011.
The food is always very good. The beer selection is sometimes a bit limited, but I can usually find something of interest. Basically, they don't seem to brew a lot of seasonals, and I'm not always in the mood for their regular selections.
This time I got Darth Vator, a dark, sweet, high-octane lager, and C got the Oak St. Amber. We were with our friends Vicki and Mike once again, who braved another OSF adventure weekend with us.
https://www.standingstonebrewing.com/mission/
Steeped in sustainability and locavore values, Standing Stone raises its beef and lamb at One Mile Farm, a nearby farm project they started in 2011.
The food is always very good. The beer selection is sometimes a bit limited, but I can usually find something of interest. Basically, they don't seem to brew a lot of seasonals, and I'm not always in the mood for their regular selections.
This time I got Darth Vator, a dark, sweet, high-octane lager, and C got the Oak St. Amber. We were with our friends Vicki and Mike once again, who braved another OSF adventure weekend with us.
https://www.standingstonebrewing.com/mission/
Play #22 -- Mother Road, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, October 26
Back to Ashland for more plays!!! Four more, this time. Once again we traveled with our friends Vicki and Mike from Eugene, and started our adventures with a yummy breakfast at the Cresswell Bakery.
In reading about the background and development of this play, OSF included a recent New York Times article about the largest round of deportations we've never heard of. And they were right, I'd never heard of this! In the 1930s, deep in the throes of the Great Depression, Herbert Hoover enforced a "jobs for real Americans" effort by rounding up and deporting almost two million Mexicans in southern California. They called this "repatriation," even though around one million of those deported were actually American citizens. So appalling.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2018/08/13/the-time-a-president-deported-1-million-mexican-americans-for-stealing-u-s-jobs/
This was one of two plays Bill Rauch directed in his last year as Artistic Director. It is sad to see him go. As this was closing weekend, he was in the audience, along with a few other OSF company members. The most recognizable one was Daisuke Tsuji from Cambodian Rock Band, with his Cyclos jacket on.
Mother Road, a world premiere from Oregon playwright Octavio Solis, is a modern sequel of The Grapes of Wrath. Weaving the threads of the Dust Bowl migrations of Okie farmers to California with the more recent migrations of Mexican farmers to the U.S., this story follows William Joad, a cousin of Tom Joad (protagonist of The Grapes of Wrath) who stayed and farmed in Oklahoma and Tom Joad's descendant, Martin Jodes, who was born in Mexico. After meeting in California, they set off on a road trip back to Oklahoma, down Route 66, the Mother Road.
In reading about the background and development of this play, OSF included a recent New York Times article about the largest round of deportations we've never heard of. And they were right, I'd never heard of this! In the 1930s, deep in the throes of the Great Depression, Herbert Hoover enforced a "jobs for real Americans" effort by rounding up and deporting almost two million Mexicans in southern California. They called this "repatriation," even though around one million of those deported were actually American citizens. So appalling.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2018/08/13/the-time-a-president-deported-1-million-mexican-americans-for-stealing-u-s-jobs/
This was one of two plays Bill Rauch directed in his last year as Artistic Director. It is sad to see him go. As this was closing weekend, he was in the audience, along with a few other OSF company members. The most recognizable one was Daisuke Tsuji from Cambodian Rock Band, with his Cyclos jacket on.
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