Jim Panttaja

This is our 20th year visiting the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Oregon. We have arrived [see Mary’s post: Summer Theatre Begins], and now seen our first play (some of us saw The Tempest, and others As You Like It).

For our four year old granddaughter, this is her fifth year at the festival. We wore her out yesterday running and swimming. As we waited for dinner, she asked to sit on my lap. Two minutes later, it was clear she was going to sleep through dinner. I was able to lay her down next to me so I could eat my dinner. As we finished dinner, she woke from her well planned nap (woke enough so that I could carry her) - and we went to the Green Show - the highlight of her visit (my niece will see her first play later this week - now that she is six).

As a rotating repertory theater - we are able to see many plays (seven this year) in a short visit. And we are able to see actors multiple times - often in very different roles. And - having visited the festival for 20 years - we can see actors in many plays over the years. Of course not every actor comes back year after year - but there are many who do - sometimes with a gap in years.

Last night, Derrick Lee Weeden played Prospero. He can disappear on stage when appropriate - but he is at his best in a big role like Prospero where he is meant to command the stage whenever he is on it. His voice can boom, or draw you in to a conspiratorial moment. And every word is there - clear - meaningful. And this performance was not his Othelo, or Coriolanus, Harold Looomis in Joe Turner’s Come and Gone (perhaps the first time I saw him here - 14 years ago).

Another notable performance last night was Dan Donohoe as Caliban - under his make-up and costume, it took awhile to convince myself it was him. He groveled and winced his way through the play - not at all his Hal from Henry IV, Part One and Two, or certainly not his incredible Dvornichek from Rough Crossing. But brilliant.

Four more days (plus the drive home) to enjoy with four generations of our family - about seventeen of us in all. Food, plays, talk. Talk about food, talk about plays, and just talk.