by Gianina Lomedico
Staff Writer
The University of La Verne will be taking 26-30 people to its 22nd year at the Ashland Oregon Shakespeare Festival on June 30-July 8. The festival will showcase eight plays in the Elizabethan Theater, Black Swan and Angus Bowmer Theater.
The Elizabethan Theater will feature three William Shakespeare plays, “The Merchant of Venice,” “Troilus and Cressida” and “The Merry Wives of Windsor.” Other plays will include “Life is a Dream” by Pedro Calderon de la Barca and “Oo-Bla-Dee” by Regina Taylor.
The festival will also include seminars, lectures, actors’ visits, backstage tours, cabarets and park talks with potluck picnics. A Fourth of July celebration will be held with a parade, booths and food stands. Along with the plays, there will also be a show entitled “Green Show: Period Song and Dance” in a park like setting. Recreational activities include lodging in the Southern Oregon University dorms, biking, hiking, horseback riding, river rafting, swimming pools and a gym which will add to the small town atmosphere event.
Rhoda S. Kachuck, former professor of English at ULV, is now coordinating the event. She first became aware of it when she went with a fellowship with 10 other college teachers of Shakespeare on a national endowment from the Humanities Department. Kachuck took two classes of Shakespeare in school, but truly fell in love with Shakespeare when she attended Ashland.
“Once I went to Ashland, I became so focused into Shakespeare. God, If I could let people experience what I have experienced,” said Kachuck. Ever since that time, Kachuck has been taking all her drama classes to Ashland.
“It is great to read dramatic literature. It is even greater to see it and reflect on it just like we do at Ashland. Theatre comes to life at Ashland because the audience can get different takes on things such as the sets and the designs. The reading of Shakespeare is rich and deep and has an insight into characters. Theatre is beautiful literature and it is magnificently done at Ashland,” said Kachuck.
Senior Steve Compton described what he liked about Ashland. “It is the whole experience. Ashland is a great little town and a great week. Reading all the plays is just another side when you get to see the plays. You do not have to be an English major to appreciate them,” he said.
Kachuck’s duties of coordinating the Ashland trip include, but are not limited to arranging the publicity, needs for accommodations, layout of “The Ashlander” brochure, pay for the deposit of the seats and keeping tracked of the room at the dorms.
Lodging costs for the Ashland trip includes a $620 double occupancy dorm room or $710 single occupancy. A participation fee of $150 is included, if the trip is not taken as a two-four unit class, and students need to register for English 449 or Theatre Arts 400 in the spring or summer session.
There is a total of eight plays in the nine-day visit to Ashland. An appropriate theatre touch includes transportation “as you like it.”
