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More people coming to the Cabaret Theatre Valerie Rachelle Thursday Nov 17, 2016 at 1:26 PM Nov 17, 2016 at 1:26 PM By Jeffrey Gillespie For the Tidings Valerie Rachelle, artistic director at Oregon Cabaret Theatre, has — along with her husband, Rick Robinson — been steadily building the company’s reputation as a saucy and sassy venue for "off-Bardway" theatrical entertainment. With a highly successful season about to draw to a close, I caught up with Rachelle to chat about their final show of the season, the 2016 season, and her hopes for the future. JG: You have just been through a very successful couple of productions at OCT. Tell us about your last production of the year, which is a little different from the last two!  VR: We did push the envelope with "Bat Boy" and "Rocky Horror" and had a great time producing those two musicals! We were very proud of both shows. "Rocky" was so successful that we are thinking of bringing it back next October with as much of the same cast as possible. "The Pine Mountain Lodge," our next production, is a romance that's set in an old hotel in upstate New York, just after the end of World War II. A young pilot returns from the war to take over the hotel from his recently deceased father. He means to sell the lodge after the final holiday show is performed that year, but two feuding ghosts and former song and dance partners have to try to convince the young man to keep the theater alive. There are romantic boy meets girl twists, lots of dancing, and all of this is set to the timeless music of Irving Berlin. This is a very personal story to us. My husband, Rick Robinson, wrote the book but we crafted the story together, mostly over a series of long casting road trips. At its heart it's about two people falling in love and running a beloved theater — something Rick and I can relate to. JG: You and your husband have been aggressively building OCT's reputation in the Rogue Valley. Are you seeing results that you like? What do you have planned for the future? VR: We are so blessed to be here in Ashland creating theater in a fantastic town with supportive patrons and talented fellow artists — we really can only be as good as the people who help us create these pieces, from designers and stage managers to the terrific core of actors that have been coming in to work with us. We're on track to sell about 32,000 tickets this year. Last year, our first season here, we sold over 29,000, which was 14 percent more than the previous year as well. We hope that people will continue to come to experience our cabaret magic, and we will do our part to continue to push the envelope of what our little theater is capable of. JG: In addition to working as artistic director, you also do a lot of choreography and acting in the shows. How is that for you? What is your background there? VR: I was born and raised in Eugene and was a dancer for most of my youth with the Eugene Ballet Company. After getting a BFA in acting from California Institute of the Arts, I worked a bit as a performer and a choreographer, but found the latter to be more conducive to getting my bills paid. When I was 26, I decided to go back to school and got my Master of Fine Arts in Directing from UC Irvine, where I studied under Keith Fowler, who had a profound impact on me as young artist. I had good instincts, but in school I grew as a collaborator and a communicator. Being an actor myself, as well as director, I know that the actor is best suited to do the work of finding his or her character — I can guide them and shape choices, but the onus of building this living, breathing person onstage is on the performer. I really do enjoy performing, but much prefer being on the other side of the footlights — it's the creative process that thrills me more than the actual performances. I know I'll get back onstage again to play a role I've always loved — a role like Meredith in "Bat Boy" — but for the near future I am so excited to be directing and choreographing without having to scrub the makeup off my face night after night. JG: What is your dream scenario for the future of OCT? VR: My dream scenario is to be a place where people come to feel the joy and passion that live theater can bring you. There is nothing in this world that can replace live story telling — flesh and blood humans telling stories that not only entertain but can have the power to create empathy, love and change to this world. I would love to be a theater with a reputation for high production quality, talented artists, and a unique place to experience theater art. I want to make each show better than the last, to keep pushing the art until the audience trusts us and is comfortable with the occasional piece that stretches them. We aim for a national reputation — both as a great place for artists to work and as a part of what makes Ashland such a vibrant destination for theater-goers. Ashland resident Jeffrey Gillespie is a Tidings columnist and freelance writer. Email him at [email protected].