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[an error occurred while processing this directive] (none) Ashland Schools Project By Mercedes Binh Ly Ashland Daily Tidings Area students interested in learning more about the different facets of live theater have several opportunities to do so through a number of programs and workshops offered through the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Two programs designed specifically for school-aged students in the Ashland School District are the Ashland High School Partnership and the Ashland Schools Project. In the fall of 1993, a school-business partnership between OSF and Ashland High School was forged in response to Measure 5, which significantly reduced education funds in Oregon. In Ashland schools, the budget cuts took a large toll on the arts. Under the partnership contract, OSF company members teach a master class each year, assist in production of three shows at AHS as well as serve as mentors to theater students. "The Ashland High School partnership helps give students a connection to OSF," said Kim Donohue, associate director of education at OSF. "Throughout their years in the school system, we hope to continue building that relationship with them." Last fall, OSF actor Doug Rowe, directed and acted in an AHS production of Thornton Wilder's "Our Town," a timeless classic about the appreciation of the extraordinary in our ordinary day-to-day lives. The cooperative production of AHS theater students and OSF professional actors and technicians is two-fold, according to AHS Theater Coordinator Betsy Bishop. It not only exposes students to live theater but it also helps them attain professional and technical training for their Certificate of Advanced Mastery or CAM, she said. "Douglas Rowe and our mentors and designers from OSF have a `halo effect' of professionalism that enhances the students' appreciation of work in the theater," Bishop said. "It's hard work. It's a `serious play' and the more they rehearse with Doug, the more they learn about the process." While the AHS Partnership targets students at the high school, the Ashland Schools Project involves all schools in the district with the goal of providing students with an on-going connection to OSF throughout their educational experience. "Theater provides a physically safe way for young people to explore sometimes very challenging issues that they may be faced with in our society," Donohue said. "Students are able to reflect on what they have seen and experienced in the theater, and talk about their thoughts and ideas on many issues and topics that may relate to them." Students in the third through eighth grades see a two-person version of the Shakespeare play showing at the Angus Bowmer Theater each season. Following the play, students engage in a short discussion with the actors. Color copies of costume renderings, fabric swatches and properties (props) from past productions of the play are shared with fifth grade students while seventh and eighth grade students rotate between attending an OSF backstage tour or visiting with OSF artisans every other year. Each fall, freshman English students at AHS attend the Shakespeare play showing in the Angus Bowmer Theater where students have a prologue before the play and engage in a follow-up discussion with an OSF company member following the play. "Shakespeare's plays have timeless themes and issues that still speak to us today," Donohue said. "Students can oftentimes relate to many of these issues, at the same time Shakespeare challenges all of us with large issues and I think students want to take on that challenge." Other programs available to students include the Summer Seminar for High School Juniors, an intensive two-week seminar beginning July 30 to August 12 for theater students between their junior and senior years in high school. Students attend all nine OSF productions and participate in workshops and forums ranging from Renaissance dance to fund-raising, scenic design to stage combat, stage management to Shakespearean verse. In order to be considered for acceptance, interested students must complete a rigorous application. The program's cost of $1,050 includes room and board at Southern Oregon University, theater tickets and all workshops and forums. OSF founder Angus Bowmer created School Visit Program to excite young people about live theater, the works of Shakespeare, and OSF. Each year, up to eight teams of two actors tour schools throughout the West Coast presenting Shakespeare and literature assemblies and conducting workshops. One three-actor team does a one-week tour of high schools and colleges presenting a number of assembly performances and conducting a wider range of classes. Students have the opportunity to see and hear the works of William Shakespeare and other great writers presented in a manner that relates to their own experiences and engages their imaginations. They also participate in workshops designed to expose them to the various elements of the theater process. The Bowmer Project for Student Playgoers provides free tickets to selected local classes in Jackson, Josephine, Klamath and Siskiyou counties. Ten high school and middle school teachers are accepted to the program and each teacher selects a class of 15 to 30 students to participate. The teachers attend workshops at the festival to prepare them to teach the plays to their students while students attend the plays and a backstage tour of OSF. An OSF company member visits each class for a follow-up session. Students who complete the program receive a pass, allowing the student and a guest attendance at any not-sold-out performance for the rest of the season. Actors' Theatre Alexs Restaurant Ali Ross/ Real Estate Agent Allyson's of Ashland Aphrodite's Salon Asante Health Ashland Community Food Store Ashland Community Hospital Ashland Homes Real Estate Ashland Springs Spa Associates for Oral & Maxillo Beasy's On The Creek Big Kahuna in the Park Bloomsbury Books Bookwagon New & Used Books Charter Communications Chateaulin Restaurant Conversations With God Center Cycle Sport Denny's Restaurant Earthly Goods Womens' Apparel Enchanted Attic Energy Outfitters Gateway Real Estate Grants Pass Visitor's Bureau Greenleaf Restaurant Hellgate Excursions Hot Spring Spas Jacksonville Inn John L. Scott Real Estate of So. Oregon Kat Wok Restaurant Klamath First Federal La Fiesta Mexican Restaurant Lithia Artisans Lithia Real Estate Martino's & Macaroni's Ristorante McDonalds Out of the Blue Patricia Sprague Real Estate Pizza Hut Remax Realty Group St. Mary's School Sara Walker/ Real Estate Agent Scheffels Toys Shop'n Kart Tamale Dog Taqueria The Apple Cellar The Galice Resort The Living Gallery Tudor Guild Gift Shop Twenty-four Pont Home Textiles Two Pines Unicorn Gifts and Toys Winchester Inn Windermere Van Vleet & Assoc. Real Estate Windmill Inn Ashland Daily Tidings 1661 Siskiyou Blvd. Ashland, OR 97520 Telephone 541-482-3456 © Copyright 2001 Lee Northwest Publishing