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OSF launches 2003 season By Sean Wolfe Ashland Daily Tidings After a winter's hiatus, Oregon Shakespeare Festival retook the stage Friday night with the opening act of its 2003 season - a modern-dress interpretation of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Opening its Angus Bowmer theater to a semi-full house, the play delighted many longtime OSF play-goers, and put off others who were unprepared to see Shakespeare's love story staged by actors wearing leather pants and black T-shirts, and accompanied by thumping electronica. Romeo, played by Kevin Kenerly, and Juliet, played by Nancy Rodriguez, profess undying - and dying - love on the Angus Bowmer stage. Former Oregon Secretary of State Bill Bradley was in the audience, and at intermission had nothing but praise for the production. "It's great - incredible. Actually it really works, and the whole thing is very striking. It's the poetry of language that keeps you totally involved in the action," Bradley said. Ron Danko, a Southern Oregon University communications adjunct lecturer, is a longtime OSF patron. As a director for 11 years at the Salinas, Calif.-based Western Stage, Danko has directed modern-dress interpretations of Shakespeare, including a well-reviewed version of The Merchant of Venice, in which characters are dressed in 1930s gangster costumes. "People do these kinds of interpretations all the time, and most of the time, I don't think it works. This time it does, because they're not imposing on the text, and the text is what brings you through the extraneous things like costume. You're drawn into it," Danko said. Clarice Draper, a perennial OSF supporter from New York City, had a more mixed reaction to the play. "I thought it was a big stretch, and I was a bit unprepared for it. I admire and respect what they're doing, but I would find it difficult - if I were a teacher of Shakespeare - to explain to my students what I saw tonight," Draper said. The play stars Kevin Kenerly and Nancy Rodriguez in the title roles of Romeo and Juliet, and was directed by Loretta Greco, who also directed OSF's production of Stop Kiss. Kenerly, an eight-year veteran of OSF, is slated to again share the stage with Rodriguez - who has two years at OSF to her credit - when the festival opens its production of Antony and Cleopatra on April 2. Kenerly appears as Caesar and Rodriguez as Octavia. Now in its 68th year, OSF has an aggressive slate of plays for its 8-month-long 2003 season, with 778 performances scheduled through November 2. LINKS: DAILY TIDINGS: Main | News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Opinion | Columnists | AP News | Subscribe | Archives | Weather | Classifieds | Contact Us | Privacy REVELS: Main | Calendar | Dining | Movies | T.V. OTHER: Road Cams Copyright 2003 Ashland Daily Tidings 541.482.3456. 1661 Siskiyou Blvd., Ashland, OR 97520. Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. - Advertisers -