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46 °F 5 Day Forecast Sunday, November 30, 2003 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | eSouthernOregon | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People CLASSIFIEDS Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Find a Rental Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Email Story to a Friend November 5, 2003 OSF pleased with 2003 season results By BILL VARBLE Mail Tribune ASHLAND — Attendance at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival this year fell about 18,000 seats below the record 2002 season, but box office revenue jumped to $13.15 million, a new record. The OSF’s nine-month season saw 381,340 tickets sold to 795 performances of 11 plays in three theaters. Overall attendance was 86 percent of capacity. Slightly fewer than 400,000 tickets were sold in 2002, or 88 percent of capacity, to 795 performances. "We think it was a good season," said OSF spokeswoman Amy Richard. Advertisement The box office was hurt by weak attendance for both halves of "Continental Divide," a two-play cycle by Tony Award-winning playwright David Edgar. The plays had their world premieres March 1 at the festival. "Mothers Against," staged at the 276-seat New Theatre, drew 71 percent of capacity. "Daughters of the Revolution," at the 601-seat Angus Bowmer Theatre, fared almost as badly, drawing just 75 percent. "Sure, we’d love for them to have done better," Richard said. "You have to factor in that they’re new plays." Additionally, the first play of the season in the OSF’s smallest venue traditionally struggles for audience, perhaps because it’s not the summer tourist season yet. OSF’s one undeniable blockbuster was "A Midsummer Night’s Dream," by William Shakespeare, which played to 101 percent of capacity at the 1,188-seat Elizabethan Theatre. Shakespeare’s "Antony and Cleopatra" was another hit, with 96 percent, in the New Theatre. August Wilson’s "The Piano Lesson," about a black family in 1930s Pittsburgh, came in third, at 92 percent. In contrast, two 2002 productions hit 100 percent or more, and two more came in at 97 percent or better. Comparisons with seasons before that do not reflect the same potential audience, since the OSF’s intimate Black Swan was replaced by the much larger New Theatre in 2002. The OSF’s third world premiere this season, "Lorca in a Green Dress," by Nilo Cruz, played to 83 percent of capacity. It was also a new play staged in the New Theatre, but it opened in July, and Cruz had just won the Pulitzer Prize. The season ended Sunday with performances of "Lorca" and Shakespeare’s "Romeo and Juliet." Box office revenues reached a record thanks in large part to increases of 5 to 10 percent in ticket prices over last year and smaller discounts for previews. In other highlights of the season, the OSF exhibited a 1623 edition of the "First Folio" of works by Shakespeare, on loan from Microsoft billionaire Paul Allen, and was singled out as one of the nation’s top regional theaters by Time magazine. The festival raised $54,000 in its annual AIDS-HIV Daedalus Project, and it hosted a broadcast of National Public Radio’s "West Coast Live" in the Bowmer. The OSF’s 2004 season includes the world premiere of Frank Galati’s "Oedipus Complex" and, in a first for the festival, parts one, two and three of Shakespeare’s "Henry VI." Ticket sales to the public begin Jan. 20. Reach reporter Bill Varble at 776-4478 or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2003 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions Website Feedback 3 WEEKS FREE! ADVERTISERS SPECIAL SECTIONS Auto Finder Job Finder Home Finder Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Tempo Real Estate Showcase Food for Thought Hike of the Week Wellness Connection Outdoor Journal Moving to Southern Oregon? Volunteer Openings Prime Times