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Gold Hill police levy discussions criticized ... Get Up & Go: Monday, Feb. 23 ... Man critically burned in trailer fire ... Gold Hill police levy discussions criticized ... Get Up & Go: Monday, Feb. 23 ... THEATER OSF kicks off its 2015 season Stories of a lover tricked into believing his beloved is unfaithful have been around at least since ancient Rome. But it fell to Shakespeare to give such a tale perhaps its most delightful telling ever in "Much Ado About Nothing." Comment By Bill Varble for the Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Bill Varble for the Mail Tribune Posted Feb. 19, 2015 at 2:00 AM Updated Feb 19, 2015 at 3:37 PM By Bill Varble for the Mail Tribune Posted Feb. 19, 2015 at 2:00 AM Updated Feb 19, 2015 at 3:37 PM --> 2015 at OSF William Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing" will open the Oregon Shakespeare Festival's 2015 season Friday, Feb. 27, in the Angus Bowmer Theatre in Ashland, the f... » Read more X 2015 at OSF William Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing" will open the Oregon Shakespeare Festival's 2015 season Friday, Feb. 27, in the Angus Bowmer Theatre in Ashland, the first of four plays opening over the weekend. The season, OSF's 80th, runs from Feb. 20 through Nov. 1. Shakespeare’s "Pericles," directed by Joseph Haj, will take the stage Saturday afternoon in the OSF's Thomas Theatre. The classic musical "Guys and Dolls," directed by Mary Zimmerman, will open in the Bowmer Theatre that evening. The world-premiere production of Alexa Junge's "Fingersmith," based on the novel by Sarah Waters and directed by OSF Artistic Director Bill Rauch, will open in the Bowmer Sunday afternoon. This year, OSF is touting its commitment to produce the entire Shakespearean canon in a decade. OSF will stage three Shakespeare plays this season and is already outlining its course for Shakespeare productions for 2016 and 2017. Shakespeare’s first romance, "Pericles," was last produced at OSF in 1999. This production will be based on Haj’s 2008 staging at PlayMakers Repertory Company in Chapel Hill, N.C., where he is producing artistic director. A new cast and some new designers have joined Haj to help recreate a similar vision. Haj describes "Pericles" as a "sophisticated and spiritual play" which he feels needs a strong musical element. Composer Jack Herrick will update his score from the 2008 staging for this production. "Pericles" is the story of the Prince of Tyre, who sets out to woo a princess and ends up in a harrowing adventure. But this is a romance, so the miraculous can and does happen. The cast features Wayne T. Carr as Pericles, Armando Durán as Gower/Ensemble and Brooke Parks as Thaisa/Dionyza/Ensemble. The scenic designer is Jan Chambers, costumes are by Raquel Barreto, lighting by Rui Rita, sound design by Amadon Jaeger and video projections by Francesca Talenti. "Guys and Dolls: A Musical Fable of Broadway," running Feb. 22 to Nov. 1, has music and lyrics by Frank Loesser and book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows, and is based on stories and characters by Damon Runyon. Mary Zimmerman ("The White Snake," 2012) returns to OSF to direct this classic '50s musical. Zimmerman, who likes plays about transformations, says she's on familiar ground because "Guys and Dolls" has its share. Nathan Detroit runs the oldest established permanent floating craps game in New York, and his fiancée, Adelaide, has been waiting 14 years to walk down the aisle with him. The cast features Jeremy Peter Johnson as Sky Masterson, Rodney Gardiner as Nathan Detroit, Kate Hurster as Sarah Brown and Robin Goodrin Nordli as Miss Adelaide. Choreographer is Daniel Pelzig, and music director is Doug Peck. Scenic design is by Daniel Ostling, costume design by Mara Blumenfeld, lighting by T.J. Gerckens and sound design by Ray Nardelli. Playwright Alexa Junge proposed the adaptation of British novelist Sarah Waters' "Fingersmith" for the stage, and Rauch, who is directing, calls it a "great gift to OSF." The story is a theatrical page-turner set in a world of Victorian con artists and thieves. Pickpocket Sue Trinder is out to cheat a gullible young heiress out of her fortune. But in this world, nothing is what it seems, and the twisting story lands Sue in a stifling mansion, madhouses and squalid London streets. The cast features Sara Bruner as Sue, Erica Sullivan as Maud, Elijah Alexander as Gentleman and Kate Mulligan as Mrs. Sucksby and in a number of roles. Scenic design is by Christopher Acebo, costumes by Deborah M. Dryden, lighting by Alan Edwards, music and sound by Andre J. Pluess and projections by Shawn Sagady and Daniel Cariño. For show times, ticket prices and other information, see Page 15. » Social News Stories of a lover tricked into believing his beloved is unfaithful have been around at least since ancient Rome. But it fell to Shakespeare to give such a tale perhaps its most delightful telling ever in "Much Ado About Nothing." The comedy will open the Oregon Shakespeare Festival's 80th season at 8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 27 (with previews beginning Feb. 20) in OSF's Angus Bowmer Theatre, directed by Lileana Blain-Cruz, an East Coast director who is making her OSF debut. Blain-Cruz describes the production's design as "contemporary verging on the fantastical" and "romantic, not realism per se." "Much Ado" has two main plots, with the brilliant, more mature pair of Beatrice and Benedick trading witty barbs, and the young lovers Claudio and Hero trying to figure out who they are and what's real in a complicated world. "I think they share the play," Blain-Cruz says of the two pairs of lovers. "Really, it's about identity. And they're equal in importance." The word "honor," she points out, occurs often in the play, as does the word "nothing." All this attention to words points to their power, she says, but the power of words in the play's world prove to be a double-edged sword. "It allows Beatrice and Benedick to find their love," she says. "But it destroys Hero. In the human relationship to language — the complications of living in a very dense society, right? — it's a wonderful complication." Benedick has returned from war in the service of Don Pedro, along with his friend, Claudio. They land at the estate of Leonato, the uncle of Beatrice, who was an orphan, and the father of Hero. Nothing (there's that word again) is quite as it appears. Beatrice and Benedick's banter serves them to hide their mutual attraction to each other. Claudio, gulled by the bastard Don John, levels an ugly accusation at Hero. Will Beatrice and Benedick admit their love? Will Claudio see through Don John? Will Hero forgive and forget? And can a rustic constable, the linguistically challenged Dogberry, help in the search for justice? The cast features Christiana Clark as Beatrice, Danforth Comins as Benedick, Jack Willis as Leonato, Cristofer Jean as Don Pedro, Leah Anderson as Hero, Carlo Alban as Claudio, Regan Linton as Don John, Barret O'Brien as Borachio and Rex Young as Dogberry. Scenic design is by Scott Bradley, costumes by Kara Harmon, lighting by Yi Zhao and music and sound by Chad Raines. Blain-Cruz, a Princeton graduate from New York City and Miami, is a co-founder and director of the ensemble company Overhead Projector, which devises new work for the stage, an artistic associate of The Exchange and The Orchard Project, and a member of the Lincoln Center Director’s Lab. She was a co-artistic director of Yale Cabaret in 2011-12. Blain-Cruz, who once directed a student production of "Much Ado" at Princeton, doesn't go along with those who see the youthful Claudio as a gullible and cruel cad unworthy of Hero's love. "This production is trying to give him the benefit of the doubt," she says. "He's been primed (against women) by Benedick. He has a complicated journey." She says she even sees the motivation of the bastard, Don John, whose villainy creates the crisis for Hero and Claudio. "I've always been fascinated by him," she says. "He says he must be what he is. He's constantly been at a disadvantage, having to live not as an equal (to his legitimate brother, Don Pedro)." She says Shakespeare's script clearly hints that Benedick and Beatrice have been involved before the time of the play. "I think they had a history," she says. "This isn't their first go-round." "Much Ado About Nothing" will run in the Bowmer through Nov. 1. Reach Medford freelance writer Bill Varble at [email protected]. By Bill Varble for the Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Bill Varble for the Mail Tribune Posted Feb. 19, 2015 at 2:00 AM Updated Feb 19, 2015 at 3:37 PM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. calendar Connect with MailTribune.com Facebook Twitter RSS Back to top Reader Services Reader Services Home Subscriptions Subscriber controls Contact us Submissions Photos Events Letters to the editor Corrections Announcements Obituaries Story ideas Since you asked Alerts Email Alerts RSS Feeds Text Alerts Advertise Media Kit Home Products and services Ad rates Advertising contacts Mail Tribune Daily Tidings The Nickel Shop Our Valley Blogs Stay Informed Email newsletter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. 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