Feb. 4, 2005

Shakespeare on Stage; 'Spruce Goose' on Screen

Oregon Shakespeare Festival starts its 2005 season this month while Evergreen Aviation Museum welcomes more and more visitors thanks to 'The Aviator'

By DAN SHRYOCK
Oregon.com

Shakespeare Festival Takes Stage this Month

Standing outside the Oregon Shakespeare Festival theaters this week, I savored the sunshine and blue sky and had to remind myself it still was only the first days of February.

Here in Ashland, however, people are showing the first signs of spring fever. Some are resting in the sun; others are taking slow strolls, window shopping in the downtown area.

There's another season on the horizon here and it arrives much earlier than spring. The Oregon Shakespeare Festival's 2005 season begins this month with four of the season's 11 productions. One of the first four, Richard III, is the work of William Shakespeare. The other three plays are not.

That's not unusual.

"Our mission (at the festival) is to create fresh and bold interpretations using Shakespeare as our stand and inspiration," says festival spokesperson Amy Richard. "His work is central to what we do here but it's not the only thing we do."

Here's what's on the playbill beginning this month:

• "Richard III" by William Shakespeare, Feb. 18 to Oct. 30
• "Room Service" by John Murray and Allen Boretz, Feb. 20 to Oct. 29
• "The Philanderer" by George Bernard Shaw, Feb. 19 to July 10
• "By the Waters of Babylon" by Robert Schenkkan, Feb. 24 to June 24.

Amy says people regularly assume the festival is a summer-only event. As a result, they limit their opportunities to attend.

"We began as a Shakespearean festival. That's what we did in the beginning," Amy says of the organization's roots dating back to 1935. "But we do more than Shakespeare now. We provide a lot of flexibility if people are not Shakespeare lovers."

For more information, show dates and ticket prices, visit the web site or call the Oregon Shakespeare Festival box office at 541-482-4331.

Ashland Visitor FAQs

Visitors to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and the charming city of Ashland call ahead with a variety of questions. Here are some frequently asked questions, courtesy Amy Richard and Mary Pat Parker of the Ashland Chamber of Commerce.

"Are Shakespeare Festival tickets hard to get?"
"We have 773 performances," Amy says. "If people can be flexible with their schedule, for the most part tickets are available most of the time. People can check ticket availability." She advises that lodging can be hard to find for productions' opening weekends in February and June. Otherwise, it's generally not a problem.

"I visited your area on vacation recently and liked it so much I'm thinking of relocating there? Do you have a relocation packet you can send me?"
All you need to do is visit this page - http://www.oregon.com/freeinfo - fill in your mailing information and request information about Ashland. The Ashland Chamber of Commerce will send the materials to you at no charge.

"What else is there to do besides going to plays?"
Activities vary, of course, depending on the time of year. Warm weather offers rafting, for example, while winter gets you skiing as a possibility. There always are art galleries, wine tasting, shopping, hiking and biking. Then there's the great food.

"How far is Ashland from Portland? San Francisco?"
Ashland is nearly five hours from Portland and a six-hour drive from San Francisco.

"How far away is Crater Lake?"
It's about 90 miles from Ashland. Mary Pat recommends you stop at Becky's in Union Creek for pie.

The HK-1 Flying Boat, popularly known as the "Spruce Goose," dominates the Evergreen Aviation Museum in McMinnville. The famous all-wood cargo plane built by aviation tycoon Howard Hughes in the 1940s attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors each year.

But there's nothing like an Oscar-nominated movie to get people talking about your star attraction.

"January is normally our slow season and we've been busy," says museum spokesperson Nicole Wahlberg. "Our attendance is up 50% over January last year. There's always been an interest in Howard Hughes and this movie shows that."

The idea of Leonardo DiCaprio flying the Spruce Goose - as he does portraying Howard Hughes in the movie - can't hurt your attendance, but it's not DiCaprio or Hughes the people come to see. It's the Goose itself.

"People have heard about the plane, but they haven't seen it, "Nicole says. "They are amazed that it takes up the entire museum."

Imagine an airplane so big that it fills a 121,000-square-foot building, a plane so enormous that several other large planes fit under its wings. The Goose's wing span is longer than a football field, she says. A wing tip would touch in each end zone.

And while the Spruce Goose is the star, there are several other supporting "actors" in this show. There's a replica of the Wright Brothers' famed 1903 Flyer, a restored B-17 Flying Fortress bomber of World War II, a C-47 that flew U.S. paratroopers over France on D-Day, a Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird spy plane and more.

Evergreen Aviation Museum FAQs

Nicole Wahlberg says the most common question people call asnd ask is "where do I find you?" Anyone driving anywhere near the McMinnville Airport can't miss the huge building on the opposite side of the road. For specific navigation, try these directions.

• From Portland, take Highway 99 West southbound through Newberg and turn left on Highway 18 before reaching McMinnville.
• From Salem, Corvallis and points south, follow Highway 99 West northbound and turn right on Highway 18 just before entering town.
• From Spirit Mountain Casino and the Oregon Coast, simply follow Highway 18.

Once you reach the airport, you can't miss the Spruce Goose in the museum window.

Can we get inside the Spruce Goose?
Yes, there are steps leading up to the cargo deck but that's as far as you can go. There's no access to the flight deck. "Now they want to go upstairs (to the flight deck)," Nicole says. "You can't touch the Mona Lisa either. This is a one-of-a-kind airplane. It's an artifact."

Soon, she says, a new exhibit inside the cargo deck will provide a virtual tour of the flight deck.

For more information, call the Evergreen Aviation Museum at 503-434-4180.