‘OSF Onwards’ to ‘celebrate dynamic artists’ and ‘secure an OSF for tomorrow’
By Lee Juillerat for Ashland.news
Two award-winning artists will perform Saturday night, Oct. 1, in the featured event of “OSF Onwards,” an Oregon Shakespeare Festival gala weekend celebration from Friday, Sept. 30, through Sunday, Oct. 2.
“Throughout the weekend, we will celebrate dynamic artists and artistry at OSF,” according to an event announcement, “while raising critical funds to secure an OSF for tomorrow.”
Maelyn Jarmon, winner of “The Voice” competition in 2019, will perform with composer, director, actor Troy Anthony at the in-person gala event on Saturday, Oct. 1. In addition, Grammy Award winning artist Ty Defoe will be honored at a reception.
Jarmon entered the 16th season of NBC’s four-time Emmy Award-winning musical competition series “The Voice” in 2019. “She enchanted millions as audiences witnessed her performances shut down the stage nightly,” OSF said in a news release.
Since her win, Jarmon was No. 1 on the Billboard Emerging Artists Chart and became the 15th artist of all time to land three simultaneous Top 10 Songs on iTunes. Among those, her version of “Hallelujah” topped the Overall Top Songs Chart by “fusing styles from pop to electronic with an intimate distinct delivery, Maeyln is currently writing, performing, and recording new music.”
Grammy Award winning artist Ty Defoe will be honored at the reception. Defoe is a Grammy Award-winning interdisciplinary artist from the Oneida and Ojibwe nations whose work, according to an OSF news release, “interweaves artistic projects with social justice, gender, and environmentalism while challenging stereotypes about indigenous people and their communities.
“The impact that Ty Defoe has had upon the culture of our field cannot be understated,” said OSF Artistic Director Nataki Garrett. “Ty is an expansive performance-maker, who also composes and choreographs, an enigmatic actor who has lit up Broadway stages, a powerful community-builder deeply connected to uplifting native theatre, and an astute consultant for equity through his organization Indigenous Direction. Ty is the epitome of what I mean when I say ‘center the artist,’”
Defoe is playwright, librettist, actor, writer, choreographer, eagle dancer, and hoop dancer, one of the oldest native dances.
The Gala Reception starts at 5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 1, at the Ashland Hills Hotel Grand Ballroom. Guests are invited to join in-person or online from anywhere in the world to pay tribute to Defoe. Guests joining online will be able to attend for free.
To register for the event and see a complete list of ways to participate in OSF Onwards, visit osfashland.org/gala. In-person tickets are $100. Online participation is free.
Friday’s events are the free Green Show at 6:45 p.m. on the Bricks at the OSF campus, and performances of “Revenge Song,” “Confederates,” and “Once on This Island” at 8 p.m.
Saturday’s events are performances of “Confederates” and “Once on This Island” at 1:30 p.m., the gala celebration at 5 p.m. at Ashland Hills, and performances of “King John” and “The Tempest” at 8 p.m.
Sunday brings a performance of “Once on This Island” at 1:30 p.m.
Online, there’s Saturday, Oct. 1’s free airing of the gala at Ashland Hills, then on Sunday, Oct. 2, a film watch party of “The Tempest” on the O! Digital Stage starting at noon, which offers the opportunity to watch the cinematic capture of OSF’s 2022 production directed by Nicholas C. Avila, with cinematography by Tyler Maddox, followed by a live Q&A period, and then at 5 p.m., a watch party for “Revenge Song: A Vampire Cowboys Creation Theatre on Film,” also on the O! Digital Stage, which is a chance to watch the cinematic capture of OSF’s 2022 production by Qui Nguyen, a new musical story about transgressive 17th-century opera singer Julie D’Aubigny, followed by a live Q&A.
The OSF Onwards announcement also says to “be sure to keep your eyes open throughout the weekend for surprise opportunities to enjoy a sneak peak of ‘The Cymbeline Project,’ a new look at Shakespeare’s collage-like ‘problem play,’ told in 10 episodes.”
Email freelance writer Lee Juillerat at 337lee337@charter.net.
