Next up for Eileen DeSandre: a role in Rogue Theater Company’s “Ripcord” as a senior living facility resident named Abby Binder with a razor-sharp tongue and a temperament as sunny as a thundercloud.
If all goes according to plan, Davied Morales will be dodging sippy cups on set and fighting crime in spandex within the decade. For now, Morales is bringing his larger-than-life energy to the stage as Tio in “Fat Ham” at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival — a role that may not come with a cape but definitely packs its own kind of power.
“Jazz in the Vineyard” kicks off May 25, at Grizzly Peak Winery, 1600 E. Nevada St., Ashland, with a solo concert by Mimi Fox, a virtuosic improviser who’s collaborated with many of jazz’s greatest figures.
Curtain Call: When Julian Remulla was a kid and was asked what he wanted to be when he grew up, the answer usually depended on the last movie he had seen or what make-believe game he had been playing. A doctor, a sailor, a baker, Spider-Man. Now he does it all and more — and gets paid for it.
When Rebecca Goldman first attended a Southern Oregon Repertory Singers concert, it was because she had a friend in the choir. Not long after that, she assumed a leadership role for the organization as interim executive director. Taking over for Jessica Bailey, who resigned to take on another project, Goldman is excited about her new job.
While the Oregon Shakespeare Festival is best known for its commitment to the Bard, its stages have long featured a wide range of playwrights. One writer, in particular, stands out as OSF’s most produced after Shakespeare: August Wilson. This season, OSF’s 90th, Kevin Kenerly returns to Wilson’s world in “Jitney,” playing on the Angus Bowmer Theatre stage through July 20.
Daniel Molina: My college professor and classical theater mentor, Lawrence Ballard, was the first person to tell me about Ashland. He said, ‘Any actor who is serious about classical work knows Ashland is the place to be.’”
Curtain Call: After university studies in Indiana and Colorado, and pursuing his career playing with several orchestras, Jerry Su returned to Southern Oregon in 2022 to audition for the second E-flat clarinet position with the Rogue Valley Symphony — and got the job.
Curtain Call: Alysia Beltran will begin her third season with OSF later this year, and you can see her now as one of the lead actors in “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder” at the Oregon Cabaret Theatre.
Curtain Call: Popular orchestra conductor Martin Majkut has added another gig to his already busy schedule. Majkut, the music director of the Rogue Valley Symphony and the Queens Symphony Orchestra in New York, has been appointed the new music director of the Oregon Coast Music Association’s festival orchestra.
Barbara Shor: I first met Jane Goodall in 1987 at a lecture she gave at the Sacramento Zoo, where I was working as veterinarian as part of my residency program in non-domestic animal medicine at UC Davis.
Ashland, long celebrated for its Shakespearean drama, is about to trade soliloquies for sarcasm. From Dec. 5 to 7, the city will host the inaugural Ashland Sarcasm Festival (ASF!), a comedy takeover designed to fill theaters, bars and restaurants with sharp wit, satire and laughter.
Tickets are selling fast for “Mass for the Endangered,” described as a multi-sensory film experience of music and animated artwork being presented Sunday at the ScienceWorks Hands-On Museum in Ashland.
Ashland Scout Troop 112 will honor local veterans with a free Veterans Day breakfast on Tuesday, Nov. 11, from 7 to 11:30 a.m., or until food runs out, at Elks Lodge No. 944. Scouts will take orders, serve meals and visit with veterans as part of the local troop’s tradition of showing gratitude to those who served.
A proposal to improve safety along Lithia Park’s received a tepid response from the Ashland Parks & Recreation Commission on Wednesday, Nov. 5. Although commissioners supported adding disability parking near the Japanese Garden and created a designated pedestrian walkway, many questioned whether the cost would lead to meaningful safety improvements.
Medford voters appear to have approved a 2% increase to the city’s transient lodging tax, which will help partially pay for the construction of a downtown conference center and minor-league ballpark.
(It’s free)
