After nearly all shows sold out last year, play runs to be extended
By Lee Juillerat for Ashland.News
Building on the success of 2022, the Rogue Theater Company will offer additional performances for plays this year.
“Thanks to a loyal and growing audience, nearly every performance sold out,” Jessica Sage, the theater’s artistic director, said of last year’s offerings.
Beginning with “An Iliad,” this year’s first play, productions will increase to five shows a week for a three-week run at the Grizzly Peak Winery. Matinee performances will run Wednesdays through Sundays. In addition, Sage said more “talk backs” are planned “to include the audience in the conversation.”
Sage said audiences “will discover an enhanced theater experience” with the addition of a state-of-the-art sound system, dedicated stage lighting and more varied levels of seating for better viewing.
John Tufts will appear in the season opener, “An Iliad,” with Michal Palzewicz providing musical accompaniment. Adapted by Denis O’Hare and Lisa Peterson, and directed by Christine Albright-Tufts, “An Iliad” is described as, “A contemporary slant on Homer’s classic epic poem. What emerges is a powerful and lively piece of theatrical storytelling that vividly drives home the timelessness of mankind’s compulsion toward violence.” Performances run Feb. 22 through March 12.
The 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s First Folio will be celebrated May 20 and 21.
“There’s no one better to lead this stimulating journey than scholar and actor Barry Kraft,” said Sage.
Unusually, because the sessions will be held in a private home, participants can participate in the discussions in-person or via Zoom, or receive a video of the sessions.
Two-time Tony Award nominee Anthony Heald and Amy Lizardo will be featured in RTC’s summer presentation, “Heisenberg,” directed by Michael J. Hume. Written by Tony Award winner Simon Stephens, Sage said “this funny and tender story follows a free-spirited American woman who falls for an inhibited Englishman while in London.” Performances will run July 12 through 30.
Rounding out the season is “Circle Mirror Transformation,” by Annie Baker and directed by Robynn Rodriguez. Vilma Silva, Jeffrey King, Gregory Linington and Kjerstine Anderson head a cast of five. Set in New England at an adult drama class, the Obie Award-winning play explores how the students reveal themselves through theater games, in a play that the New York Times calls “absorbing, unblinking, and sharply funny.” “Circle Mirror Transformation” will run Sept. 13 through Oct. 1.
All tickets are now on sale. For more information, visit roguetheatercompany.com or call 541-205-9190.
Email freelance writer Lee Juillerat at 337lee337@charter.net.
