Talk:Elizabethan Stage (Oregon Shakespeare Festival)

Version of article merged to Oregon Shakespeare Festival
Angus Bowmer sketched a plan for a theatre specifically adapted for presenting Shakespeare's plays that became the first outdoor OSF Elizabethan Theatre. Ashland obtained State Economic Recovery Act funds in 1935 to build a theatre in the roofless shell of the abandoned Chautauqua theatre. Bowmer extended the surviving twelve-foot high circular wall to reduce the stage width to fifty-five feet, and painted the extensions to resemble half-timbered buildings. He designed a thrust stage—one projecting toward the audience—with a balcony. Two columns divided it into forestage, middle stage, and inner stage areas. Curtains were attached to the columns, which also supported the roof on which two speakers were mounted. Fifty-cent general admission seating was on benches just behind the one-dollar reserved seating on folding chairs. This theatre was torn down during World War II.

Second Elizabethan Theatre
The second outdoor Elizabethan Theatre was built in 1947 from plans drawn up by University of Washington drama professor John Conway. The main stage became trapezoidal, with entries added on either side, and windows added above them flanking a balcony stage. A low railing gave a finished appearance to the forestage. Columns still supported the roof and curtains, helping to define three stage areas as before. Chairs arranged to improve sightlines replaced bench seating. Backstage areas were added gradually and haphazardly, until the ramshackle result was ordered torn down as a fire hazard in 1958.

Current Elizabethan Theatre
The current outdoor Elizabethan Theatre (A), patterned on London’s 1599 Fortune Theatre, opened in 1959. Designed by Richard Hay, it incorporated all the stage dimensions mentioned in the Fortune contract. The trapezoidal stage was retained but the façade was extended to three stories, resulting in a forestage, middle stage, inner below, inner above (the old balcony), and a musicians' gallery. The wings were provided with second-story windows. Each provides acting areas, creating many staging possibilities. A pitched, shingled roof enhances the half-timbered façade. A windowed gable was extended from the center of the roof to cover and define the middle stage, again supported by columns, although the curtains were eliminated. Five minutes before each performance, and in keeping with Elizabethan tradition, an actor opens the gable window, runs a flag up the pole to the sound of a trumpet and doffs his cap to the audience.

The result is not an exact replica of the Fortune Theatre. The known but incomplete dimensions apply only to the stage. The original specifications sometimes say no more than “to be built like the Globe,” for which there are no plans or details. The remotely operated lighting obviously did not exist in the original and the hillside site determined the shape of the auditorium. Twelve hundred seats in slightly offset arcs give an excellent view of the stage from every seat. The old Chautauqua theatre walls, now ivy-covered, remain as the outer perimeter of the theatre.

The $7.6 million Allen Pavilion (B) was added in 1992. It houses a control room, and audience service booths where infrared hearing devices, blankets, pillows and food and drink are available. Several hundred seats were moved to a balcony and two boxes, further improving sightlines and acoustics. Vomitoria, the traditional name for entryways for actors from under the seating area, were added and the lighting scaffolds were eliminated.

Katr67 23:00, 21 August 2007 (UTC)

Integrate this article into main OSF article?
I think this section of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival article was moved into a separate article because the OSF article was too long. Since that time the OSF article has been shortened and tightened up considerably. This article needs context that it would have as part of the "Campus" section of the OSF article. Any objection to my incorporating this information into the main article and removing this one as a separate article? JanetFA 16:31, 25 October 2007 (UTC)

helpme I want to move this article into the Oregon Shakespeare Theatre article in order to provide context, but I can't figure out how to do it, since only administrators can delete an article. Should I redirect from here to the other article? Is there a better way? Can you advise me?
 * The helpme tag is only really designed from usage on your user talk page, however I'll answer anyway. Your question does not make much sense, you seem to be requesting to merge the contents of this article into this article - which makes no sense. If you want to merge an article into another one, you should leave a note on the article talk page and ask for others to comment on the matter, in order to build consensus. Good luck, Qst 17:16, 17 November 2007 (UTC)