Southern Oregon

Coverage in Jackson and Josephine counties is made possible in part by a generous grant from the Carpenter Foundation. We appreciate our content-sharing partnership with the independent nonprofit news organization Ashland.news.

An Oregon tribal attorney’s quest to save the Klamath River

Amy Bowers Cordalis will talk in Ashland about her memoir "The Water Remembers" and her family’s efforts behind the largest river restoration project in history.

Where Oregon Shakespeare Festival costumes go to work again

January 4, 2026Jim Flint

Inside the Talent warehouse in Southern Oregon, thousands of festival costumes are preserved and reused, then sent to stages across the country, including "Saturday Night Live."

‘A Judy Garland Christmas’ promises to bring some Hollywood magic to Ashland

November 24, 2025Jim Flint

Rogue Valley Symphony will play original orchestrations of the singer’s classic songs at the Bowmer Theatre; Joan Ellison, who specializes in restoring and performing Garland’s tunes, will be the vocalist.

Something witty this way comes

November 7, 2025Jim Flint

Ashland to host its first-ever Sarcasm Festival Dec. 5–7 as a host of comedians converge on Shakespeare territory and aim for audiences' funny bones.

Schneider Museum at Southern Oregon University loses funding for at least three years

October 30, 2025Holly Dillemuth

Plans for a major expansion of the art museum are shelved, and its future is unsure: "You kind of feel like the rug was pulled from underneath you," the museum's director says.

Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s 2026 season will feature some fan-favorite actors

October 28, 2025Jim Flint

The Ashland festival announces key cast members for next year's 10-play season; tickets go on sale for members in November and for the general public Dec. 2.

Rogue Theater Company’s ‘Godot’ finds depth in the waiting

October 22, 2025Lee Juillerat

Review: In Ashland, Samuel Beckett’s classic delivers humor, humanity and introspection, leaving audiences deeply moved.

And music in the list’ning place: Southern Oregon Repertory Singers turns 40

October 20, 2025Daryl Browne

A brief history of the Ashland choir, from its inception at a pizza parlor through its upcoming season featuring music by Peter Relph, Eric Whitacre, and Rep Singers composer-in-residence Jodi French.

An Irish tale born in Ashland earns a ticket to Off-Broadway

October 14, 2025Jim Flint

"Parcel From America," based on a story Tomáseen Foley told in Ashland in 1998, is green-lighted for a musical production in New York

Ashland Film Festival names a new director of programming, launches fall screenings

September 13, 2025Jim Flint

Aura Johnson, a festival staffer since 2012 with previous roles at Skywalker Sound, Zoetrope, and other major movie companies, takes over as the festival's programming chief.

Oregon Cabaret Theatre: Raising the curtain with a song (and dinner, too)

August 30, 2025Jim Flint

Ashland’s high-flying popular company, thriving after 10 years under Rick Robinson and Val Rachelle's leadership, honors its origins as it prepares to launch its 41st season.

Diving deeply into familiar tales: Ashland’s ‘Shane’ and ‘Quixote Nuevo’

August 29, 2025Darleen Ortega

The final two shows of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival's 2025 season rethink a classic Western and Cervantes' "Don Quixote" in fresh and stimulating ways.

Shakespeare Fest’s interim executive director takes his seat behind the curtain of a world-class theater

August 10, 2025Holly Dillemuth

Javier "Javi" Dubon, in his new role at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival less than two months, is leading with a collaborative approach, bent toward understanding audiences — "what makes them tick, what ticks them off."

In Ashland, the voice of Hulk and Thor revels in ‘Disaster!’

July 15, 2025Jim Flint

"It’s always fun to play the amoral baddie": Veteran stage, TV, and voiceover actor Rick Wasserman relishes playing the villain in Oregon Cabaret Theatre's campy summer musical.

Mark Bedard pulls a theatrical hat trick in Rogue Theater Company’s ‘Ripcord’

July 6, 2025Jim Flint

The veteran actor, a longtime favorite at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, returns to Ashland to star in three roles in David Lindsay-Adaire's stage comedy.

From newsroom to canvas: Art Van Kraft shifts his stories from words to paint

July 4, 2025Jim Flint

The broadcast journalist and NPR news director shifted to visual stories after moving to Ashland nine years ago. This month his art is at Langford Art Gallery in Phoenix.

Ashland treats: Shakespeare Fest’s ‘As You Like It,’ ‘Merry Wives’ and ‘Into the Woods’

June 26, 2025Darleen Ortega

In review: The festival romps into summer with three fine and funny productions, topped by the musical fairy-tale fantasy of a glorious journey "Into the Woods."

Oregon Shakespeare Festival and Bag&Baggage name interim leaders, Center Stage emergency fund grows

June 20, 2025Bob Hicks

OSF names Javier Dubon as its interim executive director; B&B announces a four-person artistic leadership team; Center Stage needs $1 million more by Aug. 31.

OSF announces abrupt departure of executive director

June 17, 2025Holly Dillemuth

Citing ‘personally requested leave,’ Calicchio leaves after less than seven months leading the business side of Oregon Shakespeare Festival; Announcement on succession planning expected next week.

Oregon Shakespeare Festival unveils its 10-show 2026 season

May 30, 2025Jim Flint

While the current season continues through October, the Ashland festival announces a sweeping 2026 lineup of magic, music, and the messiness of being human.

International guitar sounds heat up Siskiyou Music Project’s jazz series

May 17, 2025Jim Flint

The Jazz in the Vineyard series brings guitarists Mimi Fox and Derek Gripper, plus the Marcos Silva Quintet, to Ashland's Grizzly Peak Winery stage beginning May 25.

Grand entrance: Rogue Valley Symphony brings home The Raven

May 12, 2025Jim Flint

The symphony needed a truly grand piano. A stunning Steinway D in a New York high-rise needed to spread its wings. Now in Oregon, the big bird prepares for its debut at Medford’s Craterian Theater in a week-long "Pianopalooza."

Ashland Independent Film Festival roars back

May 4, 2025Jim Flint

With robust audiences and several hit films, this year's lively festival climbed out of the pandemic-years slump. Coming in 2026: AIFF's 25th anniversary celebration.

Star Power: How Rogue Theater found its voice at Ashland’s Grizzly Peak Winery

April 27, 2025Jim Flint

The company, which features many current and former Oregon Shakespeare Festival actors, draws a loyal and growing audience for contemporary plays in the heart of Shakespeare territory.

Catherine E. Coulson: ‘The Log Lady’ and so much more

April 14, 2025Jim Flint

The Ashland Independent Film Festival will honor the "Twin Peaks" star and one of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival's most beloved artists with the Oregon premiere of the documentary “I Know Catherine, the Log Lady.”

A farewell to James Edmondson, longtime star at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival

April 11, 2025Jim Flint

Edmondson, who began his long OSF career in 1972 by playing Petruchio in "Taming of the Shrew," died at home in Ashland at age 86, days after the death of fellow festival veteran Denis Arndt.

Oregon theater giant Denis Arndt, 1939-2025

March 29, 2025Jim Flint

The Northwest actor, who spent 15 seasons as a star at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and co-founded Seattle's Intiman Theatre, leaves a sterling legacy.

‘Julius Caesar’ & ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’: Ashland reinvents the classics

March 29, 2025Darleen Ortega

With a women and nonbinary cast for "Caesar" and an "Earnest" transported to the Malay Peninsula, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival gives a fresh face to familiar tales.

Oregon Shakespeare Festival strikes gold with a pair of plays about Black life

March 28, 2025Darleen Ortega

James Ijames' "Fat Ham" and August Wilson's "Jitney" kick off the Ashland festival's 90th season along with "Julius Caesar" and "The Importance of Being Earnest."

August Wilson & Kevin Kenerly help kick off Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s 90th season

March 14, 2025Jim Flint

Kenerly, a 26-year veteran of the Ashland festival who has starred in other works by the great American playwright, digs into Wilson's world of "Jitney" as the season begins.

Oregon ArtsWatch