photo by Jenny Graham

by Debra Murphy

Back in January, before the 2009 season got underway, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival hosted a Town Hall meeting in the Bowmer Theatre. Although the topic of conversation on everyone’s lips that evening was the potential effect of the Great Recession on the Festival, another (not entirely unrelated) topic was the inclusion of Meredith Wilson’s The Music Man on the 2009 docket, to be directed by none other than the new AD, Bill Rauch. When Rauch asked the largely townie audience how many were surprised by his choice, I was one of many to raise a hand. [Read more...]