ASHLAND, ORE.: Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) has announced that they will reopen for in-person performances on July 1 in the outdoor Allen Elizabeth Theatre. Fannie: The Music and Life of Fannie Lou Hamer by Cheryl L. West is slated to run through Oct. 9.
“Fannie is a perfect show with which to reconvene in-person at OSF after a year of theatre shutdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic and of urgent social uprisings,” artistic director Nataki Garrett said in a statement. “This music-filled play about a towering figure in the fight for Civil Rights is an inspiring call to action to continue Hamer’s work.”
Fannie tells the story of the Mississippi-born civil and voting rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer, providing a first-person account of her life and alternating between biography and song. Henry Godinez will direct and Felton Offard will serve as music director. Fannie is a co-commission of the Goodman Theatre and Seattle Repertory Theatre. It will run at the Goodman in October and at Seattle Rep in early 2022.
Throughout the run of Fannie, OSF will present a weekly outdoor concert series from July 21 through Oct. 6. A full schedule of concerts is available here.
OSF will also present its first holiday special, It’s Christmas, Carol! (Nov. 28-Jan. 2, 2022) by Mark Bedard, Brett Hinkley, and John Tufts. The play follows three ghosts who take the miserly Carol Scroogenhouse through time and space to reckon with how she has abandoned artistry for hollow capitalism. Pirrone Yousefzadeh will direct.
Audience members will be required to present either proof of full vaccination completed 14 days prior to the performance date or a negative COVID test result. Requirements on physical distancing and masks are likely to shift through the season as circumstances develop.
Oregon Shakespeare Festival presents more than 800 performances annually and is driven by the belief that the inclusion of diverse people, cultures, ideas, and traditions enriches not only the creation and experience of the work the organization presents onstage, but also our relationships with each other.
