Check your rapier, dagger and cell phone at the door
Sunday, July 1, 2007 
One of my earliest childhood memories is of a bunch of naked people smoking pot and jumping into Oregon’s Applegate River. It was 1974 and I was six. It was all part of my bohemian childhood in the theatre town of Ashland, Oregon (pronounced Orygun, not Ore-Uh-Gone, thank you).
Then when I was 12, we moved to my father’s hometown of Seattle––a blue-collar town of rain and endless crew-cuts. With my long hair and the name Jamie, everyone thought I was a girl. So I gradually cut my hair, and went by my given name, James. And Ashland became a part of my history. I’d think about it, and not quite believe that the place was that scenic, or cultured or just plain magical.
But last week, I went back. And it was more beautiful than I’d remembered.
I went to attend the renowned Oregon Shakespeare Festival. And you know what? The place has grown up. This little town of 20,000 sells nearly 400,000 theatre tickets over an 8-month season. There are more boutiques and fewer head shops. But the spirit off the place is very much intact.
To be honest, it’s hard to describe—definitely being one off those “you have to go there to understand” kind of places. But here’s a list of Ashland moments that might help:
Dress code – There isn’t one. At Rite Aid we stood in line with a white guy in a full kimono. And despite a recent ordinance banning nudity in public parks, protests in the buff are still a common way to make a point and stay cool on a hot summer day. (Don’t forget the sunblock).
What fast food? – Ashland is probably the only place on Earth where McDonald’s actually went out of business. Along with KFC and Taco Bell. Unless they sold Boca Big Macs it was doomed from the beginning. Even Subway somehow seems crass.
Violin in the park – The 100-acre centerpiece of Ashland is Lithia Park, one of the finest city parks you will find anywhere. Along the wooded trails near Lithia Creek we found a violin class in progress. We sat and listened as a handful of grade-school kids lit up the park. Somewhere Vivaldi is crying a tear of joy.
Garden confessional – We stumbled on a little homemade book someone had left in Ashland’s Japanese Gardens. People wrote poems to total strangers and left touching messages for the next person to find. Email addresses too. If you look in the back, you’ll find a little soliloquy from yours truly.
No Swords, Daggers, Rapiers or Cell Phones in the Hair Room – This was an actual sign posted outside one of the make-up rooms backstage in the Elizabethan Theatre. Luckily, my broadsword didn't make it past airport security.
Organic everything – For breakfast one morning we had granola pancakes with dried cranberries and pecan butter along with sweet potato hash drizzled with crème fraiche. From the organic bakeries to the Ashland Food Co-Op, every store is a health food store.
Theatre everywhere – The 80-year old Oregon Shakespeare Festival offers 11 plays. The Oregon Cabaret offers 5. Then there’s the Oregon Stageworks, the University Theatre, the Camelot Theatre…you get the idea. A little old man I sat next to during Taming of the Shrew had come 14 years in a row. His wife had passed, but he still keeps coming. I guess the show really must go on.
People actually read – Everywhere we went: the park, the cafes, the restaurants, people were reading––and not on their Crackberry. Maybe it’s because the quaint little downtown has SEVEN independent bookstores. God bless a literate America!
There were so many other Ashland moments: the hippie chick chilling out on the roof of a 3-story house, the doggie drinking fountain at the Ashland Springs Hotel, the peace flags along the railroad.
But best of all, my old house was still there. My old 8-sided house. Yes, I grew up in an octagonal house with shag carpet on the ceiling. After all, in Ashland, Normal is simply the name of a street.
Reader Comments (12)
I thought it was sort of like Santa Cruz but with more class and maturity. Unfortunately, we saw some off-season, non-Shakespearean play that was just awful. And we only gave ourselves one afternoon & evening there.
And yeah, Kennedy, some of the black box theatre productions are really hit and miss depending on your taste. I usually stick to Shakespeare, and leave the modernized versions of Checkov to someone more scholarly (or at least more experimental) than myself.
Eric
(www.thedrabbledude.com)
Definitely stop in. Also, the theater season is nine months long, so even in the shoulder seasons you can catch a great play or two.