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The Oregon Shakespeare Festival started this decade on hiatus for the first time since World War II due to the pandemic, and 2020 also saw wildfires devastate swaths of Ashland and neighboring towns. But on a visit to Ashland on June 17 for OSF’s matinee of Nataki Garrett’s production of Romeo & Juliet, the region bore little sign of the fire’s ravages, showing a comeback from the years of adversity.
Unfortunately, amid ensuing financial struggles, Garrett stepped down May 5 as OSF’s artistic director and interim executive director after a tumultuous four-year tenure. As a Black woman in a traditionally white field in a majority white town, she had received death threats, plus letters from patrons identifying themselves the “Old White Guard” complaining that her productions were too modern and diverse.
Similar criticism, to a lesser degree, came against her predecessor Bill Rauch, who also spearheaded modernized and diversified productions. Regular Ashland columnist Herbert Rothschild frequently advocates for more conservative productions, arguing that Garrett’s and Rauch’s styles alienate white audiences.
Garrett has also remarked on several instances of anti-Black violence in the Rogue Valley, and her need for private security. It’s an unpleasant contradiction to modern Ashland’s progressive reputation. Once, it was a “sundown town” explicitly excluding Black people, but today it’s perceived as a blue bubble in a red region, despite apparent evidence to the contrary.
On the day of the matinee, banners for the upcoming Juneteenth holiday flew over East Main Street in the city center (OSF published a letter in support of Garrett in October 2022, pushing back against racist attackers and critics in the local press).
OSF and its actions under Garrett and Rauch before her undergird Ashland’s reputation well. During my visit, there was a full house of eagerly engaged Romeo & Juliet audience members (license plates from California, Texas, and Minnesota could be seen in the parking garage).
On June 1, OSF named Garrett’s successor as interim executive director: Tyler Hokama, an experienced regional theater board member. Hokama has his work cut out for him. It remains to be seen if he will bow to pressure driven by bigotry or listen to the audiences enjoying Garrett’s work and continue her bold vision in 2024 and beyond.