Beginnings of The Shakespeare Festival
The remains of an old Chautauqua building in Ashland’s Lithia Park gave Bowmer the idea of staging Shakespeare plays on an outdoor Elizabethan stage. In 1935 he persuaded the government of Ashland to revive the tradition of July 4th celebrations with an important addition: a Shakespearean Festival.
The Works Progress Administration helped construct a makeshift Elizabethan stage on the Chautauqua site and Bowmer, college students, teachers, and Ashland citizens mounted two plays, The Merchant of Venice and Twelfth Night, for three performances. Bowmer directed and played the roles of Shylock and Sir Toby Belch. Several hundred people attended the First Annual Shakespearean Festival. When Bowmer died in 1979, the OSF had performed Shakespeare’s entire canon twice.
Read more about this topic: Angus L. Bowmer
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