Off the Rails

July 27 – October 28, 2017 Angus Bowmer Theatre

Multimedia The Buzz Suitability / Accessibility Español The Artists

A sin to save a brother’s life

Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show is in town holding auditions, and the regulars at the Stewed Prunes Saloon are hoping for a shot at stardom. But plans change when Momaday, a Pawnee teenager, is sentenced to hang for his forbidden love affair with an Irish-American girl. Captain Angelo, the presiding officer, won’t budge . . . until he lays eyes on Momaday’s sister, Isabel. This irreverent, subversive adaptation of Measure for Measure—described as “Blazing Saddles meets Shakespeare” and OSF’s first play by a Native American writer—uses healthy doses of humor and music to illuminate the painful legacy of Indian boarding schools in the American West.

Show length is approximately 2 hours, 30 minutes, including one intermission.

#OffTheRailsOSF

The Buzz

Just saw Off the Rails. Amazing, wonderful, moving. Can't find the words to describe how wonderful a play it is. Thank you.

Heidi Heidig

[Off the Rails]: As the entire cast received a rousing standing ovation at the end, it was touching to see how much being a part of this play meant to them—their emotions etched on their faces—in one of the more moving standing ovations I have witnessed.

Siskiyou Daily News

Off the Rails tells of yesterday’s sorrows that are painful today, but these superb OSF performers bring it forward and ask the audience, ask all of us, to stand tall in the face of contemporary hypocrisy and corruption.

Medford Mail Tribune

[#OffTheRailsOSF]: Incredible production. Funny, serious, thought-provoking, privilege-checking, historically enlightening, and an all-around good time.

@btken

Absolutely phenomenal. Lamar, Zaragoza, Gladstone, Tousey, dancing, singing, story—everything was perfect and amazing #offtherailsosf

@heatherktu

OSF, breaking ground again, with humor, intelligence and love. It is an excellent play. I loved it. Do not miss it.

Willow Murawski

Suitability Suggestions

Off the Rails is a raucous comedy with music set against the serious backdrop of the U.S. government’s experiment with Indian boarding schools in the post-Wild West. Captain Angelo, the superintendent of the boarding school, becomes the presiding officer of Genoa, Nebraska, while the mayor is out of town. Angelo is a rigid believer in the rule of law, so he arrests and condemns to death a young Pawnee named Momaday because he and his Irish girlfriend, Caitlin, are expecting a child. The two were married in a traditional Pawnee ceremony, but the marriage is not considered legitimate by the white government. Momaday’s sister, Isabel, a young woman hoping to become a teacher, is sent to plead for her brother’s life, and Angelo falls completely in lust with her. He offers to spare Momaday if Isabel will sleep with him.

This adaptation of Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure uses much of the original text interspersed with contemporary dialogue. The play contains sexual innuendo and bawdy scenes in a brothel with healthy doses of humor and music.

Accessibility

The Angus Bowmer Theatre is outfitted with an elevator that takes patrons to either Row E or Row K.

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival is committed to accessibility. We recognize the needs of persons with disabilities and strive to make our facilities and productions accessible to all. OSF offers a variety of accommodations, outlined here.

Un pecado para salvarle la vida a un hermano

El Espectáculo del Oeste Salvaje de Búfalo Bill (Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show) ha llegado al pueblo y está ofreciendo audiciones, y los regulares de la Cantina de las Ciruelas Estofadas (Stewed Prunes Saloon) tienen esperanzas de ser estrella. Pero hay un cambio de plan cuando Momaday, un adolescente Pawnee, está condenado a muerte por su amor prohibido con una muchacha irlandesa-americana. El Capitán Ángelo, el funcionario que preside, no se mueve…. hasta ver a la hermana de Momaday, Isabel. Esta adaptación irreverente y subversiva de Medida por Medida (Measure for Measure) – descrita como “Sillas Flameantes (Blazing Saddles) contra Shakespeare” es la primera obra de OSF por un escritor nativo americano. Emplea dosis significativas de humor y música para iluminar al legado doloroso de los internados (escuelas) de indios en el Oeste Americano.

Idoneidad Esta adaptación de Medida por Medida de Shakespeare emplea gran parte del texto original entremezclado con diálogo contemporáneo. La obra contiene insinuación sexual y escenas lascivas en un burdel con dosis significativas de humor y música.