Greetings! I’m Torrie Allen, OSF’s new director of development. Recruited from Alaska early last fall, I now oversee all philanthropic activity here. I have more than 20 years of arts fundraising experience at the local, regional and national levels. At the national level, I developed an obsession with arts organizations that generate nationwide impact. So, no surprise I’m here. I knew OSF was a great place, but . . . I had no idea just how much “there” is “here.”

The 82nd-anniversary season of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival finds the company in a sublime exaltation of “there.” Something absolutely amazing is happening within these hallowed walls. From never-before-achieved artistic accomplishments to trail-blazingly courageous efforts to embrace the stories of all Americans, few other major performing arts companies in our country are advancing so boldly. Here are some highlights:

During the last few months of 2016, OSF appeared in The New York Times 12 times, an astounding figure for a performing arts organization. Within the same period, OSF had five different types of major activity occurring in the Big Apple, including two productions at The Public Theater (Party People and Sweat), an Off-Broadway run of Vietgone at the Manhattan Theatre Club, workshop preparations for UniSon and a separate showcasing of scenes from Every 28 Hours at Theatre Conference Group’s Fall Forum. And all of this took place during our off-season. The international press is taking note. Howard Sherman, in Great Britain’s The Stage newspaper, noted “the spring Broadway season will feature not one but two new plays (Sweat and Indecent) that began at a Shakespeare festival in Ashland, Oregon.” Well, Mr. Sherman, that’s just the icing on a brilliantly rich cake. There’s much, much more.

Indeed, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival is influencing the world stage as well as here in Ashland. This year we will feature journeys of the heart with the strong, dynamic women who undertake the quest of self-discovery, whether it is through the pain of loss in Hannah and the Dread Gazebo; the awareness of identity in Off the Rails; the power of story in Beauty and the Beast or the tragedy of shattered dreams in Mojada: A Medea in Los Angeles. Witty women drive the plot in The Merry Wives of Windsor; while a rebellious lady inspires the world’s greatest playwright in Shakespeare in Love. Meanwhile, poetry infuses the world of UniSon with myth, music and the lyrical power of August Wilson. Don’t forget the young man on the precipice of power in the searing saga of Henry IV, Parts One and Two and the seasoned war veteran longing for home in The Odyssey. All of these characters are embarking on epic quests to get from there to here, we look forward to taking these extraordinary expeditions with you.