There’s an old adage that 90 percent of directing lies in the casting. Given my passionate belief in our repertory acting company, it won’t surprise you that I find that statement to be true. When I talk to young directors about the ingredients of a successful production, I also stress the importance of transitions. Often as directors, we need to put more of our time, energy and creativity into how we transition from one scene to the next than what actually happens within the scenes themselves. As an audience member, I know that when the transitions are confident, theatrical, emotional and metaphorically rich, I am in the hands of a great director.
Transitions are on my mind for obvious reasons. As most of you know, I’ve accepted a job to be the first artistic director of the Ronald O. Perelman Performing Arts Center at the World Trade Center in New York City. I face my transition from OSF to the Perelman with a tumult of emotions: gratitude for your ongoing generosity, pride in what we’ve achieved together in the last 12 years, sadness at leaving my artistic home and the beautiful Rogue Valley, excitement about all that lies ahead for me and my family, determination to bring the best of OSF’s spirit to my new endeavor, and curiosity and optimism about the next chapter in the Festival’s story. As a leader of a much-beloved, 83-year-old institution, I’m always aware that I am a temporary steward, but knowing that I am only here for 18 more months is both melancholy and energizing. In the time that remains, I want to do all that I can to steadfastly and boldly serve the mission of this company that we all love so dearly.
I will soon be announcing the 2019 season, the final one that I will oversee as OSF’s artistic director. Meanwhile, as I write these words, I am deep in rehearsals for Oklahoma! Our simple experiment in LGBTQ-inclusive casting is shedding light on this iconic musical in ways that continue to amaze and delight us all. Across the hall from us in the Hay-Patton Rehearsal Center, the world premiere of Manahatta, which is set on the island of Manahatta (Manhattan) in the 1600s as well as in present-day Oklahoma, is taking shape. This is rotating rep at its most dynamic: two profoundly different works of art, one a classic musical comedy and one a searing new drama, both partly set in the same pain-soaked landscape. In their very different ways, these productions both reveal communities in transition, wrestling with profound questions of our identity as a nation in both historical and contemporary contexts.
This year’s production of Henry V brilliantly articulates the transition of an irresponsible young man into an accomplished political and military leader; it is also packed with theatrical transitions as its intimate cast transforms from English to French and back again with simple eloquence. The cast of Othello courageously leads us to the harrowing places of the soul that great tragedies demand of us; we watch with horror as the bloom of true love insidiously transitions into rancid fear and violence. Conversely, Kate Hamill’s lively adaptation of Sense and Sensibility shows us an almost opposite trajectory, from economic and gender injustice to a satisfyingly romantic happy ending. Our production of Karen Zacarías’s Destiny of Desire links many threads of popular culture, from the melodrama of theatre history to modern telenovas, with a flourish and joy that is contagiously entertaining. And anyone who has seen it knows what I mean when I affirm this show’s delicious, swirling transitions from scene to scene!
Since the only constant in life is change, how do we choose to navigate the transitions that inevitably arrive in our lives? I look forward to partnering with all of you, the best audience in the American theatre, to sculpt this particular moment of transition. I have faith that it will be confident, theatrical, emotional and metaphorically rich, as all great transitions are.