Winding Down

As we wind down our 2012 visit to Ashland, Oregon, we are once again struck by the notion of Gateways (see Post #3) and the relative swiftness of the passage of time. The anticipation and planning that went into this two-week journey has been eclipsed by the speed with which the actual two weeks have passed. Time is certainly relative, right? How long is a three hour matinee of a play that really excites and moves you? (We are talking about the OSF production of All The Way.) Or how long is a one mile hike UPHILL to the reservoir on a day that the temps are predicted to reach 104? Or how long is the hike back down? How long is a toothache compared to a couple of hours of chatting with a good friend or playing with the cousins and/or granddaughters? How long is two weeks? Depends.

Here’s the activity run-down since our last post:

Thursday, August 9 – evening performance of The Very Merry Wives of Windsor, Iowa. An interesting adaptation of The Merry Wives of Windsor, set in Iowa and complete with gay marriage and Mitt Romney.

Friday, August 10: Some of us took the day and went to Crater Lake. (Photos to follow as soon as we can get them from Michael’s flashdrive.) Some of us stayed back in Ashland and attended the matinee of All The Way, probably the very best thing that we have seen at OSF this summer. A wonderful production of a new play by Robert Schenkkan. From the OSF description: “Right out of Shakespeare’s playbook – 1963. An assassin’s bullet catapults Lyndon Baines Johnson into the presidency. A Shakespearean figure of towering ambition and appetite, the charismatic, conflicted Texan hurls himself into Civil Rights legislation, throwing the country into turmoil. Alternately bullying and beguiling, he enacts major social programs, faces down opponents and wins the 1964 election in a landslide. But in faraway Vietnam, a troublesome conflict looms. In the Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright’s vivid dramatization of LBJ’s first year in office, means versus ends plays out on a broad stage canvas as politicians and civil rights leaders plot strategy and wage war.” We loved everything about it.

Evening saw us in different places. Some still on the road back from Crater Lake and later at Zoey’s Cafe for ice cream. Some had dinner at DragonFly and then a movie. Some worked at OSF and some saw MMC for the second time – just to make sure that he saw all of the complexities.

Saturday, August 11 – A no theatre day – except for the boys (Noah and Josh) both of whom had to work. We climbed to the reservoir and got (some of) our feet wet in the cold waters there. Another great family dinner. Ice cream at Zoey’s. Drinks with my friend of many years, Michael Maag and the a short chat with Josh on the back deck. (He had stopped by our home-away-from-home on his way home from running an evening performance of Party People. That’s one of the pleasures of this trip – our place is right in town and people just drop by all the time.)

Today is our last day in Ashland and we are spending it in the theatres and with family. And then tomorrow morning (at some horrible hour) we will get on a plane, pass through another set of gateways, and find ourselves back in New York. But for today – there is still more time here in Ashland. We don’t plan to waste it.

OSF’s production of All The Way. Photo by Jenny Graham.