By Pat Amacher
The Entertainer | Posted: Thursday, April 12, 2007 12:00 am
Director Scott Palmer brings 'Complete Works' to town amid other grand plans
Many people move on from university towns such as Corvallis to new and better things. Fortunately for us, however, Scott Palmer, after leaving our midst last summer, has found a way to share his spectacular new ventures with the many local theater fans who thrilled to his 2005-06 productions of "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)," "Blithe Spirit," "The Silent Woman," "Just One More Dance" and "Romeo and Juliet."
The last of Palmer's shows before he departed, "Romeo and Juliet," broke molds and boundaries with its reworking of Shakespeare's plot and a fantastical outdoor staging on the Memorial Union quad at Oregon State University.
The production led to merely one of Palmer's current irons in the fire, an annual "Bard on the Quad" series that will continue this year with his adaptation of "Much Ado About Nothing," a comic and romantic exploration of the battle of the sexes, set in the era of World War II.
Continuing his iconoclastic approach to directing, Palmer, 38, plans to include military uniforms, big band music, swing dancing, "Rosie the Riveter" costumes and large period set pieces, possibly with military jeeps and aircraft of the period. His adaptation will feature poetry written by women in the Renaissance along with new verse and other writings from Shakespeare.
This summer's "Much Ado" is sandwiched by two productions in this spring and next fall: a revival of "Complete Works," which routinely sold out during its summer 2005 run, opening next weekend at OSU, and an October staging of "Macbeth," which will play at Cornelius Pass Roadhouse in Hillsboro, the Columbia Center for the Arts in Hood River and, Palmer hopes, in Corvallis.
Further out, Palmer has been engaged to direct a magical summer 2008 production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" on Thunder Island in the Columbia Gorge.
As if these endeavors were not sufficiently adventurous for any director, plans for what is perhaps Palmer's magnum opus (at least so far) are picking up speed in his hometown of Hillsboro: the construction of a replica of The Rose, the Elizabethan theater built in 1587 where Shakespeare himself chewed the scenery as a player.
Palmer's proposal for the project details an octagonal-shaped, partly thatched and open-air theater made of timber, plaster and brick, with an audience capacity of 2,200.The theater compound would include buildings for production, administration and visitor information, and provide valuable opportunities for education as well as tourism. Possible sites for The Rose in Washington County include the Noble Woods Park, Washington Park and Dawson Creek.
Maintaining that Portlanders are less likely now to travel to Ashland for the high season of outdoor theatre, Palmer is confident that the time is right for an Elizabethan venue - and possibly a Renaissance Fair - in Washington County.
His proposal has met with "very supportive interest" from the county, Palmer says.
"People are no long satisfied with the idea that they have to go to Portland for culture," he says. "They want this stuff in their backyard."
Having offered his proposal and received "the green light" from both county and city to launch a feasibility study on the project, Palmer is now entrenched in the process of establishing a funding structure for the $35,000 it will cost. If all goes well, the first phase of the study will be completed by August.
The magnitude of the project can be glimpsed on the Web site dedicated to Shakespeare & Company, a Lenox, Mass., theater group planning its own Rose replica, at www.shake
speare.org/sandco.php?pgrose. The history of the original Rose, and details on ongoing excavation after the discovery of the site in 1989, can be found at www.rosetheatre.org.uk.
CHECK IT OUT
Scott Palmer's Bag & Baggage Productions will revive its production of "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)" at 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 20, in OSU's Withycombe Theatre. The run continues at 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $4 and $7 and are available by calling 737-2784. Original cast members Tommy Cavanaugh, Maggie Chapin and Drew Dannhorn will recreate the roles they played in the sold-out and extended touring run of the play in 2005.