OSF Artistic Director Bill Rauch Visits A.C.T.
By Simon Hodgson Bill Rauch is in his ninth season as the artistic director of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF). While visiting San Francisco for last Thursday’s triumphant opening of the new musical The Unfortunates at The Strand Theater (it premiered at OSF in 2013), he sat down with A.C.T.’s M.F.A. Program actors for a Q&A moderated by A.C.T. Artistic Director Carey Perloff. (L-R): M.F.A. Program actor Leonard A. Thomas, A.C.T. Artistic Director Carey Perloff, and OSF Artistic Director Bill Rauch. Photo by Simon Hodgson. Is classical theater training still relevant? It’s deeply necessary, but it’s becoming more and more rare. At OSF, there’s a tension between casting new work and casting classical plays. Ideally, you want actors who can play contemporary, classical, and musicals too. Real repertory actors are very rare, because it’s a marathon, not a sprint. How do you create a season? At OSF, I was lucky enough to inherit...