ShellyKing.com

Hey kids,
So, I’m back in Ashland for my first trip of the year to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Yay! But it’s been terribly cold and rainy and gray. Boo! But as my guy says, “That’s the universe telling you you should write.” Wise, wise man. Got a lot of noveling work done the last couple [...]

Those of you who are devoted readers will remember I mentioned a bit of Oregon Shakespeare Festival casting gossip I couldn’t relay. Well, OSF sent out this bit today to its members:
Well, let’s start with the juicy stuff. If you haven’t heard yet, two roles for the 2010 season have already been cast. The title [...]

OK, folks…final bits from OSF 2009, Part Un.
Years ago, I used to love this little restaurant in Noe Valley called The Flying Saucer. At the end of the meal, they brought you the lightest cloud of pink cotton candy you’ve ever seen, piled high in a martini glass. It was supposed to cleanse your palette [...]

A 2 1/2 hour play that could have been done in 45 minutes: So, Thursday night was Death and the King’s Horseman. An African chief plans to kill himself in a ritual that will ensure the prosperity of his people and the British government, not understanding the culture and not wanting to, tries to stop [...]

I never knew it could be like this: I arrived in Ashland around lunch yesterday and having a couple of hours before I could check into my room, I did what I always consider doing when I have a couple of hours to kill. I went to get a pedicure. I tried out a new [...]

Yes, it’s that time of year again, the first of my two trips to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. I was somewhat horrified when my boss asked me if I had a costume ready. It’s not a Ren Faire people! (Not that there’s anything wrong with that.) OSF is the largest repertory theater in the country. [...]

City Lights Theater in San Jose is doing its own version of The Three Musketeers. It’s lots of good frothy fun–in a Renaissance-fair-exploded-inside-a-matchbox sort of way–and definitely what I needed after a hard week. There’s an abundance of sword fights and smooching about (though would a plumed hat have killed you guys?) which is all [...]

The last night of the OSF season…sigh…ended with good silly Stoppard fun. On the Razzle is Stoppard being very clever with the slapstick and the silly puns. No nutritional value whatsoever, but it was a lot of fun. Though I’m I’m dying for OSF to tackle his Utopia trilogy!
So another season is over. I’m trying [...]

A friend of mine says that, for him, going to the theater is what going to church is for other people. I know what he means. At its best, the theater gives us the spiritual clarity we crave in our daily lives. It gives the intangible skin to walk around in. I think anyone who [...]

I’m back in Ashland for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival…again. Third trip this year. I’m such a geek. I’m back with Corbett and Bill at the Arden Forest Inn (as if I would stay any place else by choice!) and enjoying autumn in Oregon. Unlike the Bay Area, it lasts more than 5 seconds here! I’m [...]