An Evening to Remember - Deep Roots of Culture are Shared

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) hosted a special reception for Ambassador Gao, Consul General from San Francisco, and the full delegation from China. Ashland Mayor, John Stromberg gave a welcome address followed by Paul Nicholson, OSF Executive Director who gave the welcome speech below. He then presented a gift to the Consul General. Consul General Gao gave a speech, which was followed by Bill Rauch, OSF Artistic Director. Mr. Rauch talked about the spirit and future of OSF which includes putting on the play, the White Snake, from China.

The Consul General provided a gift to the OSF leaders and then everyone enjoyed a wonderful array of food and beverages. At 8:15pm the 53 person delegation was directed to the open air Elizabethan Theater to experience Shakespeare’s Love's Labor's Lost. It was a wonderful evening for all and new experiences for our Chinese guests.

Speech to Consul General Ambassador Gao

Welcome Ambassador Gao. It is such a pleasure to have you with us tonight.

Firstly, I would like to give some background on the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, which has a long history of growth and change. We were founded in 1935 and have grown steadily and prudently for the last 76 years. We are now one of the largest two or three theaters in the U.S. Each year OSF has more than 400,000 attendances; we have 500+ company members and over 800 performances this year. Our budget this year is $29 million.

More than 85% of our audience travels at least 150 miles to be here. Our audience is the largest and smartest of any theatre in the United States. It is exceptionally loyal, with more than 40% having attended productions here for at least 20 years; they care deeply about our company and have made it absolutely clear that we are a vitally important part of their lives.

I have been fortunate to spend a little time in China and feel a strong connection. In 2009 my wife and I spent two wonderful weeks visiting Beijing, Shanghai and Xian. We loved experiencing your culture. We loved the vibrancy of your country and its people. We loved the sense of the old and the new, living side by side.

We at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival have strong hopes for future collaborations between OSF and theatres in China. The Oregon Shakespeare Festival is one of the oldest theatres in America, but we, like China, are looking forward to a bright and vibrant future. OSF has an expansive view of its place in the world.

We want to take our work to China. We want to invite the Chinese people to come to Ashland to see our work. We want to develop strategic partnerships with theaters in China that can enrich us both.

Thank you, Ambassador Gao, for coming to Ashland. Your presence here today, and the presence of so many of your colleagues, makes a clear statement that we can and must walk together into the future.

June 2, 2011 Paul Nicholson, Executive Director, Oregon Shakespeare Festival

The following photos are of the reception prior to the play