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Multiple Oregon Shakespeare Festival performances canceled due to COVID outbreak

A free "Green Show" performance outside of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival at the Allen Elizabethan Theater.
Juliet Grable
A free "Green Show" performance outside of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival's Allen Elizabethan Theater. During the 2022 season OSF is offering eight live performances, three virtual shows and reduced ticket pricing in what a spokesperson described as an effort to increase accessibility.

Several Oregon Shakespeare Festival shows have been canceled through Sunday because of a high number of COVID cases among the cast and crew.

About 15% of the festival’s performers and understudies have tested positive for COVID according to the directors of OSF.

The only shows that will continue performing as planned are Once on This Island and How I Learned What I Learned. All other performances, including the pre-play Green Shows, have been canceled through the end of the week.

Executive Director David Schmitz says OSF hopes to get the shows back onstage as soon as possible, especially the show Unseen, which closes next week.

“Unfortunately, acting is not the kind of job where you just sit at your desk and you can do it not feeling well,” Schmitz said.

Roughly 3,000-4,000 patrons will be affected by the cancellation, according to Schmitz. Ticket holders can get a refund, receive a voucher or exchange their tickets for a different performance date, among a number of other options. OSF attributes the outbreak to the new variant of Omicron.

Further information on performances is available at www.osfashland.org/status.