Oregon Shakespeare Festival Artistic Director Nataki Garrett did not tell many people about OSF hiring a security detail for her, after she received death threats earlier this year.
But Garrett shared the information with a reporter from NPR (which did not share it in advance with JPR), and in late September the news was out there for the world to see. And react.
The theater industry condemned the threats, Ashland City Council members made statements, and racial justice groups urged the council to go further and do more to condemn the threats and protect Garrett and other people of color at OSF.
We explore the situation and the response to it, with Emily Simon and Precious Yamaguchi, Co-chairs of Ashland's Social Equity and Racial Justice Committee.