All the Ashland’s a stage
By Barry Vitcov
This week’s Poetry Corner features of collection of theater-inspired poems by Donna Boehm. As we begin to emerge from the winter chill (and heavier than anticipated snow) and prepare for spring, it’s a celebration of theater in Southern Oregon. It begins with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s 90th season and other theaters offering a variety of choices. It’s time to fill up your theater “dance card” with this line-up:
Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s productions of “Julius Caesar,” “Jitney,” “The Importance of Being Ernest,” and “Fat Ham.”
The Rogue Theater Company’s offering of “Doubt: A Parable.”
The Cabaret staging of “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder.”
Camelot’s musical tributes with a “Spotlight on Kenny Loggins.”
The Collaborative Theater Project’s staging of “Moriarty: A New Sherlock Holmes Adventure.”
The Barnstormer Theater’s production of “Lost (and found) in IKEA”
Thanks to those of you who have already submitted poems to the Poetry Corner. Your support has helped to expand the reach of poetry throughout Southern Oregon. And, from what we’ve heard, even beyond!
Recently, a local poet, suggested that we might help celebrate the 90th anniversary of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival with poetry. So, how about it? Let’s use OSF’s 90th Anniversary to celebrate the richness of live theater in Southern Oregon.
Submissions may be sent to haikubjv@gmail.com.
A Selection of Theater Poems
By Donna Boehm
Yes We Will, Will
We stand in line
and pay a price
to watch Will’s poor players
strutting.
Audience
Glistening moments
of profound understanding
hang suspended,
about to fall and filter through
starving minds.
Ripened words are
succulent fruit that make us
somehow different,
somehow more real.
Making Love
The mating of
script and actor,
is an act of love.
Actor
Imagination
of the playwright,
a gift to the actor
Script
a tool to discover a character
birthed behind the curtain
of the actor’s mind
Playwright
A kaleidoscope of emotions
you bring to us,
a summary of understanding
defining our human condition.
You hold a mirror up
reflecting what we do not
see in ourselves.
Bravo!
After moving to the Rogue Valley from Chicago, via many years in the Bay Area, Donna Boehm has found a community that supports her creative energies. Always a curious creative, she has been a contributor to many local theater companies and the opera for many years as a prop mistress. She considers herself to be a backstage diva, often behind the scenes adding a visual sense of reality for the audience. Meanwhile, when not working between lights up, curtain down, or volunteering with theater groups, and participating in occasional onstage productions, she writes prose and poetry, most often reflecting matters of the heart. Also, an accomplished floral artist, she creates for several organizations including the Schneider Museum of Art and Celia’s House Hospice care. To those who have played their parts in her life, she thanks you for what you do with words from a song in “A Chorus Line”: “You did what you had to do, the sweetness and the sorrow. Don’t forget, don’t regret what you did for love. As you travel on, love’s what you’ll remember.“
Poetry Submissions Welcomed!
You are invited to submit original work to the Poetry Corner. There are only two restrictions: First, poems need to show a connection to Ashland and/or Southern Oregon. Your interpretation of that connection is fairly loose! Second, poems need to be aligned to the left margin. The publishing platform used by Ashland.news has issues with the creative use of space! There are no length restrictions, but try to keep your poems to no more than 30 lines. Be sure to include the title of your poem, your name as you would like it to appear, the city or town in which you reside, and, if you wish, your preferred pronouns.
To submit poems, send to Barry Vitcov at haikubjv@gmail.com.
