Those of you in, around or traveling to Oregon are in for a treat. Not only are The Oregon Shakespeare Festival facilities and productions now accessible to all, but one powerful deaf actor, Howie Seago, will take the stage and use American Sign Language (ASL) to deliver his lines. Seago is known among theater aficionados for the extensive and clever use of facial expressions and body language in his ASL performances.

Seago has worked as an actor, director and producer for more than 20 years, but this is his first time appearing at the festival. He has worked in television and film but says he prefers theater work because stage acting allows him more time to explore his characters.  He also finds the collaboration with other actors and the fact that any errors cannot simply be edited out appealing. Seago’s stage acting repertoire is long, impressive and includes the Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Actor; DramaLogue Award for Excellence in Acting; and an Emmy Award for Excellence in Children's Programming.

At The Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Seago will perform in “The Music Man.” During rehearsals, he read lips and also watched an ASL interpreter. Seago uses ASL to “speak” his lines to another actor who then repeats the lines out loud and speaks and signs back with his own lines.

Seago points to Art Director Bill Rauch of The Oregon Shakespeare Festival as having the foresight to cast a deaf actor and, consequently, put the power and pageantry of ASL to work highlight the relationship between characters. In a press conference for Oregon Shakespeare Festival opening weekend, Rauch referred to Seago not as a great deaf actor, but as a “a great actor.”

Rauch and Seago worked with a sign master to develop Seago’s character, Marcellus Washburn. “Seago’s highly-honed skills are not merely a nod to diversity, his performance sparks laughter and pathos and insight, for audiences both hearing and non-hearing,” wrote reviewer Teri Alber in The World (Coos Bay).

And Seago’s performance isn’t the only thing at The Oregon Festival that may be of particular interest to people with disabilities. The facilities and productions are now accessible to all thanks in part to features, including:
 
Theatre Accessibility

  • Accessible entrances
  • Elizabethan Stage/Allen Pavilion outfitted with an elevator for balcony seating
  • All theatres provide wheelchair seating, wheelchair transfer seating, wheelchair and companion seating, and stair free seating
  • Accessible Assist restrooms in each theatre
  • The Angus Bowmer Theatre and The New Theatre have accessible concessions
  • Accessible drinking fountain
  • Courtesy wheelchairs are available in all theatres during performances

General Information

  • Accessible parking at the pay parking garage on the lower level behind the New Theatre
  • Drop off point located by the lower level of the parking garage
  • The buildings in which Lectures, Concerts, and other Diversions take place are accessible
  • An available walking tour includes six flights of stairs, however an accessible stair-free Backstage Tour is available. Requests must be received with at least 3 days notice.
  • Complimentary audio description with two weeks advance notice
  • Complimentary large print and Braille Playbills
  • Service animals welcome
  • Assistive Listening Devices
  • OTRS and TTY
  • Seven scheduled sign interpreted performances
  • Eleven scheduled open captioned performances



The Oregon Shakespeare Festival Box Office staff is happy to assist anyone with disabilities in selecting seating.

To order tickets, please call the Box Office at (800) 219-8161 or (541) 482-4331, OTRS (711), ask for The Oregon Shakespeare Festival Box Office at (541) 482-4331 or email boxoffice@osfashland.org. If applicable, please mention you need seats in the sign interpreted sections.