OSF's INTO THE WOODS Comes to the Wallis Annenberg Center Tonight

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival's (OSF) production of Into the Woods will move to Beverly Hills, Calif., as part of the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts' 2014-15 season. With music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine, Into the Woods heads to the Wallis' Bram Goldsmith Theater tonight, December 2, and runs through the 21st.

As with the OSF incarnation, Amanda Dehnert will serve as director, and the majority of the OSF cast, the stage manager Heath Belden, assistant stage manager Roxana Khan and other members of the creative and technical team are expected to make the move as well. The Wallis will also utilize OSF's costumes, props and wigs.

"I am so proud of Amanda Dehnert's innovative and heart-stirring production of Into the Woods," OSF Artistic Director Bill Rauch said. "It has been a gift to audiences all summer long, and I am delighted that we get to share it with Southern California audiences this fall at the wonderful Wallis Annenberg Center. This is an exciting time for OSF productions, world premieres and commissions, as All the Way, The Great Society, The White Snake, The Unfortunates, The Liquid Plain and Party People also find new audiences beyond Ashland this year and next."

In his review for the Los Angeles Times, Charles McNulty lauded OSF's production as a "superb revival" that "exhibited a poise that I frankly didn't think it possessed. How is such balance achieved? Largely through the buoyant direction of Amanda Dehnert, who also serves as music director. Through her artful calibrations, speech and song find a rare harmony."

Single tickets to the Wallis' Into the Woods will go on sale at a later date, though subscription packages are currently available. For more information call 310-746-4000 or visit www.thewallis.org. Tickets for OSF's Into the Woods in Ashland, Ore., are available online and by calling 541-482-4331 or 800-219-8161.

Located in the heart of Beverly Hills, the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts opened its doors in October 2013. This fall marks its second season as the first and only performing arts center in Beverly Hills. This new venue transformed a Beverly Hills city block into a vibrant new cultural destination in the heart of Los Angeles with two distinct, elegant buildings: the historic 1933 Beverly Hills Post Office (now the Paula Kent Meehan Historic Building) and the new, contemporary 500-seat, state-of-the-art Bram Goldsmith Theater.

Founded by Angus Bowmer in 1935 and winner of a 1983 Tony Award for outstanding achievement in regional theatre, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival has grown from a three-day festival of two plays to a major theatre arts organization that presents an eight-month season consisting of 11 plays that include works by Shakespeare as well as a mix of classics, musicals, and new works.. The Festival also draws attendance of more than 400,000 to almost 800 performances every year and employs approximately 575 theatre professionals. In 2008, OSF launched American Revolutions: the United States History Cycle, a 10-year cycle of commissioning new plays that has already resulted in several OSF commissions finding success nationwide.

Where to find OSF commissions, productions and world premieres at other theatres, 2014-2016:

• The White Snake, directed by Mary Zimmerman: Guthrie Theatre (Sept. 09 - Oct. 19, 2014); Wuzhen Festival in China (Oct. 30-Nov. 9, 2014); The Old Globe (May 9-June 14, 2015)
• Party People: Berkeley Repertory Theatre, directed by Liesl Tommy (Oct. 14-Nov. 16, 2014)
• All The Way (Nov. 14-Jan. 4, 2015) and The Great Society (Dec. 5-Jan. 4, 2015), directed by Bill Rauch, Seattle Repertory Theatre
• Into The Woods: The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, directed by Amanda Dehnert (Dec. 2-21, 2014)
• The Liquid Plain: Signature Theatre, directed by Kwame Kwei-Armah (Feb.-March, 2015)
• The Unfortunates: American Conservatory Theatre (ACT), San Francisco (2015-2016 season)

Pictured: Into the Woods (OSF, 2014): Denizens of the town head into the woods (Rachael Warren, Miles Fletcher, Javier Muñoz, Robin Goodrin Nordli, Jennie Greenberry). Photo by T. Charles Erickson.

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