Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s 2024 season will feature an expanded offering of nine productions, including four fan-favorite OSF veterans performing one-person shows in the Thomas Theatre.

The lineup was announced Wednesday.

The diverse array of offerings includes iconic works from Shakespeare’s canon, stories inspired by the Bard’s legacy, new works, musicals and the West Coast premiere of “Jane Eyre,” adapted by Elizabeth Williamson from the Charlotte Bronte novel, directed by Dawn Monique Williams, who directed this season’s popular “Twelfth Night.”

New artistic director Tim Bond said he is ecstatic about his first season at the helm.

“The 2024 season is a feat,” he said. “It’s a labor of love. It’s a collection of powerful stories that our artists and audiences are yearning for now more than ever. March 2024 cannot come soon enough.”

The season will run from March 19 through Sept. 15. Four productions will open in March, two more will be added by June, followed by the rest.

Reports of increased donations and funding have boosted the spirit of OSF officials, board members and patrons.

“We feel a sense of immense gratitude to be sharing a nine-show season,” Bond said, “one that will delight our audiences and provide the world-class theatergoing experience OSF is known so well for.”

The season will open in the Angus Bowmer Theatre with former OSF associate artistic director Evren Odcikin’s production of “Macbeth,” inspired by the original Scottish setting of the masterwork.

Opening March 20 at the Bowmer is a play mirroring the Bard’s themes of vengeance and anarchy, Liz Buffy Adams’ “Born with Teeth.” The dark comedy is a seductive fictionalization about an ill-fated meeting of the minds between a young William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe.

The season continues at the Thomas Theatre with a series of four one-person productions performed by storied OSF alums. They include:

• “Shakespeare and the Alchemy of Gender,” featuring Lisa Wolpe, who has arguably played more of the Bard’s male roles than any woman in history.
• “Smote This, A Comedy About God … and Other Serious SH*T,” featuring Rodney Gardiner in a story about his journey as an undocumented Black boy growing up in 1980s Miami.
• “Virgins to Villains,” featuring Robin Goodrin Nordli in a one-of-a-kind revue that draws on her experience of performing in 54 productions of 28 different Shakespeare plays.
• “Behfarmakeen (If You Please),” featuring Berzin Akhavan in a one-man show that tells the true story of a young immigrant trying to find belonging in two worlds divided.

The Thomas also will host the indie-rock musical ”Lizard Boy,” fresh from a 2023 Off-Broadway run.

The Allen Elizabethan Theatre opens the outdoor season May 31 with “Jane Eyre,” one of the most recognized heroines in literary history.

Then opening the following night, June 1, is one of Shakespeare’s most iconic comedies, “Much Ado About Nothing,” directed by OSF fan-favorite Miriam Laube. Bond said the Renaissance-inspired staging will feature “dazzling visuals and music.”

OSF Board Chair Diane Yu expressed the board’s gratitude for patrons’ and audiences’ continued support.

“We appreciate their generous support for and commitment to keeping our theaters open,” she said. “This is good news for the region and American theater itself.”

She praised the efforts of Bond and interim Executive Director Tyler Hokama in helping the festival “reach this happy moment.”

The 2024 season also will usher in the return of OSF’s School Visit Program, originated by founder Angus Bowmer. 

The initiative introduced students to live theater and Shakespeare’s plays by bringing teaching artists into schools with performances, talkbacks and workshops, according to OSF. The 2024 school visits will include a performance program of “Julius Caesar” and a literature program featuring the “Seven Ages” speech from “As You Like It.”

Full creative teams and casting for the new season, along with more details about education programming, will be announced throughout the winter and early spring. Members will get early access to tickets for the season in early November, with general public sales beginning in late November.

For more information, go to the festival’s website at osfashland.org/2024.