Willamette Week The need for strong, independent local journalism is more urgent than ever. Please support the city we love by joining Friends of Willamette Week. Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s New Short Film Reflects on Race and the Difficult Questions Surrounding Identity “We have been rewired by the time we spent in Oregon. Our atoms had been rejiggered anew, but we look the same.” (Oregon Shakespeare Festival) Updated February 23 For nearly 90 years, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival has been one of the state's landmark artistic institutions, drawing both international theater talent and audiences to Ashland. But last July, OSF artistic director Nataki Garrett called Shariffa Ali, hoping the acclaimed New York stage director and the festival's 2020 artist-in-residence could help "save" it. At the time, Ali had sheltered in Ashland for months after COVID-19 shut down her production of