Jerry Turner (theater director)

For the baseball player, see Jerry Turner (baseball).

,for the anchorman in Baltimore Jerry Turner (anchorman)

Jerry Turner (1927-2004) served as artistic director of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival from 1971 – 1991. During his time at the Festival, Jerry directed more than 40 productions, and produced acclaimed translations of August Strindberg and his beloved Henrik Ibsen. Under Jerry's leadership, OSF received an Antoinette Perry Award (Tony Award) in 1983.

It has been said that Jerry was a risk-taking traditionalist and that he pushed the Festival to be fresh and unpredictable. "Theatre is supposed to be disturbing,” he often said. He was a lover of classical texts and equally dedicated to new work, always finding in any theatre piece a way to surprise and stimulate audiences. "Expanding an audience's horizons doesn't necessarily mean doing new work," he said in a 1987 interview.

Biography

A graduate of the University of Colorado (BA, MA), with a PhD in Theatre from the University of Illinois, Jerry began his career at OSF as an actor in 1957 and director in 1959. During the academic year in the early and mid-1950s he was Staff Director at the University of Arkansas and Washington State College. From 1957 to 1964 he was associate professor of drama and department chairman at Humboldt State College at Arcata, California, and from 1964 to 1970 he was chairman of the department of drama and professor of drama at the University of California at Riverside. In 1970 he was elected the first chairman of the faculty of the college of humanities and received a UC Humanities Institute Fellowship to study theatre in Sweden. He learned the language, discovered Strindberg, saw Ingmar Bergman's stage work at the Malmo Civic Theatre and returned to the States with a new vision for theatrical work. He later learned Norwegian in order to be able to read Ibsen's work in the original.

Work at Oregon Shakespeare Festival

When he returned to OSF in 1971, it was to take up the post of Producing Director as successor to Angus Bowmer. Jerry continued to work with Bowmer on a few projects until Bowmer died in 1979. Jerry became Artistic Director in 1981 (a title change only), retiring in 1991.

During his tenure he directed more than 40 productions, including his memorable productions of Macbeth, The Tempest, The White Devil, Major Barbara, Pericles Prince of Tyre, Julius Caesar, Long Day's Journey into Night, The Iceman Cometh, King Lear and Mother Courage and Her Children. He directed a number of his own translations including Ibsen's Rosmersholm, Peer Gynt, Ghosts, An Enemy of the People, Bran, and The Wild Duck. In 1977 he oversaw the opening of the Black Swan, an intimate black box theatre, designed especially for new and experimental work and offering new opportunities for OSF audiences.

Awards and recognition

Under Jerry's leadership, OSF received the Antoinette Perry Award (Tony Award) in 1983. Jerry also received an Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters at Pacific University in 1985, the George Norlin Alumni Award from the University of Colorado, Boulder in 1989, the Oregon Governor's Award for the Arts in 1991, and the St. Olavs Medal from King Harald of Norway in 1996.

Jerry Turner died of heart failure on September 2, 2004.

References

Information from: Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Used with the permission of Amy Richard, Media Relations, OSF: media@osfashland.org. (1927-2004)