Amador Valley’s Drama Club and Foothill’s Drama Club attended the 2025 Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Running from early March through late October in Ashland, Oregon, the event is one of the most prestigious theater festivals in the United States. The event is an opportunity for performers to exhibit their work, as well as audiences to explore different productions.
“There’s this entire culture—this entire festival—that’s created around theater, and around seeing people perform. Learning how it works, and appreciating this art and being part of that is really important,” said Advanced Drama student Adelle Krechetov (‘26).
Reviving an Old Tradition
For the first time in over ten years, the Drama department renewed its tradition of attending the Oregon Fall Festival.
“Amador specifically used to go on the field trip every year, and then it stopped…and so, the drama club officers and I decided that it would be something that was a priority for us this year, that we wanted to bring back,” said Drama Teacher Hannah Davies.
Theater in Action
Students had an immersive experience learning about theater through workshops and watching plays. Throughout their trip, they witnessed productions that may not be as accessible in the Bay Area.
“The purpose is just to expose people to kinds of theater that you don’t normally get to see. There is a fair amount of theater that is in San Francisco, but it tends to either be in much smaller theaters, and they tend to be kind of edgier or more adult shows,” said Davies.
Coming up on its ninetieth anniversary, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival is the longest-running Shakespeare festival in the U.S. Every year, the festival attracts thousands of visitors for its top-tier productions.
“We saw two Shakespeare shows: ‘Julius Caesar,’ and then a show called ‘The Merry Wives of Windsor.’ Then, we saw a musical called ‘Into the Woods.” We saw another show, ‘The Importance of Being Earnest.’ All of them were really immersive, really fun, and all very different— but I loved it,” said Drama Club President Emma June (‘27).
Drama as a Profession
The festival granted students insight into pursuing a drama-oriented career through interactions with performers in workshops.
“I learned the most from this talk back with one of the actors that we did. Her name was Uma, and she gave a lot of great advice on acting and what it’s like to be an actor like her, who’s in the company,” said June.
Uma Paranjpe, a Foothill High School Alum, is both an actor for the Shakespeare festival and on Broadway. Paranjpe had a lasting influence on many of the students, especially those from Pleasanton.
“[Uma Praranjpe] actually sat down with our students and she did a whole workshop and talked about what it is like to be a professional actor, and how you can be successful and how it can be something that can actually sustain you making a living…Just letting them see somebody who has successfully done the thing that a lot of them want to do was very cool,” said Davies.
A First-hand Glimpse into Theater
Attending the Oregon Shakespeare Festival gave drama students the opportunity to be in a real-world community of theater, surrounded by experienced artists. The insights they gained helped them grow as performers, as well as inspired them to further explore a future in performing arts.
“I hope [the field trip] improves the drama program, but mostly, I hope that it allows students who don’t have access to that much theater, or who have never gotten to experience something like that before, the chance to go explore and find a new passion,” said Davies.
