Angus L. Bowmer was the founder of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival

Oregon Shakespeare Festival

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival is a regional repertory theatre in Ashland, Oregon, United States. The festival annually produces eleven plays on three stages during a season that lasts from February to October...

 in Ashland, Oregon

Ashland, Oregon

Ashland is a city in Jackson County, Oregon, United States, near Interstate 5 and the California border, and located in the south end of the Rogue Valley. It was named after Ashland County, Ohio, point of origin of Abel Helman and other founders, and secondarily for Ashland, Kentucky, where other...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. During his tenure as artistic director, he produced all 37 of William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...

's plays and performed 32 Shakespearean roles in 43 separate stagings.

Biography

Angus Livingston Bowmer was born in Bellingham, Washington

Bellingham, Washington

Bellingham is the largest city in, and the county seat of, Whatcom County in the U.S. state of Washington. It is the twelfth-largest city in the state. Situated on Bellingham Bay, Bellingham is protected by Lummi Island, Portage Island, and the Lummi Peninsula, and opens onto the Strait of Georgia...

, on September 25, 1904. He was the only child of Charles C. Bowmer (born 19 Aug 1880, Nevada; died Feb 1967, Portland, Oregon) and Florence "Flora" (born about 1881, Wisconsin; died 05 Jun 1958, Portland, Oregon).. He moved with his family at least twice, living in Mount Vernon, Washington

Mount Vernon, Washington

Mount Vernon is a city in Skagit County, Washington, United States. The population was 31,743 at the 2010 census. It is one of two principal cities of and included in the Mount Vernon-Anacortes, Washington Metropolitan Statistical Area. It is the county seat of Skagit County...

 in 1910 and Oak Harbor, Washington

Oak Harbor, Washington

Oak Harbor is a city located on Whidbey Island in Island County, Washington. The population was 22,075 at the 2010 census.Oak Harbor was incorporated on May 14, 1915.-History:Oak Harbor is Whidbey Island's largest incorporated city...

 by 1920. He graduated from the Washington State Normal School at Bellingham (now Western Washington University

Western Washington University

Western Washington University is one of six state-funded, four-year universities of higher education in the U.S. state of Washington. It is located in Bellingham and offers bachelor's and master's degrees.-History:...

) in 1923.

Bowmer attended the University of Washington

University of Washington

University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...

 in Seattle in the 1930s, acting in at least two of its Shakespeare productions, Love's Labor's Lost and Cymbeline

Cymbeline

Cymbeline , also known as Cymbeline, King of Britain or The Tragedy of Cymbeline, is a play by William Shakespeare, based on legends concerning the early Celtic British King Cunobelinus. Although listed as a tragedy in the First Folio, modern critics often classify Cymbeline as a romance...

 under guest director, Ben Iden Payne

Ben Iden Payne

Ben Iden Payne was an English actor, director and teacher. Born in Newcastle-on-Tyne, he was raised and educated in Manchester. He started his career as a walk-on actor in 1899. He served as director of the Abbey Theatre for a short time in 1907 and then returned to Manchester to work with Annie...

, an Englishman whose ideas for neo-Elizabethan staging of Shakespeare’s plays provided inspiration later in Bowmer's life as he began producing the plays that became the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

In 1931, Bowmer was invited to become an instructor in English at Southern Oregon Normal School

Normal school

A normal school is a school created to train high school graduates to be teachers. Its purpose is to establish teaching standards or norms, hence its name...

, a predecessor to Southern Oregon University

Southern Oregon University

is a public liberal arts college located in Ashland, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1926, it was formerly known as Southern Oregon College and Southern Oregon State College . SOU offers criminology, natural sciences, including environmental science, Shakespearean studies and theatre arts programs...

, in Ashland, Oregon.

Bowmer married Gertrude Butler prior to enlisting in the Army July 20, 1942 where he served as a Warrant Officer

Warrant Officer

A warrant officer is an officer in a military organization who is designated an officer by a warrant, as distinguished from a commissioned officer who is designated an officer by a commission, or from non-commissioned officer who is designated an officer by virtue of seniority.The rank was first...

.

After serving his country and returning to Oregon, Bowmer organized theater activities in Ashland and continued teaching at the college until he retired in 1970.

Bowmer befriended Fred C. Adams who came to Ashland to observe the festival's operations prior to Adams founding the Utah Shakespearean Festival

Utah Shakespearean Festival

The Utah Shakespeare Festival is a festival of repertory productions of the works of William Shakespeare and other dramatists. The Festival is held during the summer and fall on the campus of Southern Utah University in Cedar City, Utah.-Awards:...

 in 1961.

Bowmer remained active in the festival until his death in 1979. His wife, secretary, assistant, and festival hostess, Gertrude Butler Bowmer, died August 19, 1994.

Beginnings of the Shakespeare Festival

The remains of an old Chautauqua

Chautauqua

Chautauqua was an adult education movement in the United States, highly popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Chautauqua assemblies expanded and spread throughout rural America until the mid-1920s. The Chautauqua brought entertainment and culture for the whole community, with...

 building in Ashland’s Lithia Park

Lithia Park

Lithia Park is the largest and most central park of Ashland, Oregon. It consists of of forested canyonland around Ashland Creek, stretching from the downtown plaza up toward its headwaters near Mount Ashland...

 gave Bowmer the idea of staging Shakespeare plays on an outdoor Elizabethan stage

English Renaissance theatre

English Renaissance theatre, also known as early modern English theatre, refers to the theatre of England, largely based in London, which occurred between the Reformation and the closure of the theatres in 1642...

. In 1935 he persuaded the government of Ashland to revive the tradition of July 4th

Independence Day (United States)

Independence Day, commonly known as the Fourth of July, is a federal holiday in the United States commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, declaring independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain...

 celebrations with an important addition: a Shakespearean Festival.

The Works Progress Administration

Works Progress Administration

The Works Progress Administration was the largest and most ambitious New Deal agency, employing millions of unskilled workers to carry out public works projects, including the construction of public buildings and roads, and operated large arts, drama, media, and literacy projects...

 helped construct a makeshift Elizabethan stage on the Chautauqua site and Bowmer, college students, teachers, and Ashland citizens mounted two plays, The Merchant of Venice

The Merchant of Venice

The Merchant of Venice is a tragic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1596 and 1598. Though classified as a comedy in the First Folio and sharing certain aspects with Shakespeare's other romantic comedies, the play is perhaps most remembered for its dramatic...

 and Twelfth Night

Twelfth Night, or What You Will

Twelfth Night; or, What You Will is a comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written around 1601–02 as a Twelfth Night's entertainment for the close of the Christmas season...

, for three performances. Bowmer directed and played the roles of Shylock

Shylock

Shylock is a fictional character in Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice.-In the play:In The Merchant of Venice, Shylock is a Jewish moneylender who lends money to his Christian rival, Antonio, setting the security at a pound of Antonio's flesh...

 and Sir Toby Belch

Toby Belch

Sir Toby Belch is a character in William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. He is considered one of William Shakespeare's finest comic characters, an ambiguous mix of high spirits and low cunning. He first appears in the play's third scene, when he storms onto the stage the morning after a hard night...

. Several hundred people attended the First Annual Shakespearean Festival. When Bowmer died in 1979, the OSF had performed Shakespeare’s entire canon twice.

Awards

• 1961, the University of Oregon
  University of Oregon
  -Colleges and schools:The University of Oregon is organized into eight schools and colleges—six professional schools and colleges, an Arts and Sciences College and an Honors College.- School of Architecture and Allied Arts :...
  
   Distinguished Service Award.
• 1964, Edith Knight Hill Memorial Award, for outstanding contribution to Oregon, by Portland Professional Chapter Theta Sigma Phi
• 1974, presidential appointee to the National Council of the Arts
• 1977, the First Annual Governor’s Award for Significant Contributions to the Advancement of the Arts in Oregon, a joint resolution by the Oregon Legislature
  Oregon Legislative Assembly
  The Oregon Legislative Assembly is the state legislature for the U.S. state of Oregon. The Legislative Assembly is bicameral, consisting of an upper and lower house: the Senate, whose 30 members are elected to serve four-year terms; and the House of Representatives, with 60 members elected to...
  
  
• 2000, Western Washington University, Alumni of the Century