Ashland is home to the award-winning Oregon Shakespeare Festival which produces plays in repertory each year written by William Shakespeare and other playwrights. The season begins mid-February and runs through the end of October. With three stages, this year's Shakespeare Festival looks especially exciting for 2012. The playbill includes 11 plays on 3 stages: Romeo and Juliet Animal Crackers The White Snake Medea/Macbeth/Cinderella All the Way Seagull Troilus and Cressida Party People Henry V The Very Merry Wives of Windsor, Iowa As You Like It Check Availability for the play you wish to watch. 2012 Illuminations has previews of all the plays for purchase. (Coming soon...) Ashland is perfectly situated in the heart of Southern Oregon not far from historic Jacksonville and Crater Lake National Park. Downtown Ashland features boutique shopping, fine dining, art galleries, and the Oregon Cabaret Theater. Just south of the downtown Plaza is 100-acre Lithia Park, a wonderful place to hike and relax. Local Ashland activities abound, including: boating World-Class White Water Rafting hiking biking world-class golf courses guided fishing horseback riding local wine-tasting Oregon Caves & much more! Winter turns downtown Ashland into a holiday wonderland with the annual Festival of Lights. Downhill skiing is available at nearby Mount Ashland with cross-country trails in the nearby National Forest lands.