Artistic integrity and reality intertwine

And so we come to the conclusion of our story.

Following much struggle – which regular readers will have followed over the course of the year – I have successfully coaxed and badgered my husband to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland.

There, fortified with wine, we saw “The Merry Wives of Windsor,” a silly play I picked based on his Herculean resistance to higher culture of any kind.

It will probably come as no surprise to you that, despite the 400,000 or so tickets the festival sells each year, Tom’s type is not unheard of among the festival staff.

“There are a lot of people who may like Shakespeare,” says an optimistic Amy Richard, OSF’s media relations manager, “but they just don’t know it yet.”

So the festival tries to ease people into the Bard’s world with something a bit more familiar, like this year’s “The Diary of Anne Frank” or “Bus Stop” – still culture, to be sure, but perhaps more packed with what Richard calls “name recognition.”

“We choose plays to attract audiences,” she says, “but the artistic director has a vision for the festival. She doesn’t want to change that just to fill up the house.”

This delicate balance of artistic integrity and fiscal reality comes about each year through the “Boar’s Head Process.”

A London inn, the Boar’s Head lent its yard to theater productions in the 16th and early 17th centuries. The OSF adopted the name to describe its method of selecting each season’s plays.

The whole rigamarole goes on for months, this year generating the following 2007 season: “On the Razzle,” by Tom Stoppard; Anton Chekhov’s “The Cherry Orchard”; August Wilson’s “Gem of the Ocean”; “Tartuffe” by Molière; Shakespeare’s “As You Like It,” “The Tempest,” “The Taming of the Shrew” and “Romeo and Juliet”; and several more.

Over the course of its 70-year-plus history, OSF has run through all 38 Shakespeare plays a total of three times – although some make the grade more often than others.

“You’re not going to fill the big Elizabethan theater night after night for ‘Cymbeline,’ ” Richard says.

But even if you shun the lesser-known works in favor of a greatest hit like “Romeo and Juliet,” you should still be prepared to go easy on yourself.

“Don’t expect to get everything,” says Richard. “You won’t be the only person in the theater who isn’t getting everything – and that’s OK.”

I’m not sure what – if anything – my husband got out of the performance we saw, but when it was all over he was less than effusive. He found the acting and timing impeccable, but “Merry Wives” just wasn’t his cup of tea.

And then he made a gross tactical error.

“Maybe I should have seen a drama,” he said.

If you don’t think I’ll exploit that opening for all I’m worth, you have learned nothing, nothing, in all these years of reading Here & There.

The end.

Or is it?

You can get more scoop on the Oregon Shakespeare Festival at www.osfashland.org, including all kinds of educational opportunities to get the novice viewer up to theatrical speed. The box office number is (541) 482-4331.

Judging Crater

Whilst (as Shakespeare might say) we were in the area, we fled the regional heat wave for the mountains and Crater Lake National Park.

Created when Mount Mazama erupted nearly 7,000 years ago, Crater is the deepest lake in the United States, measuring 1,943 feet down. Narrated boat tours run from late June to mid-September, circling the caldera – or volcanic crater – and stopping at Wizard Island, a remnant of a later eruption that juts 767 feet above the surface.

If you can tear yourself away from the famously blue water, there are more than 90 miles of trails into the backcountry of the 180,000-acre park.

The park also offers a number of interpretive programs.

Rooms at the historic Crater Lake Lodge, built in 1915 and restored in 1995, start at $131 based on double occupancy. A lovely deck overlooks the lake and the dining room serves up flat-iron steak with port apple butter reduction, grilled venison with sweet onion marmalade, wild flower Alaskan salmon and other delicious-sounding dishes.

I can only attest to their sounding delicious, as dinner reservations weren’t available until 9:30, long after I would have fainted from hunger. You might think about calling ahead.

For reservations at the lodge, visit www.craterlakelodges.com or call (541) 830-8700. You’ll find additional information about the park at www.nps.gov/crla or (541) 594-3100.

Regional events

•Huntley Project Threshing Bee, Aug. 19-20, Huntley, Mont. Here’s your big chance at steam and gas threshing.

And if you tire of that, check out the stationary engine display, tractor and horse plowing, hay baling, sawmill, working blacksmith shop, tractor pull, arts and crafts, music and more. (www.visitmt.com/ 406-967-6687)

•Alaska State Fair, Aug. 24-Sept. 4, Palmer.

Enjoy the last gasp of Alaskan summer with 20 departments’ worth of exhibits, food, a rodeo, a fiddle contest, a husband holler, a horseshoe tournament, entertainment and plenty more. (www.alaskastatefair.org/ 907-745-4827)

•Tibet Fest, Aug. 26, Seattle. The year-long Seattle Center Festal – a series of world cultural events – turns its attention to the stories and rituals of Tibet.

A bazaar will feature prayer flags, handmade items and more. (www.seattlecenter.com/ 206-684-7200)