If you’d like to make theater the central theme of your next girls trip, consider Ashland, Oregon as your destination.  Each year from February to October, the small town of Ashland hosts the internationally acclaimed Oregon Shakespeare Festival and presents several Shakespearean plays as wells as contemporary works.  Most of the Shakespeare plays are performed at an outdoor Elizabethan Stage, modeled after London’s Fortune Theatre.  If you plan to see a performance, be sure to get tickets as soon as possible, since they sell-out early. Besides world-class theater, Ashland offers several nice shops, and plenty of restaurants and B&B’s to choose from.

Here are some of the plays showcased in this year’s festival:

• The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde.  Angus Bowmer Theatre until Oct. 29
• The Merry Wives of Windsor by William Shakespeare. Elizabethan Stage until Oct. 6
• The Two Gentlemen of Verona by William Shakespeare. Elizabethan Stage until Oct. 8
• King John by William Shakespeare.  Performed at the New Theatre until Oct. 29
• Cyrano de Bergerac: at the Elizabethan Stage until  Oct. 7
• The Winter’s Tale by William Shakespeare. Angus Bowmer Theatre until Oct. 29
• Bus Stop by William Inge.  New Theatre until Oct. 29
• Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Angus Bowmer Theatre until  Oct. 28
• Intimate Apparel by Lynn Nottage. Angus Bowmer Theatre until Oct. 28