Planning to Make History - Literally - in Ashland

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Byline: Bob Keefer The Register-Guard

Thunder, lightning and rain marked the opening last weekend of three new outdoor plays at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland.

It rained so hard during the first half of "Henry VIII" on Friday night that the entire audience in the festival's outdoor Elizabethan Stage hunkered down with cups of coffee and hot chocolate under parkas, rain gear and even the occasional umbrella as Oregon's famous climate lived up to its reputation.

But as near as I can tell, not one person walked out of the nearly full house during the two-hour performance. This is a hard-core bunch, these Ashland theater addicts, willing to brave …