Eleven plays will comprise the 1997 season at Oregon Shakespeare Festival, including four Shakespeares, a Stoppard and an Ibsen by way of Bergman.

1997 marks the 67th year for the festival and the first full season for new artistic director, Libby Appel (pronounced like the fruit). Appel follows the four-year tenure of Henry Woronicz (now in Los Angeles), who followed the twenty year tenure of Jerry Turner.

Productions at OSF, most done in repertory, are held in one of three theatres, the Elizabethan, The Angus Bowmer and the Black Swan. The Elizabethan Theatre is an outdoor space seating 1200, the Bowmer is an intimate thrust space with 600 seats, the Black Swan is a 140-seat, studio style space.

Here is the season schedule for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival:

King Lear, William Shakespeare's tale of a foolish father and his daughters, Feb. 21-Nov. 2, 1997 (Bowmer Theatre). Rough Crossing, Tom Stoppard's farce about writers of a Broadway musical aboard a luxury liner, Feb. 22-Nov. 1, 1997 (Bowmer Theatre).

Death Of A Salesman, Arthur Miller's drama about a salesman with an empty marriage, troubled sons and a dying career, Feb. 23-July 13 & Sept. 25-Nov. 1, 1997 (Bowmer Theatre).

The Turn Of The Screw, Jeffrey Hatcher adapts Henry James' mystery, concerning a young governess who may be terrorizing two children with the idea of ghosts, Feb. 2-June 29, 1997 (Black Swan Theatre).

Pentecost, David Edgar's drama in which fugitives in a strife-ridden Central European country seize a priceless fresco -- and several art scholars -- as a bargaining chip, April 23-Sept. 21, 1997 (Bowmer Theatre).

As You Like It, Shakespeare's pastoral comedy of gender-bending and mixed identities, June 10-Oct. 12, 1997 (Elizabethan Theatre).

Timon Of Athens, Shakespeare's cautionary tale of a too-generous man driven to poverty by his "friends," June 11-Oct. 10, 1997 (Elizabethan Theatre).

The Two Gentlemen Of Verona, romantic tangles in the court of Milan, courtesy of Shakespeare, June 12-Oct. 11, 1997 (Elizabethan Theatre).

Blues For An Alabama Sky, Pearl Cleage's drama of Depression-era Harlem and five lives that intersect, April 1-Nov. 1, 1997 (Black Swan Theatre).

Nora, Ingmar Bergman adapts Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House to consider the inequality between men and women in marriage, July 9-Nov. 2, 1997 (Black Swan Theatre).

The Magic Fire, a world premiere. Lillian Garret-Groag's look at Peron's Argentina and a family that blocks out politics by concentrating on opera and art, July 30-Nov. 2, 1997 (Bowmer Theatre).

For tickets and information on the Oregon Shakespeare Festival season, call (541) 482-6811. The theatre is located on Pioneer Street in Ashland.

-- By David Lefkowitz