Hillsboro native brings the Bard to town

Director of Bag and Baggage Productions envisions a permanent home for outdoor Shakespeare

By Debby De Carlo

The Forest Grove News-Times, Jul 15, 2009, Updated Oct 30, 2009

Courtesy photo / News-Times

Tybalt (played by Amanda Wasco) stands over the wounded body of Benvolia (played by Lesli Okorn) during rehearsals for “Romeo and Juliet” at Bag and Baggage Productions’ outdoor theatre venue in Hillsboro.

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The Hillsboro Scott Palmer left 23 years ago to attend college is not the same town he returned to in 2008 after eight years abroad and one teaching at Oregon State University in Corvallis.

“There’s been huge population growth,” he noted. “It’s become a city — a city with a diverse population.”

Hillsboro, Palmer realized, was more than ready for a professional theater company. And so, Bag and Baggage Productions, once a traveling troupe begun four years ago, found a home thanks to its artistic director — Palmer.

The company has had a run of successful productions at Hillsboro’s Venetian Theatre.

Friday, Bag and Baggage moves outdoors to the Tom Hughes Civic Center Plaza in downtown Hillsboro for Palmer’s adaptation of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet.”

Piece of the Pearl

Ironically, he credits the recession for the theater company’s success. “People don’t want to drive to Ashland or Portland,” he said. “People see us and say, ‘Wow, it’s a little piece of the Pearl.’”

The more compelling reason, however, is Palmer himself. He’s managed to attract accomplished professionals to Bag and Baggage. And just as important, he’s getting corporate and civic donations, including a sponsorship from U.S. Bank.

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