Ashland mayor urges action over threats to OSF artistic director Nataki Garrett

Oct. 5—A groundswell of support has followed national news reports stating Oregon Shakespeare Festival artistic director Nataki Garrett has obtained private security after receiving death threats.

Ashland Mayor Julie Akins spoke out about the threats at Tuesday's Ashland City Council meeting and urged the community to take action.

Akins said she's spoken with Garrett and OSF Executive Director David Schmitz about the death threats that prompted the nonprofit to hire a private security detail.

Akins stated that Garrett, as a Black woman, "has been subjected to racism in this community, and so have members of her staff."

"This lands particularly hard," Akins said, in part. "I struggled at first to accept this ugliness as real. ... But after speaking with her and others, it strikes me that denial, innocence if you will, actually promotes greater racism."

Akins spoke about the importance of hiring a diversity, equity and inclusion officer for the city of Ashland — a recommendation made by the city's Social Equity and Racial Justice Committee.

"It's Job One to keep all of our residents safe," Akins said at the meeting. "It's vital that we do anti-racism work. It can't be reserved for later — it must be now."

National Public Radio first reported about Garrett's threats in a Sept. 28 Morning Edition report with the headline: "Oregon Shakespeare Festival focuses on expansion — but is not without its critics." The paragraph mentioning death threats offered few details.

"Some of the criticism, though, has gone much farther than artistic difference of opinion. Garrett has received death threats and now travels with a security team in public," the NPR story stated.

OSF spokeswoman Pati Navalta stated in an email Wednesday that because of security reasons, OSF cannot divulge more specifics about the threats beyond what's already been reported.

Garrett's personal Twitter account was set to private Wednesday. When asked whether the threats were made on social media, Navalta stated "we cannot disclose anything about these threats due to security reasons," adding, "we have to prioritize safety."

Akins, in a follow-up email, said she decided to respond to the threats after her monthly meeting with Schmitz and a conversation with Garrett about the threat over the weekend at the OSF Onwards gala celebration.

"Nataki came to our community to do a bold and beautiful thing. She did this despite Ashland's relative small size and its demographic of being predominantly white," Akins said. "She came here with her family and trusted us to keep them safe and to support her work as a driver in our economy."

She added Garrett's work is hard enough overcoming pandemic-related setbacks "and the toughness of bringing people back to the theater. She's innovating and pushing through in myriad creative ways."

Akins had Ashland police Chief Tighe O'Meara contact Garrett, OSF and her security detail "so that we may ascertain the nature of threats against her and her staff and neutralize them."

O'Meara said Wednesday that his department was unaware of the threats prior to the news story.

"That's how we found out about it," O'Meara said, adding he has plans to meet with OSF staff next week to see what action his department can take in response to the threats.

The NPR story prompted The Dramatists Guild, Theatre Communications Group and Shakespeare Theatre Association to issue a joint news release Friday "to stand with Nataki Garrett and condemn in every possible way the unconscionable harassment and death threats she has received."

"The violent response to her artistic choices strikes right at the heart of who we are, not just as members of the American theatre, but as citizens," the release states.

Theater industry news outlets such as Playbill, Broadway World and the Hollywood Reporter all picked up the story this week.

The New York-based PEN America issued its own statement supporting Garrett.

"PEN America stands in solidarity with Nataki Garrett and the staff of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and unequivocally condemns threats of violence against artists and leaders in the creative community," the statement said.

Reach web editor Nick Morgan at 541-776-4471 or nmorgan@rosebudmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MTwebeditor. Reporter Morgan Rothborne contributed to this report.