Patrons who attend the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland see an average of three plays during their stay. I saw eight plays in six days.

If you are planning a trip to Ashland this season, and you want to see three-plus plays, here are my recommendations.

The most intimate in size of OSF's three theaters is the Thomas Theater, seating a maximum of 275 in flexible seating arrangements that keep most of the audience within six to 10 rows of the performance. Eugene O'Neill's classic of American theater, "Long Day's Journey into Night," kept a rapt audience in our seats through 3.5 hours, which included one intermission. We became part of the crumbling Tyrone family. As with all OSF productions, the acting was superb, especially Danforth Comins as "Edmund" the youngest son, and of Judith-Marie Bergan, as "Mary," his morphine addicted mother. Jonathan Haugen left no doubts that his "James Tyrone" was an alcoholic, and Michael Winters became an achingly conflicted ne'er-do-well actor, "James Tyrone, Sr." They kept us in our seats, mesmerized by their acting and by the real family they created, each character demanding our emotional connection. This is one of the finest productions I have experienced in many years, anywhere.

The outdoor venue, Allen Elizabethan Theater, is anything but intimate at 1,200 seats. Its broad stage and dramatic surround demands a big production. The world premier of "Head Over Heels" with script by Jeff Whitty ("Avenue Q," "Tales of the City," the musical, and the film, "Bring it On") adapted from Sir Philip Sidney's Elizabethan "Arcadia," and set to the music of the all-girl new wave band, The Go-Go's. The show is a hoot with a riotous cast in fabulous costumes performing music that is so good that it could have been created for the productions. As a world premier, it is a fascinating production. It's a bit long and needs cutting and tightening in the last act. It particularly needs a big number for Bonnie Milligan toward the end.

Milligan as the favored daughter, "Pamela," steps on stage as the quintessential OSF actress: she is not who she first seems to be. She is not pretty. She is extraordinarily large for an actress. But can she move! And sing: rock, pop and grand opera. She has the comic timing of a Lucille Ball. Her foil is her sister, "Philoclea," the overlooked pretty sister. The glue in the plot is the mother, played with wicked grace and slapstick elegance by longtime OSF veteran, Miriam A. Laube. A stunningly beautiful woman with amazing physical movement, she controls the stage by her presence and acting. She is also stunning in the 2015 production of Shakespeare's "Antony and Cleopatra." This production will inevitably end up on Broadway. It is fast, funny, bawdy, entertaining and a smashing success.

Back to the intimate Thomas Theater, the sleeper hit of the season is Shakespeare's "Pericles."

I had never read the play nor seen it in production. Wildly popular in Shakespeare's time, it is rarely produced as it does not fit into the traditional concept of drama structure. As the director, Joseph Haj, states in his notes, "It is a powerful story that belongs in the folk tradition, a tale that is told both in spoken text and song...and, its message is one of healing.

The production is typical of OSF: original, visually fresh, and flowing with fine timing and performances from the diverse cast. It is a tale of the sea. Projections of waves and a stage of wave-like layers reinforces the motif. It will surprise and delight a new theater-goer and will satisfy seasoned Shakespeareans.

OSF's medium-sized theater, the Angus Bowmer, is named after the founder of the Festival who as a young teacher involved with Chatauqua in Ashland, proposed a Shakespeare Festival in 1935. At 800 seats placed in a modified half-circle above a flexible stage, this indoor theater is the site of an incredible list of productions creating sets from Shakespeare battles to science fiction space travel. For the 2015 season, it becomes "Guys and Dolls," a musical of the 1930s New York underworld and the scene of a modern placement of Shakespeare's romantic comedy, "Much Ado About Nothing."

"Guys and Dolls" is my favorite musical. I own a worn copy of the book and lyrics by Joe Swerling and Frank Loesser. My favorite production is the one Roger Welch directed some years ago for the original Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre in Schuler Auditorium. It was colorful, fast, clever and musically on the nose. The OSF production has fine acting, especially by Robin Goodrin Nordli as "Miss Adelaide," Rodney Gardner as "Nathan Detroit," the invincible David Kelly as "Benny Southstreet, and Daniel T. Parker as "Nicely Nicely Johnson."

For me, the problems with this production are three-fold: set, costumes, direction. The set is dark - black stage floor, gray "pressed tin" back-drop. The overall impression is one of gloom. The overture is meant to create the hustle and bustle of lower Manhattan. The use of miniature buildings to identify the city was confusing and unsuccessful. "Guys and Dolls" costumes are always bright, leaning toward tacky and outrageous. With the exception of "Miss Adelaide," the characters in this production wore costumes that could have come off the rack at Macy's. They fit. They were boring. And, the direction could have had more snap and fizz. Because of the bare, dark stage, scene changes seemed choppy. The music is great. The performances are wonderful. "My" audience loved it and gave it a standing ovation.

These are my favorites. Maybe throw in "Much Ado About Nothing" for good measure. Judge for yourself.

NOTE: These productions run through the end of October/Nov. 1. The Allen Elizabethan outdoor theater closes Oct. 11. Go to the OSF website, www.osfashland.org for full season and ticket information. Write to Oregon Shakespeare Festival at P.O. Box 158, Ashland, OR 97520 for the season pocket guide, which includes accommodations information. There phone contact is (541) 482-2111. Horizon, Southwest and United airlines service nearby Medford airport. Cascade Shuttle and local taxis service will get you to downtown Ashland for about $30 each way.