“We in leadership positions,” Bill Rauch, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s artistic director, told The New York Times in 2015, “need to do everything we can to reflect the world we live in.”

On Friday, Mr. Rauch and his colleagues continued that push when announcing the festival’s 2018 season, which features a record five plays by women — there are 11 in total — and a production of “Oklahoma!” that has same-sex couples in leading roles. This seven-month series also offers deep explorations of Native American and African-American history.

In an email on Sunday, Mr. Rauch said that he had been obsessed with introducing cross-gendered casting into “Oklahoma!” for decades, and that he began discussing the idea with Ted Chapin, president and chief creative officer of the Rodgers and Hammerstein estate, roughly a year and a half ago.

Mr. Rauch became artistic director in 2007, and has since begun a number of initiatives aimed at broadening the Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s cultural reach.