Portland teenager Karina Autar is committed to becoming a lawyer and staying active in social justice causes. Studying centuries-old speeches wasn't part of her academic plan. That is, until she met actors from the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

During a school-sponsored trip to Ashland to see a performance of William Shakespeare's "Henry V," Autar discovered that an English playwright from the 17th century still has wisdom to share.

"Henry V is trying to prove to everyone that he is a worthy ruler," concluded the Benson Polytechnic High School senior, who wants to major in political science.

Appreciating theater was a turnaround for the overworked 17-year-old, who admits to sleeping on the "brutal" bus ride in October from her Portland school to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland. On the ride back, however, she said students and teachers couldn't stop talking about their life-changing experience.

This was no ordinary field trip.

Autar is part of a consistent wave of students who witness live theater -- sometimes for the first time -- through the Oregon Shakespeare Festival's education programs, not all of which require time away from home.

Actors also visit campuses throughout the state to present the human condition in a way many people have never thought of before. Students fully engage in exercises that help provide a deeper understanding of great literature, and its meaning and relevance today. And teachers participate in training relevant to their classwork.

The nonprofit theater group's education programs are among this year's 10 beneficiaries of The Oregonian/OregonLive's annual Season of Sharing holiday fundraising campaign. The festival needs donations more than ever since it suffered a devastating $2 million decrease in its $40 million budget this year due to wildfires and smoke. Some outdoor performances were canceled or rescheduled, while many ticketholders requested refunds and stayed away.

Partly because of this, the school visit program, which is one of the largest theater educational outreaches in the country, will be scaled back in 2019.

The program receives funding from the Oregon Arts Commission and private foundations. Individuals can give directly to the multiyear School Visit Partnership Program, which since 2002 has worked with 56 Oregon schools -- from Portland, Salem and Eugene to rural and remote places like Tillamook and Paisley.

Schools reimburse the festival 10 to 15 percent of the costs, according to Katherine Gosnell, the festival's education manager.

Fees for the School Visit Partnership Program vary, based on how long the actors stay. A week can cost $8,825, including the actors' travel, preparation and partnership expenses; the school may pay between $883 and $1,324.

Another program, the Bowmer Project for Student Playgoers, provides free tickets, a backstage tour and post-show discussions for middle and high school students.

All the education programs are designed to draw in more than the drama kids or those who earn As in English.

Actors hold onto the students' attention by skillfully and artfully presenting Shakespeare's powerful dialogue and dynamic scenes. Sometimes, the performers finish a staged fight, then respond, articulately and with honesty and passion, to students' questions. Topics can be as simple as what life is like for an actor to as complex as what is the difference between revenge and justice.

Oregon Shakespeare Festival's education programs also introduce students to new plays. Autar and her Benson High classmates also saw a performance of Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig's "Snow in Midsummer," which is based on an ancient Chinese tale of a wrathful ghost seeking vengeance.

The play's scope, as delivered by an Asian American cast, impressed Autar. Its "message to me was I have to adapt to circumstances to fit in but not to a degree that I'm no longer myself," she said, adding, "I'm Fijian Indian, so it was empowering to see people in the cast who look like me."

In between performances, 50 Benson students and three teachers took a backstage tour to learn production tricks, roamed the costume room and attended a prologue to better understand the complex plays they were seeing.

They also listened to actors explain how they use their voice and gestures, along with works evoking ethos, pathos and logos, to communicate persuasively. This resonated with Autar: "If I'm a politician or lawyer, in front of a jury or judge, I will speak affirmably and effectively about my case."

Benson teacher Cesar Ramirez said that the school's three-year partnership with the festival, and the actors' compelling, sometimes comedic presentations, helped the students become "emotionally invested in theater" and diluted the intimidating feeling of reading classic works aloud.

These interactions will have lifelong benefits, he said, for his students and himself. The teaching tools he learned at workshops and from actors are "malleable lessons" that he uses with all of his students.

"It's more than lessons on 'Romeo and Juliet,' " said Ramirez. "Time with the actors and my educators' training have made me a better teacher."

What your donation can do

$10: Pays for gasoline for actors traveling to schools.

$30: Provides a rental car for a day for actors visiting faraway schools.

$100: Provides teacher curriculum notebooks.

How to donate

Send checks to:

Season of Sharing

Oregonians Credit Union

336 N.E. 20th Ave.

Portland, OR 97232

-- Janet Eastman

jeastman@oregonian.com

503-294-4072

Twitter: @janeteastman