ASHLAND, Ore. — With the recession cutting back travel and entertainment spending, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival was anticipating a tough season this year — so much so that it cut the budget $1 million and actors tripled-up on roles.

But the repertory theater reported record attendance of 410,034 — 89 percent of capacity for the three theaters— and revenues of $17,098,115.

Paul Nicholson, the executive director, called the turnaround “astonishing.

Among the most popular plays of the season were a modern adaptation of a 250-year-old Italian farce, “The Servant of Two Masters,” and the quirky “Dead Man’s Cell Phone.”