from a summer outdoor series in the 1930s to a season that stretches from February to October, incorporating Shakespearean and non-Shakespearean plays at three theaters. The OSF has become the largest regional repertory theater in the United States. The Oregon Cabaret Theater features musicals and comedy throughout the year. Opened in 1986, the dinner theater occupies a former First Baptist Church built in Mission Revival style. The Ashland Independent Film Festival, which shows international and domestic films of almost every genre, takes place each April in the Varsity Theatre downtown. About 90 films are shown during the five days of the festival. In 2009, Ashland was the setting for the film adaptation of Neil Gaiman's Coraline. The Oregon Center for the Arts at Southern Oregon University focuses on academic programs including creative arts (art, emerging media and creative writing), music, and theater. Affiliated with the center is the Schneider Museum of Art, which has rotation exhibitions of works featuring professional contemporary artists. Also affiliated with the center are chamber music concerts, a Shakespeare institute, a piano series, and other art-related events. The annual Ashland New Plays Festival (ANPF) is a nonprofit organization that encourages playwrights to develop new work through public readings. Each year, the ANPF holds an international competition that winnows hundreds of submissions to four plays that are read to live audiences by professional actors during a five-day festival in October. Museums and other points of interest The National Fish and Wildlife Forensics Laboratory in Ashland is the world's only laboratory dedicated to solving crimes against wildlife. Using forensic science, experts at the laboratory help wildlife officers to investigate possible crimes against animals and to establish links between victims and suspects in cases that go to court. The laboratory has assisted the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) and foreign agencies concerned with the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). The Ashland City Band (ACB) was organized in the late 19th century as the Ashland Brass Band. The band used an octagonal gazebo-style bandstand in Lithia Park until the Butler Memorial Band Shell was built in Lithia Park in 1946. The ACB gives public concerts there each summer between June and August. Parks Lithia Park is a park, including on the National Register of Historic Places, that begins near the downtown shopping area and extends upstream along Ashland Creek near the center of the city. It includes