THE TEMPEST
by Shakespeare

The Tempest is a story of power, betrayal, and the redemptive journey toward forgiveness. Inspired by Noel Cobb’s Prospero’s Island, I explored the play as an alchemical process—charting Prospero’s transformation as he unites reason with soul to achieve peace and wholeness.

I set the production loosely after the American Civil War, a period of national fracture and attempted healing. Drawing from historical research, Vaudeville, mysticism, and early American circus culture, we created a world that blended familiar references with theatrical invention.

Prospero’s magic was portrayed as theatrical power—the ability to conjure transformation through imagination. He became a guru-showman figure, part P.T. Barnum, part Alistair Crowley. A minimal, flexible set—featuring scrims, rope, light, and sound—evoked the island as a dreamlike space shaped by illusion, memory, and the will to forgive.