Event

The Tempest

The Tempest

By William Shakespeare

Directed by Xanthia Angel Walker

October 29th-November 1st

Phoenix Center for the Arts

3rd Street Theatre

1202 N. 3rd Street

Twelve years ago, Prospero was Duke of Milan. Being of a bookish disposition, he withdrew more and more into his studies, leaving the management of his state to his brother Antonio. Eventually, with the help of Alonso, King of Naples, and the King's brother Sebastian - inveterate enemies of Prospero - Antonio usurped the dukedom for himself. Prospero and his baby daughter Miranda were put to sea in a rotten boat and eventually landed on a distant island once ruled by the witch Sycorax but now inhabited only by her son, Caliban, and Ariel, a spirit.

Since then Prospero has ruled the island and its two inhabitants by the use of magic arts derived from his studies. His daughter Miranda has grown up seeing no other human being.

Prospero has waited for the day when all of his enemies can be assembled in one place so that justice can be restored. He arranges for a boat carrying Antonio, Alonso, and Sebastian to shipwreck on the island, and finally the conditions are ripe for setting the record straight. Prospero fails to realize, though, that when love, destiny, friendship, and freedom collide, revenge becomes less satisfying.