Act II Closes THE TEMPEST 11/16-12/12
By: BWW News Desk Dec. 12, 2010
The original "LOST" show comes to Ambler, as Act II Playhouse presents William Shakespeare's shipwrecked island play, The Tempest. Associate Artistic Director Harriet Power directs the first-ever production of a Bard play in Act II's 12-year history, on stage Nov. 16-Dec. 12.
"Shakespeare remains the ultimate storyteller," notes Power, "and modern television owes him a lot: His way of unspooling multiple story lines, cutting from one to another, then artfully weaving them together in a delicious climax, is the exact same structure of today's popular entertainment."
The Tempest takes audience members into a world where a wronged sorcerer manipulates spirits and humans in his quest for revenge. Deposed of his dukedom and sent into exile, Prospero conjures up a storm to draw his enemies to his enchanted island, only to discover that love and forgiveness work the most potent magic of all.
Three preview performances of The Tempest will be held Nov. 16-18, with tickets discounted at $22. Opening Night is Nov. 19, and the show runs through Dec. 12. Tickets are $27 for all Wednesday-Thursday performances and $33 for Friday and Saturday evenings and Sunday matinees. Tickets can be purchased in person at the Act II Box Office at 56 E. Butler Ave., over the phone at (215) 654-0200, or online at www.act2.org. Discounts are available for students ($12 tickets, with special student matinee performances available) and for groups of 10 or more.
Collectively, the cast and director bring extensive Shakespeare experience to this project - a total of more than 60 Shakespeare productions. The Tempest is the sixth Shakespeare play for Power, who spent the summer adapting the text to be performed by seven actors. Dan Kern portrays Prospero, and Sarah Doherty plays Ariel. Nicole Erb is featured as Miranda, while Tom Byrn, David Ingram, Rob Kahn, and Griffin Stanton-Ameisen each play multiple roles.
"I'm especially excited about the doubling of roles, because it's thematic as well as functional," notes Power. "When the same actor plays strongly contrasting characters (generous versus greedy, conniving versus naïve, the stately king versus the tipsy servant), we experience Shakespeare's idea that we are each capable of doing good or doing ill. It is our actions and choices, not our biological essence, that shape our lives."
Power aims for her Tempest to be an intimate, powerful and beautiful production of what many consider to be Shakespeare's final play, described as Shakespeare's valentine to the imagination. She compliments Dirk Durossette's set design, which she considers his "boldest, most imaginative Act II design yet. The set simultaneously evokes the shipwreck, the middle-of-the-ocean island on which most of the play takes place, and (for Dirk himself) 'the inside of Prospero's head,'" adds Power.
Rounding out the design team are composer/sound designer John Stovicek, creator of original songs and music for Act II's production; costume designer Charlotte Chloe Fox Wind; and lighting designer James Leitner.
With a cast of seven, The Tempest is the largest production on Act II's stage. "Since May 2008, when Bud Martin and I became Artistic Directors, Act II's base of support has grown dramatically," notes Power. "Foundations, government, and most especially, individual theatre-goers, have responded positively to our mission and programming. This support has allowed us to put seven actors on our stage for the first time in our history, and to create what promises to be our most ambitious production to date."
Act II Playhouse's 2010-2011 season is sponsored by Normandy Farm Hotel & Conference Center and Blue Bell Country Club. The Tempest has also received individual support from Rob Kolson and Merle Holman.
The final dress rehearsal of The Tempest will be open to the public on Sunday, Nov. 14, at 2 p.m. Suggested donation is $10, and all contributions will be donated to the Wissahickon Educational Opportunities Foundation (WEOF). WEOF, a non-profit organization, provides funding and support for innovative educational programs in Wissahickon School District.
ABOUT ACT II PLAYHOUSE
Act II Playhouse, entering its 12th season of professional theatre in the Philadelphia suburb of Ambler, PA, is committed to creating world-class theatre in a venue whose intimacy draws audiences and actors into dynamic interaction. Act II produces new, classic, and contemporary plays and musicals under the direction of Bud Martin (Producing Artistic Director), Harriet Power (Associate Artistic Director) and Pam Dickler (Managing Director). In July 2010, Howard Shapiro of The Philadelphia Inquirer declared that "Act II Playhouse is arguably the most up-and-coming of the region's small professional theaters outside Center City."
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
HARRIET POWER (Director) is Associate Artistic Director at Act II and also a Professor of Theatre at Villanova University, where she teaches directing and acting. She has divided her professional directing and dramaturgy career between classics (Shakespeare and Chekhov being her favorites) and new plays, working with playwrights at New Dramatists (New York), Philadelphia's PlayPenn, Bay Area Playwrights Festival, West Coast Playwrights, Iowa Playwrights Festival, and the International Women Playwrights Festival. Recently, she directed Act II's sold-out hit Boeing-Boeing and the best new play she's ever directed, Bruce Graham's Any Given Monday (Barrymore Award, Outstanding New Play). At Act II, she has also directed James Still's Iron Kisses, the world premiere of Jeff Baron's Brothers-in-Law, and the Barrymore-nominated Syncopation. Among her many directing credits, favorites include this fall's Why I'm Scared of Dance by Jen Childs for 1812 Productions, Donald Margulies' Dinner With Friends in Rome, Italy, at Teatro L'Arciliuto, co-produced by The English Theatre of Rome and the American Embassy (winner of "Best of Rome" citation in Trova Roma), A Moon for the Misbegotten and Mad Forest (Venture Theatre), and two world premieres at InterAct Theatre, both by Seth Rozin-Reinventing Eden and Missing Link (Barrymore nomination, Outstanding New Play). She is looking forward to be directing the first-ever American production of Sebastian Barry's powerful Irish drama The Pride of Parnell Street at Act II in March/April 2011. In February 2011, she directs Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard, her 19th production at Villanova. A three-time Barrymore "Outstanding Direction of a Play" nominee, she received the 1997 Barrymore Award with James J. Christy for Angels in America: Perestroika. She has been honored to serve on the selection committee for the F. Otto Haas Award for an Emerging Artist.
KEY CAST
Dan Kern (Prospero) has been honored with the Barrymore Award for his direction of Skylight at the Lantern Theater in Philadelphia, the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for his direction of Juno and the Paycock and the L.A. Drama Critics Circle award for his portrayal of Leontes in A Winter's Tale. The Tempest is his 25th Shakespeare production. He has appeared in leading roles at the Mark Taper Forum, South Coast Rep, The American Conservatory Theatre, Missouri Rep and The Alabama Shakespeare Festival. Film and TV appearances include The Lovely Bones, Frasier, Profiler, The President's Man, Star Trek: Voyager, and the award-winning short film Me and the Big Guy. Dan is currently serving as Head of Acting for the Department of Theater at Temple University and is the Artistic Director for Temple Repertory Theater.
SARAH DOHERTY (Ariel) returns to the Act II stage after playing the maid, Bertha, in Act II's wildly successful 2009-2010 season opener, Boeing-Boeing. Other local folks she has worked with include Pig Iron Theatre Co., Arden Theatre Co, Theater Catalyst, Walnut Street Theatre, Theatre Exile, Brat Productions and People's Light and Theatre. In 2006 Sarah was named "Best Actress in a Musical" by Philadelphia Weekly (for Brat Production's Grease and Desist) and also won a Barrymore Award (Pig Iron's Mission to Mercury). Her work was Barrymore-nominated in 2003 (Arden's Boxcar Children) and in 2005 (Grease and Desist). She is a graduate of Temple University's MFA Acting program.
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