The Tempest

Directed by Lear deBessonet
Original Music by Todd Almond

The Tempest will showcase 200 New Yorkers from all five boroughs who will share the stage with professional actors and community partners for this three-night civic event. 

In 1916, a community theatrical event entitled Caliban by the Yellow Sands with Shakespeare’sThe Tempest as the inspiration, took place at the stadium at City College in New York. The intent was to unite New Yorkers of all classes and all beliefs, and the production featured some of the best-known professional actors of the day alongside 1,500 community members who participated in a series of pageant and dance interludes, and was a great success.

Inspired by this extraordinary community event, The Public Theater will produce a 21st century version of this event in September for free at the Delacorte Theater with our community partners as well as guest performers and professional actors. DeBessonet has created large-scale theatrical events across the country to great acclaim, most recently Don Quixote in Philadelphia and The Odyssey in San Diego. The Tempest will feature original music composed by Todd Almond.

To form the community ensemble, The Public will hold open auditions with our five primary community partners at each group’s space. In the five weeks leading up to the show, this ensemble will rehearse three times a week. On the week of the show, rehearsals will be every day. THE TEMPEST will also feature cameo performances from five community art groups that have a strong artistic and cultural tradition.

The five community partner organizations are Chidren's Aid Society (Manhattan); DreamYard (Bronx); Fortune Society (Queens); Brownsville Recreation Center (Brooklyn); and Domestic Workers United (all boroughs, including Staten Island).

Free Public Works Free tickets will be distributed, two per person, at the Delacorte Theater on the day of the performance.

For more information, visit here.

Photo Credit: Shakespeare in the Park