"The Tempest” at Interlochen

For my 25th summer at the Interlochen Arts Camp, I chose to direct a production of Shakespeare’s classic play, The Tempest. I’ve thought so much over time about the scholarly discourse around this play as a colonialist piece, including Aimé Césaire’s postcolonial reworking of the play, Une Tempete. Rather than get bogged down in a lot of theory with young actors, though, we started with the underlying questions that lead to these readings: What power does Prospera have? When is she justified in using it? When is it the right choice for her to surrender that power? This led to a lot of conversations about power, gender, and whether or not our Caliban deserved their treatment. It was a beautiful production with a brave, dedicated cast.