Shakespeare in the Park brings Tempest to Queens
BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED
Continuing its
commitment to bringing
free Shakespeare to
the community and
strengthening audience
engagement through the
arts, The Public Theater
is bringing Shakespeare
to Queens.
Under the leadership
of Artistic Director Oskar
Eustis and Executive
Director Patrick
Willingham, The Public
Theater will mount its
Mobile Unit again this
spring with a free threeweek
tour of the five
boroughs of Shakespeare’s
“The Tempest,” directed
by community artist
Laurie Woolery.
Tour dates in Queens
include the Queensboro
Correctional Facility at
47-04 Van Dam St. in Long
Island City on April 12 and
the Roy Wilkins Recreation
Center at 177-01 Baisley Blvd
on April 15.
Now in its ninth year,
the Mobile Unit’s free tor
brings Shakespeare and
other works to audiences
who have limited or no
access to the arts by visiting
correctional facilities,
homeless shelters, social
service organizations, and
other community venues.
“Since I arrived at The
Public, I have dreamed
of working on the Mobile
Unit. As Director of Public
Works, the uniting of these
two iconic programs just
feels right,” said Woolery.
“Community is at the heart
of everything I do so I
asked myself, ‘What do we
as a society need to hear
right now?’ With fear and
injustice surrounding us
on a daily basis, how do we
not drown in our own rage?
Prospero asks this question,
so it felt right to explore this
play through a female lens.
My hope is that together we
will all find a way to heal
and move forward.”
In Shakespeare’s
play “The Tempest,” the
character Prospero, a
powerful magician and the
rightful Duke of Milan, has
been usurped by her brother
and has escaped to a remote
Photo taken by Joan Marcus
and barren island. There,
despite the unforgiving
landscape, she has tried
her best to make a home
for her daughter, Miranda.
When Prospero conjures a
powerful storm to sink her
brother’s ship, she must
decide how to deal with
him and his confederates,
who have washed ashore.
How will she exact her longawaited
revenge? How do you
satiate a desire for justice?
The complete cast of
The Tempest features Jasai
Chase Owens (Ferdinand),
Dan Domingues (Antonio),
Danaya Esperanza (Ariel),
Christopher Ryan Grant
(Caliban), Sam Morales
(Miranda), Nancy Rodriguez
(Gonzalo), Reza Salazar
(Sebastian), Myra Lucretia
Taylor (Prospero), and JD
Webster (Alonso).
The Public—a theater
of, by, and for all people—
continues the work of its
visionary founder Joe
Papp as a civic institution
engaging, both on-stage and
off, with some of the most
important ideas and social
issues of today. Conceived
over 60 years ago as one of
the nation’s first nonprofit
theaters, The Public has
long operated on the
principles that theater is an
essential cultural force and
that art and culture belongs
to everyone.
The Mobile Unit celebrated
its 61st anniversary of its
inaugural mobile tour in
1957 which began with a
production of Romeo and
Juliet, which received
support from New York
City authorities.
Following the Mobile Unit
tour of the five boroughs,
The Tempest will run at
The Public Theater from
Monday, April 29 through
Sunday, May 19 in the Shiva
Theater, with an official
press opening on Friday,
May 3. For more information
visit publictheater.org.
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TIMESLEDGER,20 APR. 19-25, 2019 QNS.COM
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