Tempest
World Premiere
Written By William Shakespeare
Directed by Karin Coonrod
Music Composed by Elizabeth Swados
Internationally renowned director Karin Coonrod and Obie-award winning composer Elizabeth Swados bring their significant craft, daring, and imagination to Shakespeare’s The Tempest, in a world-premiere music-theatre production at La MaMa. Featuring a diverse, intergenerational cast, including veteran film and television actor Reg E. Cathey as Prospero and Joseph Harrington, 14-year-old star of Broadway’s Billy Elliot, as Ariel.
EARL BAKER, JR – Antonio: Credits include WIN WIN, THE VISITOR, FOUR LANE HIGHWAY, EVERYDAY PEOPLE and BROTHER TO BROTHER.[/expand]
REG E. CATHEY – Prospero: Film and television appearances include “House Of Cards,” “Arbitrage,” “Law & Order: SVU,” “Lights Out,” “30 Rock,” “The Wire,” “Oz,” “Everyday People,” “The Corner,” “Boycott “(HBO), S.W.A,T., The Machinist, American Psycho, Se7en, Tank Girl, and Star Trek-The Next Generation. He recently completed filming Hands of Stone, Nasty Baby and the Untitled Chris Messina film. His numerous stage appearances include The 8th (Manchester International Festival, Original Cast Album), The Shawshank Redemption (London’s West End, Dublin), The Green Bird (Broadway), Blue Door (Playwrights Horizon), White Chocolate (Culture Project), Talk (Obie Award, Foundry Theatre), American Buffalo (W.H.A.T. Theatre), Love’s Labour’s Lost, Timon Of Athens, The Taming of the Shrew, Hamlet, Macbeth, (NYSF.- Public Theatre), The Winter’s Tale (Williamstown Theatre Festival), The Cure At Troy (Yale Rep), Dante’s Inferno (Huntington Theatre), Henry IV Part 1 and 2 (California Shakespeare Festival) and Cato (Flea Theatre).[/expand]
JOSEPH HARRINGTON – Ariel: Broadway credits include Billy Elliot the Musical (Billy), How the Grinch Stole Christmas (Bugsy Who, ensemble); The Radio City Christmas Spectacular, Nashville; How Deep is the Ocean? (NYMF), Rent (Kidz Theater NYC), Nickelodeon’s “Mega Music Festival”, “Saturday Night Live,” College Humor.com, Cincinnati Ballet, Peter Pan, Nutcracker. The Boy Ballet Dancer (Finis Jhung DVD). TV/ Film: Contest, Summer of Truth. Joseph attends the School for Creative and Performing Arts in Cincinnati, he is happy to return to NYC for this production of Tempest!! [/expand]
ANGUS HEPBURN – Alonso: Off-Broadway – Jean Cocteau Rep: The Miser (Harpagon), Uncle Vanya (Prof. Serebriakov), Mother Courage (The Chaplain), Pygmalion (Mr. Doolittle), Candida (Mr Burgess); Marvell Rep: Threepenny Opera (Mr. Peachum [Drama Desk nom. Best Revival]). New York: Mad Forest (Bogdan), Antigone (Creon), The Weir (Jack), The Elephant Man (Carr Gomm). Regional: Beacon Theatre – Gin Game (Weller Martin), The Cocktail Hour (Bradley); Peekskill Rep – …Virginia Woolf (George), The Real Thing (Henry), 84 Charing Cross Road(Frank Doel), Arms and the Man (Cpt. Bluntschli), Rumors (Lenny). Bluestone Actors Project: Molly Sweeney (Mr Rice). Queen City Stage: My Fair Lady (Mr. Doolittle); Illinois Rep – And a Nightingale Sang (George), R & G are Dead (The Player). UK: Maddermarket Theatre – Kennedy’s Children (Sparger), The Elephant Man (Treves); Sewell Barn Theatre – Cyrano de Bergerac (Cyrano), Royal Hunt of the Sun (Pizarro) TV: “Boardwalk Empire,” “30 Rock,” “Royal Pains.” Film: The Comedy, Wall Street II. Rock Star Games: Bully (Hobo), Redemption (Harold Thornton, Uriah Tollets) – Personal Website
SLATE HOLMGREN- Caliban: credits include GOOD WIFE, ELEMENTARY, BLUE BLOODS, EVERWOOD and THE AMAZING SPIDER MAN 2.
MIRIAM A. HYMAN – Miranda: Most recently portrayed Lady Macbeth at Lincoln Center’s Edu, Dept. She is a 2012 Yale School of Drama graduate where she earned her MFA in acting. She was named the 2011 Princess Grace recipient of the George C. Wolfe Award in Theater. Other credits include The Commons of Pensacola (MTC), Richard III (Public Theater), As You Like It (Two River Theater), Raisin in the Sun (PlayMakers Rep), Going Live (Guthrie Theater), Dreamer Examines His Pillow (Shakespeare & Co.), Resurrection Blues (The Wilma). Film/TV credits include “Hostages,” “30 Rock,” “Law & Order,” “The Wire,” “Conviction,” “Split,” “Catatonk Blues,” and HBO’s feature film “Angel.”
CHRISTOPHER McLINDEN – Ferdinand: Has appeared in RUNNER, RUNNER, BOARDWALK EMPIRE, MUHAMMAD ALI’S GREATEST FIGHT and 5-25-77.
TONY TORN – Stephano: Last seen on stage in the title role of Ubu Sings Ubu at the Abrons Arts Center, a rock opera adaptation of Alfred Jarry’s Ubu Roi which he created and co-directed with Dan Safer of Witness Relocation. An actor and director known for his extensive work with Reza Abdoh and Richard Foreman, and for being a founding director of Reverend Billy and The Church of Stop Shopping, Tony recently made his Broadway debut as Rusty Trawler in Truman Capote’s Breakfast At Tiffany’s. Other recent credits include Jay Scheib’s Platonov at The Kitchen; The Church of Warren Buffet with Toxic Dreams in Vienna, Austria; Romeo and Juliet directed by Joanna Settle for Shakespeare On The Sound; Jason Grote’s Civilization (all you can eat) with Clubbed Thumb at HERE Arts Center; Ostrovsky’s The Forest (with Dianne Wiest) and Shakespeare’s The Tempest (with Mandy Patinkin) at Classic Stage Company; David Henry Hwang’s Yellow Face at The Public Theater. He manages Torn Page, a salon space and classroom in Chelsea dedicated to the artistic legacy of his parents, Rip Torn and Geraldine Page.
CHING VALDES-ARAN – Gonzalo: Obie Award-winning actress whose Broadway credits include THE WILD PARTY, Lady MacBeth opposite F. Murray Abraham, MOTHER COURAGE and FLIPZOIDS with Ma-Yi, MEDEA with Pan Asian Rep, DOGEATERS at La Jolla, and numberous productions at Public Theater, La MaMa, Mabou Mines, Yale Rep and Arena Stage.
SORAB WADIA – Sebastian: Recent credits include Bunty Berman Presents… (The New Group), Bashir Lazhar (one-man play) and Pool Boy, both at Barrington Stage Company, The Kite Runner (one-man play) directed by Wynn Handman for the American Place Theatre, Jihad! The Musical on London’s West End and The Play of Daniel at The Cloisters – Metropolitan Museum of Art. He garnered rave reviews for his performances as Ali Hakim on the first national tour of the Broadway revival of Oklahoma! Off-Broadway: Nymph Errant (Prospect), Chaos Theory (Pulse Ensemble), Kite Runner (APT), Big Shoot (Lark). TV: “30 Rock,” “Law & Order: SVU,” “Chappell’s Show.” Film: Mirage, New York, Suburban Girl, Hiding Divya – Personal Website
LIZ WISAN – Trinculo: Liz is thrilled to be making her La Mama debut working with this incredible company, on this beautiful show. New York credits include understudying and performing the role of Brooke in Other Desert Cities (Broadway and LCT), Bill W. & Dr. Bob (Soho Playhouse), Billy Witch (Astoria Performing Arts Center), Miss Lily Gets Boned, My Base and Scurvy Heart, and The Sporting Life (Studio 42, Resident Artist). Regional credits include Chris Bayes’ stellar production of The Servant of Two Masters (Yale Rep, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Guthrie Theater, Seattle Rep, ArtsEmerson), Tony Kushner’s Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide… (Berkeley Rep), These Paper Bullets! (Yale Rep), The Merchant of Venice (Shakespeare Theatre Company), Hannah (Premiere Stages), The Winter’s Tale (Chautauqua TheaterCompany), Anything Goes, Twelfth Night, and Cloud Tectonics (Williamstown heatre Festival). Television and film credits include “Elementary,” Ready or Knot, and “Bitches”(short). Liz frequently performs long-form and musical improv at the People’s Improv Theater and the Magnet Theater in NYC, and less frequently writes and performs stand-up comedy. MFA, Yale School of Drama.
“The enchantment begins immediately, with a storm-tossed shipwreck made of shouted voices, a haze of fog and a speckled, celestial light cast by a giant metal orb. Pocked with holes, it’s lit from within, swaying like the wild sea…a beautiful production.”
– Laura Collins-Hughes, The New York Times
“Rough magic? Reg E. Cathey has it. His long, lined face and gravelly voice suggest effortless power and allure. It’s both brilliant and obvious that he should play the sorcerer Prospero… Miriam A. Hyman is a lovely Miranda, and Tony Torn, as Stephano, is a one-man embodiment of the carnivalesque. But it’s Cathey’s sonorous ease and conflicted moral authority that enchant. Charms all o’erthrown? Hardly.”
– New Yorker
“Just might cure those theatergoers who have been deaf to this play’s poetry and charms… uniformly excellent acting….a visual and aural feast.”
– CurtainUp
“Coonrod impressively uses the entirety of the Ellen Stewart Theatre, taking advantage of its depth and multiple levels to stage the enormity of Shakespeare’s story… Despite the theater’s hugeness, Coonrod’s staging feels quite intimate… at around 100 minutes, this is an efficient and highly enjoyable adaptation of The Tempest.”
– TheaterMania