Devin Lloyd as Miranda, David Gassett as Prospero, and Ta ha Wiheba as Caliban.

To enjoy the beautiful weather these past few nights compared to a soggy week, Tempted Theatre Trooper Britt Fossum went out to enjoy KSCT’s production of The Tempest on Thursday night and reports back on her experience in the outdoor theater. 

KCST’s The Tempest was incredibly entertaining. It was also a bit of a mess at times, as a natural consequence of holding the play outside. However, the cast and crew worked with the necessary chaos and confusion of a roving show to make the play work. The play began at the Sundial, headed to “Prospero’s Rock,” known by students as Alma Mater, and then divided up into two groups, or a choose your own adventure game. Over half the cast acted as “spirits of the island,” wearing flower crowns and lots of glitter while sitting amongst and guiding the audience along one of two main tracks. The plot following Prospero, Caliban, and Miranda headed up the East side of Low steps while the side plot of the survivors of the shipwreck headed towards the West side. While this managed to keep the runtime of the play at about an hour and a half, it also led to a bit of confusion. I followed one of the more exuberant spirits along the shipwrecked path, which introduced Prospero’s usurping brother Antonio (played by Sam Mickel, CC ’14, with a cigarette tucked behind his ear) and a side plot involving some kind of treachery that was drowned out by music coming from Math. The split-up section was kept fairly brief, and once reunited with the rest of the group, the plot was much easier to follow again.

David Gassett, GS ’15, played Prospero less as a powerful magician and more as a cranky dad just trying to keep his daughter safe. Both Ariels, played by Jacqueline King, CC ’17,and Raquel Chavez, CC ’14, were over the top and constantly moving and climbing all over Alma and each other. At first this was a bit distracting and annoying, but by the end of the play it became endearing, especially when the two ran off towards Butler library after being freed by Prospero and proceeded to distract pretty much everyone on college walk with their antics. Giant puppets representing the gods were called upon to oversee Miranda’s wedding and were a bit strange swaying menacingly in the background. Otherwise, the set was amazing—the best part of this production was the use of the campus space. KCST got incredibly lucky with the weather with only a bit of rain on the last night, but also did a great job of setting up lighting and arranging actors in the space available, including Ariel clambering on Alma Mater and spirits lurking behind benches and bushes (a Bwogger may have been almost trampled by a spirit as they sat on the steps.) It was also enjoyable knowing what was happening when people walking down College Walk stopped to gawk. The crowd dwindled over the night, but did pick up a few curious passerby especially for the 12 AM show on Friday night (the crowd was absolutely massive), and the actors were loud enough to drown out pretty much anything.

The KCST Spring show is always entertaining, whether you actually make the effort to buy a ticket and actively watch the entire play, or just stop by to figure out what all the ruckus is on College Walk. I might have done a bit of both this year: watching the entire Thursday night show, stopping by late Friday night, and giving one of my friends in the ensemble a soaking wet hug before the Saturday show. There are amazing actors in the group and it has had great direction from Alex Katz, CC ’14, but above all else it seemed like being in the play was even more fun than watching it.