Two limelights travel in crossed arcs while a leaf gobo rotates at 11 degrees per minute.
Mariner's Repertory presents / Harbor Stage 2
The Tempest
A repertory staging in five acts: salt air, velvet darkness, gold braid, and one impossible storm rebuilt every night from breath, rope, water, and light.
PreviewSept. 18
OpeningSept. 24
Run34 performances
DirectorInez Vale
Tonight's island weather
Barometer falling, moon at half, spirits visible from row F. Stage manager's call: 7:12 PM. Rain canvas tested at 5:43 PM. Thunder sheet warmed under limelight.Act I / The Usurpation Remembered
A playbill cut from candle smoke
The court arrives soaked, the island answers in limelight.
The production opens with a ship suggested by three brass rails, a black sail, and a chorus of rope handlers visible in the wings. Prospero's first speech is staged downstage left, half in crimson spill, as if the old duke cannot decide whether he is magician or exile.
Company sheet No. 29 / rope room copy
Dramatis Personae
- Prospero
- Alaric Voss, velvet coat lined with sea charts
- Miranda
- Noemi Cross, carrying a lantern of milky glass
- Ariel
- Jun Park, voice looped through copper bowls
- Caliban
- Mara Quill, clay mask cracked with gold
- Ferdinand
- Tomas Beck, shipwrecked tenor and reluctant prince
- Stephano & Trinculo
- Bram Lyle and Kit Moreno, comic relief in wet brocade
"We wanted the magic to look handmade enough that the audience could almost steal it."
Inez Vale, director
"Every entrance is from darkness. Every forgiveness has to cross the boards."
Alaric Voss, Prospero
Act II / Plotting Beneath Leaves
Gobo pattern: bay laurel, shuttered by hand
A courtly comedy turns dangerous under moving branches.
The island's daylight is never natural. It swings, trembles, and breaks into leaf shapes across the stage floor, so Antonio's treachery feels like something overheard by the woods.
Glass harmonica, low surf, and six whispered names sent from the rear balcony.
Hammered brass, light enough to shake when Alonso laughs.
Act III / The Sea Breaks In
Storm call: standby rain, flash, rope, thunder
The storm is a scene partner.
Rain streaks across the proscenium as the palette inverts for single-frame lightning strikes. Ferdinand's labor is played against a shaken headline of rigging, and Ariel's taunts arrive from the upper boxes like weather with a will.
412rain strokes per cycle
7thunder hits under the masque
1.4slongest blackout breath
Act IV / A Masque Before Mercy
The spirits enter on a diagonal
A wedding masque blooms, then is cut short by memory.
Iris, Ceres, and Juno are costumed in cream silk painted with mineral pigment. Their procession crosses the audience sightline too close for comfort, a blessing that feels almost like a spell being tested in public.
Masque Ledger
- 00:00 Ariel knots a ribbon to the center line.
- 01:18 Three spirits lift mirrored bowls of water.
- 03:05 Prospero sees Caliban's plot in the reflection.
- 03:32 Music stops without a cutoff gesture.
Act V / The Staff Broken
Curtain call: forgiveness in full front light
The island empties. The theatre keeps the spell.
The final act drains the crimson away until only warm limelight remains. Prospero breaks a staff made from black bamboo and brass ferrules; the sound is small enough that the whole room leans forward to hear it.
Performance Notes
Tuesday repertory pairing with Pericles. Saturday matinees include a 22-minute stagecraft talk on rain, gobo leaves, and visible magic.
Return to the proscenium