The Acting Company to perform ‘The Tempest’ at IU Auditorium

A deformed monster, an air-spirit and a pair of drunkards are among the cast of characters in William Shakespeare’s final play, “The Tempest,” which The Acting Company will bring to the IU Auditorium tonight at 8 p.m. Tickets are $21.50 for the general public and $14.50 for IU students.\nThe action centers on sorcerer Prospero, the rightful Duke of Milan, and his sheltered but beautiful daughter Miranda. The pair has been stranded on an island for 15 years with the magical sprite Ariel and Caliban, the deformed son of a witch, for company.\nActor Seth Duerr plays Antonio, the wicked brother who usurped Prospero’s throne and set him adrift upon the sea. \nAntonio finds himself shipwrecked on the same island as his brother, along with King Alonso of Naples, Alonso’s brother Sebastian, the prince Ferdinand and the often-drunk Trinculo and Stephano. He is separated from his fellows by Prospero’s magical tempest.\n“Antonio seems to not have changed over those 15 years (except that he’s perhaps gotten worse),” Duerr said.\nDuerr said Antonio is different from many Shakespearean villains because he does not change, even in the end when he is defeated. \n“He doesn’t say anything. There’s no remorse, no big speech,” Duerr said. “I think that’s a very interesting reaction; his entire life is taken away from him and he says nothing.”\nDuerr also said he and the Company have been able to find no redeeming qualities to the character.\n“I have no love or affection for him,” Duerr said, “but I do enjoy playing him.”\nThe Acting Company will also host a workshop titled “Acting Clues in Shakespeare” at 9 a.m. Thursday on the stage in the theatre and drama building. It is free and open to the public, but has a 30-participant limit. \n“It’s the most popular workshop,” Duerr said. “People have had a very good reaction to it.”\nThe workshop will be taught by Acting Company staff repertory director Jessi Hill and actors Robb Martinez, who plays Sebastian, Timothy Sekk, who plays Ferdinand and Michael Stewart Allen, who plays Caliban.\nA veteran of 31 Shakespeare productions to date, Duerr said one of the Company’s goals is to make the Bard less intimidating to the public “so that people won’t be afraid of Shakespeare.” \nDuerr freely admits he hated the Elizabethan playwright in high school.\n“I couldn’t stand it; and who wants to read a tragedy on the weekend?” he said, adding that, fortunately, “The Tempest” is a comedy.\n“It’s very accessible, which is different for a Shakespeare play, I think,” he said of the company’s production in particular. “It’s not stuffy at all; it’s not a museum piece.”\nThe program is supported by a recent funding initiative that enables various departments to work with the IU Auditorium to bring a wider variety of cultural programs to IU. The Auditorium will host events that fit with the academic goals of each department – in this case, the Department of Theatre and Drama – and bring these opportunities to the community.\nJohn Kinzer, the department’s director of audience development, said they specifically looked for companies that could do more than give a performance and that “The Tempest” is only one of hopefully many programs to come.\n“It will be ongoing,” he said. “Next year, we expect the Jacobs School of Music to do it.”