Readers familiar with William Shakespeare's The Tempest may recall the story of Prospero, the sorcerer and former Duke of Milan, who uses magical powers (with a wand) to force his brother Antonio to join him and his daughter in the desert. the island they were exiled to.
This is a story about fantasy and revenge. Antonio replaces Prospero as ruler of Milan after Prospero neglects his duties by wasting time on his book collection.
Shakespeare in Detroit stays true to that story in its production of the play, but the theater company takes it to a more modern era and dives into a musical genre that originated here: techno.
Shakespeare's The Tempest in Detroit opens Friday, August 11 at Campus Martius Park. Set in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the show sees Prospero (played by Jonathan West) trade his magic wand for records and tape recorders. Ann Arbor's DJ Skoob E will play music during the show, which also features a 20-minute dance party with competition.
The performances are part of the Detroit Shakespeare Classic Theater Festival, which will also feature a youth production of Macbeth.
The storm will last until August 13 and then from August 18 to 20. All performances start at 7.30pm, with Macbeth performances starting at 2pm on Friday and Saturday in Campo Marzio.
Sam White, creator and director of Shakespeare's The Tempest in Detroit, said this version of The Tempest was featured on WGPR's The New Dance Show in 1980 and Juan Atkins, considered the father of Detroit techno.
"We wanted to create a Shakespeare-themed show for our 10th season in Detroit, so it was great to mix the magic of Shakespeare's 'The Tempest' and the history of Detroit with techno music and dance," he said. "For the most part, we're keeping the history as it is, but also creating a few city-specific synergies."
White founded Shakespeare in Detroit in 2013 to bring the playwright's work to Detroiters. He saw a few Shakespeare plays in the suburbs, but nothing in the city.
On August 14, 2013, the company opened Othello at Grand Circus Park, four weeks after its Detroit run.
"We had the courage to come and perform a Shakespearean tragedy, and 500 people showed up," White said.
The company has since staged productions such as Hamlet, Antony and Cleopatra and the Spanish version of Much Ado About Nothing.
Dennis Kleinsmith has been with Shakespeare in Detroit since its inception. The veteran actor played the antagonist Iago in Othello and returned as Prospero's werewolf servant Caliban in The Tempest.
"I had planned with two men to try to kill Prospero, but of course our plans failed," Kleinsmith said.
He said that playing Kalibu is exhausting because he has to embody so many emotions, love, pain, anger, pure evil. He is known as an antagonistic character, but White said that there are no saints and sinners in Shakespeare's plays.
"Good or bad is relative. it depends on who you ask,” he said.
Kleinsmith, a Wayne University graduate and Latrap resident, says playing Shakespeare is his first love. Although he has also worked in television and film, he says that this work is not as artistically satisfying as stage work.
"Theatre rewards you as an actor being an actor, and there's nothing like it," Kleinsmith said. "There's nothing better than finishing a show where you've spent the last two hours preparing and performing and sweating your clothes off. But getting a moment's applause from 500 or more people at the same time is better than any salary.
"Well, almost," he added with a laugh.
The cast also includes 18-year-old Ariz Rock, who plays a spirit named Ariel. He is also Prospero's servant, but their relationship is different from Caliban's because Prospero uses Ariel to perform his magic, Rock said. The Detroit native said she was excited to play Ariel because they both share a love of life.
"Even though she doesn't feel spirits the way humans do, Ariel is constantly connected and surprised by herself and loves everything she comes across," Rock said. "And personally, that's how I want to approach my work as an actor."
Rock began acting at the age of four and was a member of the Detroit Shakespeare Youth Conservatory. At the age of 14, she played Juliet in Romeo and Juliet.
"Sam was my director and I fell in love with Shakespeare," she said. "The words, language, poetry and images of all of these. While many teenagers, myself included, are a little bored with the language... the audience still understands because the themes are the same: love, forgiveness, hate. These are things that everyone experiences naturally. Everyone can relate to Shakespeare.
As Shakespeare in Detroit celebrates its 10th anniversary, White hopes Detroit needs the kind of theater the company offers.
"I hope that will be our legacy. That we always show up when the city needs us and that equality, diversity and inclusion is not our mission,” he said. "We did it long before 2020 and we will do it for a long time. And I hope that people will understand and see that Detroit Shakespeare is of the people and for the people.
