Princeton University junior Tadesh Inagaki and senior Lily Akerman and sophomore Maeli Goren rehearse a scene from The Tempest at the Lewis Center for the Arts. The play is set for 8:00 p.m. Feb. 8,9,14,15 and 16 at the Marie and Edward Matthews ’53 Acting Studio at 185 Nassau Street.
The Lewis Center for the Arts is set to present The Tempest in February.
The performances are set for 8:00 p.m. Feb. 8,9,14,15 and 16 at the Marie and Edward Matthews ‘53 Acting Studio at 185 Nassau Street.
The Lewis Center said The Tempest will be performed with the help of marionettes created by senior computer science visual arts student Samantha Ritter.
Ritter was introduced to puppetry at a Princeton Atelier workshop presented by Wakka Wakka Productions. In 2011, she traveled to Prauge to learn more about the craft.
“My area of interest in the visual arts is sculpture, and I was incredibly inspired by the work of Wakka Wakka,” Ritter said, “it was not a big leap to look at how a three-dimensional object can take on character and personality, particularly when animated.”
The Lewis Center said the performance is the senior thesis project of theater student Lily Akerman.
Akerman attended a puppetry workshop led by Ritter. She decided to used puppets to interpret the characters in the play.
Shakespeare’s The Tempest is the story the magician Prospero and his daughter Miranda, who are are exiled from their home in Milan. They live on an island also inhabited by Caliban, the son of a witch, who is enslaved by Prospero. Prospero creates a storm that shipwrecks the King of Naples, his son Ferdinad and Antonio, who upsured Prospero’s role as the Duke of Milan.
Director and faculty member Tracy Bersley said performance is a combination of acting and puppetry.
“We intend to make the most of this juxtaposition of puppets and actors to tell this wonderful story, and of this idea of the strings and conventions that constrain us,” Bersley said.
Bersley said cast members will each play a role and manipulate at least one puppet.
The cast and crew includes Princeton University students John Somers Fairchild ‘15, Maeli Goren ‘15, and Tadesh Inagaki ‘14 and Katherine Clifton ’15.
Tickets for The Tempest are $12 for general admission and $10 for students and seniors.
They can be purchased through Princeton University Ticketing by calling 609.258.9220 or online at princeton.edu/utickets.
More information is online at princeton.edu/arts.
