Young Actors Launch <i>The Tempest</i>
After spending weeks this summer training with the New Orleans Shakespeare Festival at Tulane, students from 11 New Orleans area schools will take to the stage starting tonight (July 21) for the student production of The Tempest.
Josh LeCoq, left, and Madeleine Daste, who are students at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, portray Ferdinand and Miranda in the Shakespeare Festival's production of The Tempest. (Photo by Joan Long)
The performances will cap the All Things Shakespeare training program for middle school and high school students, who participated in two sessions this summer the first session to train in voice, language, movement and stage combat, and the second to mount a full-scale production.
Under the direction of Clare Moncrief, managing director for the Shakespeare Festival, the students will perform at 7:30 p.m. today through Saturday (July 24), and at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday (July 25) at the Lupin Theater on the uptown campus.
The participating students are attending All Things Shakespeare from Metairie Park Country Day School, Destrehan High School, Haynes Academy, Lusher Charter High School, Mt. Carmel Academy, New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, Patrick Taylor Academy, St. Mary's Dominican High School, St. Scholastica Academy, St. Martin's Episcopal School and Trinity Episcopal School.
The Tempest takes place on a mysterious island inhabited by creatures of the spirit world, where the Duke Prospero and his daughter, Miranda, are exiled. Prospero uses his magic to create a powerful ocean storm, wrecking the ship carrying the brother who betrayed him, as well as the king, his son and their entourage. Magic, comedy and romance mark the performance of the classic play.
Tickets are $13 and are available at the Lupin Theater Box Office from noon until 4 p.m. today through Friday (July 23). Tickets also can be ordered by calling 504-865-5106, by e-mail or online.
