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The Tempest

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Runs: 07/28/11 — 08/13/11
Opening Night: 07/28/11
Event Time: 7:00pm (Gala Dinner/Auction on July 27 at 6:00pm)
Tickets: All tickets $14

We kick off the season with this world premier re-adaptation, and American premier of one of the most popular versions of The Tempest in history. In B&B style, we’ll feature new characters and new plot lines, and the incredible nuances of our outdoor stage, to bring you a summer storm of comedy and delight!

We’ll be performing The Tempest outdoors at the Tom Hughes Civic Center Plaza in downtown Hillsboro, located on E. Main street between 1st and 2nd. Public parking is available at the SW Corner of the Civic Center off of SE Washington street & 1st Ave and some nearby street parking is also available.

When most people think of The Tempest, their thoughts immediately turn to William Shakespeare’s last play: the magical tale of the exiled Prospero, his beautiful daughter Miranda and the island he shares with the fairy Ariel and the monstrous Caliban. Shakespeare’s tale of magic and redemption is well known, and often performed throughout the world; but a little known fact about the play is that Shakespeare’s script is not the most popular version of the story ever written. In fact, that honor goes to the now rarely performed and almost completely forgotten adaptation by John Dryden and Sir William Davenant known as The Tempest, or The Enchanted Isle.

In 1667, John Dryden (the most influential poet of England’s Restoration period) and Sir William Davenant (a playwright, poet and godson of Shakespeare) adapted William Shakespeare’s play The Tempest into one of the very first recorded Restoration-era comedies, entitled The Tempest, or the Enchanted Island. It is this script that became the most popular version of the tale for English audiences, and essentially dominated English and European stages for a period of nearly 200 years.

Tragically, this adaptation (which relies heavily on Shakespeare’s original for much of its verse) has literally vanished from modern performance repertoires and there has never been a single recorded production of the Dryden/Davenant script anywhere in the United States, and none in England since 1835.

In July of 2011, Bag&Baggage Artistic Director, Scott Palmer, who is responsible for all of the literary adaptations performed by the company, will direct the first ever American production of this lost classic, outdoors at the Tom Hughes Civic Center Plaza in downtown Hillsboro.

This performance will not only be an American premiere of one of the most popular scripts from the English Restoration, it will also be a world premiere re-adaptation of the most popular version of The Tempest in history! Featuring new characters (such as Caliban’s magical sister Sycorax, Miranda’s sister Dorinda, and a new comic sidekick for Stephano and Trincalo named Mustacho!) and new plot lines, this world premiere of The Tempest, or The Enchanted Isle promises to be a summer storm of comedy and delight!  A cast with many familiar Bag&Baggage actors, in addition to some incredible new talent, will bring this script to life.  Designer Gregory Pulver is giving it an exciting and unique scenic and costume design that you won't want to miss! 

Note: The subject matter of this play is most appropriate for audiences ages 15+.