The Tempest by William Shakespeare

Twelve years ago, treason stalked the streets of Milan, and hurled Duke Prospero and his infant daughter Miranda into exile. Only Prospero's magic arts, and the help of secret friends, saved the small family. Now the agents of that downfall have sailed too close to Prospero's magic island, and a spirit-driven storm shatters their vessel against its shores.

See The Tempest, William Shakespeare's classic tale of vengeance struggling with mercy, full of revelry and romance alongside magic and Machiavellian machinations. Can the guilty find their way through the labyrinth of the human heart? And can a man lost in the spirit world regain his own humanity?

Director Joseph "Chepe" Lockett oversees this fortieth Baker Shakespeare production, his sixth in the past twelve years. As a Rice alumnus and local elementary-school educator, Lockett brings a sense of university history and a determination to make the Bard's plays accessible to a wide variety of ages and experience levels. Actors from across the Rice staff and student body unite to present the play in a close, personable performance that tickles the fancy, enlivens the ear, and touches the heart.

PERFORMANCE & TICKETS

Performances run Thursday through Saturday, March 19-21 and 26-28, 2009. Tickets are $5 for Rice students or groups of ten or more, $7 for Rice faculty and staff, and $10 for the general public. Reserve yours by emailing our box office at bakertheater@rice.edu or visiting the tickets page.

The theater opens at 7:30 pm; curtain time is 8:00 pm.  Seating is open: first-come, first-seated.

All performances are in Baker College Commons, at the southeastern end of the Rice University campus.  A campus map is available at http://www.rice.edu/maps/maps.html, which includes locations of parking lots available for visitor parking.

WHAT IS BAKERSHAKE?

Since the premiere season in 1970, Rice University's Baker Residential College has hosted the oldest continuous Shakespeare festival in Houston, bringing these classic plays to both the undergraduate population and wider Houston audiences.

Six weeks of rehearsal give the undergraduate actors the chance to deeply inhabit Shakespeare's work and words, and Baker College's elegant oak-paneled Commons, originally the university-wide dining hall in the early 1900s, provides a stately space within which to perform. The space lends itself to fast entrances and exits and frequent interaction with the audience, thus recreating the experience of Shakespeare's own day.

DONATIONS

Baker Shake needs your donations to run a successful show! Please visit the donations page for more information.