Classical Actors Ensemble’s “The Tempest” Contends with Moral Ambivalence

Since 2014, Classical Actors Ensemble has put on annual productions of Shakespeare plays in parks around the Twin Cities and surrounding region. This summer, CAE is staging The Tempest, once again exhibiting the group’s signature blend of comedy, audience engagement, and music.

The Tempest follows Prospero, sorcerer and exiled duke of Milan, in his revenge plot against the King of Naples. Prospero causes a storm that shipwrecks the king and his entourage, who go on a series of magical misadventures as they attempt to make sense of the strange island that Prospero and his teenage daughter, Miranda, now call home.

Alan Tilson as Prospero and Anastasia Brown as Miranda. Rob Matsushita

My personal favorite part of this production was Ariel, the forest spirit that Prospero has magically enslaved. Gender-expansive casting is one of the strongest traditions of Shakespearean theater, and though the character is referred to by he/him pronouns in the text of The Tempest and would have originally been portrayed by a boy player, over time the role has gone to actors of varying sexes, gender identities, and gender presentations. But Classical Actors Ensemble has approached the casting and staging of Ariel in a delightfully unique way: Three actors of different voice and body types play the spirit, speaking lines both individually and in unison.

Together, the trio (Nadya Bluvstein, Ross Petras, and Angelina Vu) resemble a Greek chorus, or perhaps a more acrobatic version of the Weird Sisters from Shakespeare’s Macbeth. The Ariels dress androgynously in biker shorts and mesh tops, allowing them to stand out visually in a cast otherwise clad in suits and sailor’s uniforms and heightening their already ethereal quality. In a world of men flailing about, the Ariels sing, dance, and do gymnastic tricks around the stage. They are a visually memorable aspect of an otherwise very minimally designed production and help to emphasize the magical and otherworldly elements of the play’s setting.

Nadya Bluvstein, Ross Petras, and Angelina Vu as Ariel. Rob Matsushita

Something else I particularly enjoyed about CAE’s Tempest was the characterization of Prospero (Alan Tilson). Though I had some familiarity with the text of The Tempest before I went to see this production, I did not remember how cruel and calculating its supposed protagonist could be. Prospero fled to the island 12 years before the events of the play, and once there he proceeded to enslave not only Ariel but also a creature called Caliban (Justin Hooper), who is humanoid and able to carry conversations with the human characters.

Prospero is clearly positioned as a likable character, or at least respectable. He could be described as the main character of the play, though it’s really an ensemble piece. With The Tempest being mostly a straight comedy, though, you would expect Prospero to be someone the audience can properly root for. Instead, he is manipulative and vengeful, using his access to magic to control others. He ostensibly redeems himself by the end of the story, freeing Ariel and Caliban, forgiving his brother and the King of Naples, and renouncing magic; he is given his title and lands back and goes back to Milan. But I don’t think this fully absolves Prospero of his crimes against the island and its inhabitants.

Assuming this was the intention of director Joseph Papke, Prospero’s ethical dubiousness offers the audience something to ruminate on after the show, if nothing else, which I found much more interesting than if we had been told exactly how to feel about the character and his actions. I’m partial to the possible interpretation of The Tempest as an early allegory for European colonialism, but in terms of intent and metaphor, the text is certainly open to speculation.

Justin Hooper as Caliban. Rob Matsushita

Zakary Thomas Morton plays Trinculo, the king’s jester, who provides much of the comic relief (along with Caliban and their other traveling companion, the king’s butler Stephano, played by Dominic DeLong-Rodgers). Trinculo’s ad-libbed interjections at the beginning of the show could be a bit distracting and grating at times, but the comedy improved later in the show as Morton worked in asides to the scripted dialogue more organically. Of course, comedy is subjective, so how much you enjoy the improv will depend greatly on personal taste. The rest of the cast is a mix of up-and-coming young actors and CAE regulars, who I had seen in the ensemble’s previous productions of Twelfth Night (2024) and All’s Well That Ends Well (2025).

Outdoor performances are at the mercy of weather and other conditions. It rained the evening The Tempest opened, when I had originally planned to go; the next night, when I did attend, was cool and clear, but the wind drowned out some of the actors’ dialogue, and as a direct result of that I had trouble following the story at points. With that in mind, the fun of outdoor theater is in the variability and the closeness to the actors. Classical Actors Ensemble’s shows always include acoustic covers of popular music, which the audience can sing and clap along to. Improv and breaking the fourth wall are common occurrences, and though The Tempest is already among the shortest Shakespeare plays, some scenes have been cut for time, which streamlines the plot and improves accessibility for younger audiences.

Zakary Thomas Morton as Trinculo. Rob Matsushita

In the Shakespeare in Our Parks format, you are sharing your time with the actors, the crew, and the environment, which draws you into the performance as a community event rather than the isolated experience a large, dark auditorium can sometimes create. Besides that, these productions are free, open to the public, and relatively family-friendly.

The Tempest is short and light, at only around 100 minutes, with no intermission. Dress for the weather and bring chairs or blankets to sit on, since seating, like the stage, is mostly on grass and dirt, which can be wet depending on the location and whether it rained recently. The production runs through July 12 at venues around Minneapolis, St. Paul, Bloomington, St. Louis Park, and Wabasha. You can view the performance schedule on the Classical Actors Ensemble website.