Wednesday, April 14, 2004

Caliban premieres next Tuesday

Prospero’s island is taking shape on the Clayton State stage in anticipation of Robert Karmon’s “Caliban and Miranda,” a sequel to Shakespeare’s “The Tempest.” Winner of Clayton State Theater’s nationally publicized First Annual International Playwriting Competition, “Caliban and Miranda” runs Apr. 20-24 at 8 p.m. and features a cast of professional Atlanta actors, and Clayton State student Kellie-Rae Gainer.

Tickets may be purchased at the door or reserved by visiting www.claytonstatetheter.org or by calling (770) 961-3623. General admission is $8. Students and seniors are admitted for $4. Driving directions are available on the theater website.

So what’s it all about? “`Caliban and Miranda’ is Shakespeare turned on his head with his minor characters made major and the high born Miranda transformed into a lowly outcast,” says Karmon. Audiences will also notice that Karmon has disenchanted Prospero’s island. This realism is reflected in the characters Caliban, played by Nick Rhoton (Atlanta); Miranda, played by Brenda Norbeck (Vinings); and Ariel, played by Clayton State Communication & Media Studies major Gainer (Jonesboro).

“In ‘The Tempest’ Caliban is the token, deformed bad guy, but there’s not a lot said about what makes him who he is, and why Caliban does the things he does,” says Rhoton. “Karmon adds depth to the characters that the original doesn’t show.” Rhoton, impressed by the intense physicality of Karmon’s Caliban, found out about the play from Clayton State Theater Director Ed Hohlbein (Athens).

Norbeck, who learned of the play from the Atlanta Coalition of Performing Arts, also notes a change in Miranda’s character from the original work. “Miranda is a lot meeker in ‘The Tempest.’ She doesn’t really have her own voice. In ‘Caliban and Miranda,’ she is so opinionated and is a force to be reckoned with,” she says.

“It is always an interesting idea when people ‘update’ Shakespeare, and the fact that playwrights continue to emulate him shows just how fantastic Shakespeare was,” says Rhoton. Norbeck agrees. “If you like Shakespeare, the discrepancies between the two plays can lead to interesting conversations,” she explains.

The Apr. 20-24 showings mark the culmination of Clayton State Theater’s First Annual International Playwriting Competition that began soliciting plays in July 2003. By the Nov. 15, 2003 deadline for submissions, the competition attracted 151 plays from 138 playwrights representing 23 states, two Canadian provinces, and three other countries: Germany, Georgia, and Saudi Arabia. Karmon received a $1,000 prize for his win. Clayton State Theater will begin accepting submissions for the Second Annual International Playwriting Competition in June.