Hartford Stage Announces THE TEMPEST to Close 48th Season

Shakespeare's final play, The Tempest, will be the final MainStage production of Hartford Stage's 48th season. The selection is the first by Hartford Stage's new Artistic Director, Darko Tresnjak, who partners with Managing Director Mike Stotts to lead the Tony Award-winning theatre. Tresnjak will direct the production, which will run at Hartford Stage May 10 - June 3, 2012; it will be his 21st professional Shakespeare production.

In the play, one storm rages on the sea. Another storm rages inside of a man. Will Prospero, the banished Duke of Milan, exact his revenge or forgive his foes? Shakespeare's magnificent last play is a meditation on family, love, mercy, and, ultimately, the theatre itself. With wonder, imagination and sheer theatricality, this powerful production will take you on a breathtaking journey filled with song, dance, masks and puppetry. Support for Hartford Stage productions is provided by The Greater Hartford Arts Council and The Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism.

Director Darko Tresnjak comments on the play: "In The Tempest, we see the world through both the wizened eyes of Prospero, the usurped Duke of Milan, and the innocent eyes of his daughter, Miranda. On one hand, the play is a spectacle filled with shipwrecks, magic, song, and pageantry. On the other hand, The Tempest is one of Shakespeare's most intimate plays, taking place on a single day and in a single location, and charting an inner journey of a man, both sinning and sinned upon, who struggles with demons, both real and imagined."

Darko Tresnjak was the Artistic Director of The Old Globe Shakespeare Festival in San Diego from 2004 to 2009. His directing credits at The Old Globe include Cyrano de Bergerac, Coriolanus, The Women, The Pleasure of His Company, All's Well That Ends Well, Bell, Book and Candle, Hamlet, Titus Andronicus, A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Winter's Tale, A Comedy of Errors, Antony and Cleopatra, The Two Noble Kinsmen, and Pericles. He received four awards from the San Diego Theatre Critics Circle: for outstanding direction of Cyrano de Bergerac, The Winter's Tale, and Pericles and for Excellence in Artistic Direction.
Tresnjak is currently directing City of Angels at Goodspeed Musicals. He recently directed and designed the set for Titus Andronicus at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Canada. His acclaimed production of The Merchant of Venice, featuring F. Murray Abraham as Shylock, just completed a national tour. The production originated in 2007 at Theatre for a New Audience and transferred to the Royal Shakespeare Company as part of their Complete Works Festival. In 2012 he will direct Bell, Book, and Candle as a coproduction for Long Wharf Theatre and Hartford Stage.

Tresnjak's directing career began at the Williamstown Theatre Festival where over eight seasons he directed The Skin of Our Teeth, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, The Love of Three Oranges, Princess Turandot, The Blue Demon, The Winter's Tale, Moving Picture, and Under Milk Wood. He has also directed at the Joseph Papp Public Theater, Theatre for a New Audience, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Vineyard Theatre Company, and Blue Light Theater Company. From 2002-2004 he was Director in Residence at Boston's Huntington Theatre Company where his productions included What the Butler Saw, Heartbreak House, and Amphitryon.

Connecticut audiences will know Tresnjak's work from Goodspeed Musicals where he directed Carnival, Amour, and A Little Night Music; Long Wharf Theatre where he directed Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead; and Westport Country Playhouse where he directed Hay Fever and Princess Turandot.

Tresnjak grew up in Yugoslavia, the United States and Poland. He was educated at Swarthmore College and Columbia University and became an American citizen shortly after graduation. Between college and graduate school, he studied at the Martha Graham School, performed with numerous Philadelphia dance and theatre companies, and toured across the United States and Japan with Mum Puppettheatre. He is the recipient of grants from Theatre Communications Group, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, and the Alan Schneider Award for Directing Excellence.

Tickets for The Tempest are $23 to $69 and are on sale now. A limited number of $10 "Ten Spot" tickets are also available 48 hours prior to most performances, making Hartford Stage among the most affordable entertainment options in Connecticut. Discounts are available for groups of ten or more by calling 860-520-7244. Tickets for children and students are $10 off the full price when purchased in advance. Students of Capital Community College may purchase one $10 ticket to The Tempest upon presentation of their student ID at the Hartford Stage box office. All discount programs are subject to availability and cannot combined with other offers. Hartford Stage has wheelchair accessible seating, assistive listening devices and other amenities. For more information, please call the Hartford Stage box office. Hartford Stage is located at 50 Church Street in downtown Hartford with parking located in the MAT Garage, directly adjacent to the theatre. The theatre is accessible from I-84 and I-91.

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