Say Yes! Collective to Bring All-Female THE TEMPEST to Hollywood Fringe

Los Angeles ensemble theatre company Say Yes! Collective presents its latest production, The Tempest, a reimagining of Shakespeare's celebrated supernatural drama co-produced with the internationally acclaimed Hollywood Fringe Festival.

Told through the eyes of eleven women, this magical story of the struggle for power and love features a script by William Shakespeare, and is directed by Shashona Brooks and produced by Tommy Statler.

The Tempest will be presented at Studio / Stage, 520 N. Western Avenue, Los Angeles, for five performances only, June 4, 14, 18, 22, 24, 2017.

Set in a women's prison, this all-female reimagining of The Tempest begins with the story of Prospero: part mother, sorceress, and rightful Duchess of Milan. Prospero and her daughter Miranda are sentenced away from their home, setting in motion a supernatural storm of intrigue, passion, and power. In a world where fate, dreams, and magic are intertwined, The Tempest tests the limits of our deepest dreams, our darkest fears, and how far we're wiling to go to change the course of our lives.

The Tempest features direction by Hollywood Fringe Festival veteran Shashona Brooks, producer and star of Say Yes! Collective's 2015 celebrated world premiere, Land of the Ice Bears. Brooks' other Los Angeles credits include: Romeo and Juliet and Boys' Life (Young Actors Ensemble) and The Nina Variations (Will Play For Food Theatre Group). Brooks' regional theatre credits include: The Last Days of Judas Iscariot (Stage 773), and three seasons as a company member of Shakespeare Santa Cruz. On-camera, Brooks' credits include multiple films with the Los Angeles-based Production Company, Finite Films. The Tempest is produced by Tommy Statler, Founder and Lead Producer of Los Angeles' #TrashcanShakes, and Young Actors Ensemble. As an educator for The Help Group, Statler has taught acting and performance to special needs students. His regional theatre credits include work with California Shakespeare Theatre, Shakespeare Santa Cruz, and the Berkshire Theatre Festival.

"You traditionally see The Tempest made up mostly of men, and I wanted to flip that narrative to give women the opportunity to dive into these deep, meaty, Shakespearean roles," Brooks says of her reimagining. "I wanted to allow women to get to take up space, to be heard, be seen, to have them be the subject and no longer the object on stage. I encourage audiences to simply listen to them. Women should be able to play roles that are ugly, scary, vulnerable, and loving. Reminding audiences that they can play multifaceted roles on stage should make it easier for them to play these roles in life."

The Tempest boasts a fierce ensemble of women headed by Olivia Buntaine as Prospero, a Hollywood Fringe Festival veteran and Founder and Artistic Director of Project Nongenue, a classical theatre company dedicated to centralizing the voices of marginalized identities. Rounding out the cast are: Veronica Tjioe as Ariel (award-winning playwright, Shakespeare Santa Cruz, Son of Semele Theatre / Company Creation Festival), Umi Shakti as Ferdinand (Schapiro Theatre, American Theatre of Actors, The Lyric Hammersmith, Old Vic Tunnels), Cheryl Ann Carlson as Miranda (Unbound Productions, Theatricum Botanicum, Kingsmen Shakespeare, SacRed Fools), Marisa Persson as Sebastian (Lounge Theatre, The Complex Theatre, Chance Theatre, Huntington Beach Playhouse), Lauren Lopez as Caliban (StarKid Productions, Project Alpha, Shipwrecked Comedy, The Second City, Improv Olympic), Amelya Hensley as Trinculo (independent shorts Welcome to the Family, Enough, Stereoscope, Inner Warrior), Miriam Salamah as Stephano (Dakota Players, Zeitoun, Batboy: The Musical!, Lysistrata, August: Osage County), Sara Greenfield as Antonio (Profiles Theatre, Hollywood Lounge, Stage Center Theatre, independent shorts Susie Sunshine and What Dreams Mae Come), Zuri Starks as Gonzalo (ZJU Theatre, New Play Exchange, independent films The Whispers and Burning Buildings), and Alyssa Anderson as Alonso (PCPA, Project Nongenue, Native Voices, Highland Players, AV Theatre Company).

Formed in 2015 with the mission of advancing new and fresh ideas, Say Yes! Collective represents a coalition of actors, playwrights, directors and theatre artists committed to creating art in a mutually respectful and safe space. When artists are willing to say yes to the unknown, an unlimited and boundless experience of creation can occur. We say yes to cross-pollinating different talents from different walks of life to create even more expansive and vibrant stories. We say yes to encouraging women to have a strong voice and to be seen. We say yes to enriching and giving back to our communities. In an artistic landscape where it is much easier to say no, we choose to Say Yes!

The Tempest will be presented at Studio / Stage, 520 N. Wester Avenue, in Los Angeles, for five performances only, June 4, 14, 18, 22, 24, 2017. General admission tickets are priced at $15, and are available online at hff17.com/4448.

For more information about Say Yes! Collective or The Tempest, visit www.sayyescollective.com or @SayYesCo on Twitter and Instagram.