Stormy Weather

Dani Grace Nissen as Miranda, Jason Coffenberry as Ferdinand, and Leslie Brott as Prospera in William Shakespeare’s “The Tempest.” Photo by Mikki Schaffner.

“The Tempest”
Cincinnati Shakespeare Company 
1195 Elm St. adjacent to Washington Park
Through May 4
Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, 7:30 p.m.
Sunday matinees on April 20, 27, and May 4, 2 p.m. 

Tickets available at cincyshakes.com 

“The eco-friendly approach just made sense for ‘The Tempest’ because of the content of the show itself,” says Samantha Reno, scenic designer with Cincinnati Shakespeare Company. “The island has its own life force, its own ecosystem, and the story deals a lot with ideas of colonization and its impact on environments and inhabitants.”

In “The Tempest,” the exiled sorcerer Prospera waits, marooned on an enchanting, yet ecologically fragile island, consumed by thoughts of revenge. So when fate places all her old enemies within reach, tempests (both literal and metaphorical) stir. As the climate shifts, so do allegiances, while young love takes root in this unpredictable environment. .

Designed with an eco-conscious objective, all costumes, props, and the entire set have been created with recycled and reused materials. The set will also be recycled after the show, making “The Tempest” almost completely sustainable.

“About 99.9% of this set is recycled or reused materials — and that was both the challenge and the fun of it,” says Reno. “We are always committed to a blend of salvaged materials and things that could be re-used again after a show anyway but we really dialed it up for this one. It definitely requires more weekly maintenance and staff time to manage the materials — But it’s absolutely on-brand for this production.”

Cincy Shakes collaborated with the Cincinnati Recycle and Reuse Hub and members of the community to supply some of the needed materials to bring magic to the stage.

“Our engagement team was looking into local organizations we could partner with for this show and came across (Cincinnati Recycle and Reuse Hub),” says Reno. “We reached out to see if they’d be interested in collaborating — and they said yes right away! They were so excited to be part of something this unique and creative. The ReUse & Recycle Hub is like a playground for creative people. We found so many amazing materials there — egg cartons and CDs that we turned into flowers, packing materials we sculpted into platforms, and even cork that became sand.”

The team also put out a call to their audiences, who showed up in a big way. Ordinary people donated incredible items — agricultural erosion netting that we was used to shape the island’s greenery and cardboard used to build structures. Be on the lookout! The creative team even found ways to sneak in Easter eggs from past productions.

While many re-used, re-purposed and found objects are used for the set and costumes, Reno does have a pick for the strangest thing in the show, which also confirms the belief to never throw anything away.

“Definitely the masts on the ship sails!,” says Reno. “They’re actually made out of stacked metal trash cans we found in the basement of the theatre — There were 16 of them just sitting there! We figured out a way to turn them into these towering masts.”