Post-Grant Reports

Title

Gender Trouble in The Tempest

Document Type

Report

Publication Date

3-8-2015

Disciplines

English Language and Literature | Theatre and Performance Studies

Abstract

Our project combined literary research with theater practice as scholarly advisors (known as “dramaturgs”) for a summer 2014 production of The Tempest at the Portland Shakespeare Project, where I am the scholar-in-residence. This production cast female actors in the leading roles of Prospero and his brother Antonio, shifting the play’s dynamics to explore female power in the context of mother-daughter relationships and sisterly rivalry. We consulted on the script revisions necessary to turn Prospero and Antonio into Prospera and Antonia; we examined primary and secondary sources to research the history of cross-gender casting in the play; we advised the artistic team on textual and historical questions; and we shared our research with audiences in pre- and post-show lectures and discussions.

Comments

This research was conducted as part of a Linfield College Student-Faculty Collaborative Research Grant in 2014, funded by the Office of Academic Affairs.

Student collaborators were Samantha Palmer and Mackensie Sempert.

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