Kentucky Shakespeare’s 'The Tempest' gets vibe check from students

Arts Angle Reporter
May 19
5 min read

Francis Parker School of Louisville students’ insights on the performance they saw before the launch of the company’s current Shakespeare in the Parks Tour.

By Valery Bejarano, Lia Benabou and Abigail Haxby

Arts Angle Reporters

Francis Parker School of Louisville

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For years Kentucky Shakespeare has visited Francis Parker School of Louisville and performed many different plays — ranging from “Macbeth” to “As You Like It.” But in March, when a troupe from Kentucky Shakespeare came to perform “The Tempest,” the story came to life in a whole new way.

This year’s production, which also toured other schools, featured multiple languages and a puppet, both of which audiences can see in Kentucky Shakespeare’s current tour of this production, with performances in 46 parks throughout the region.

Actors Maria Krasel Cardona Morales (left as puppet) and Tim Pollack (right) in Kentucky Shakespeare’s spring production of “The Tempest” touring schools and parks. Photo by Kyle Ware. Courtesy Kentucky Shakespeare.

“Most of our students had read ‘The Tempest’ before,” said Trent Apple, a teacher and Dean of Students at Francis Parker School of Louisville. “This was particularly enriching, I think, because so many students and adults in the room were familiar with it.”

Many Francis Parker students look forward to these Kentucky Shakespeare’s annual performances, a school tradition. Each year, these actors must adjust to small performance spaces and a tight time constraint.

This year, five actors had about 18 days to prepare before traveling to different area schools, said the cast members after their performance. Not only did they prepare well, but they almost perfected it while adding their own twist to the performance.

Many students came to the performance with different levels of familiarity with “The Tempest,” but the live show helped most of them better understand the story while keeping them engaged. Some students had read the play in class, while others had never seen or read it. Students said live performances can make Shakespeare’s work feel more accessible, though it can still present challenges for viewers unfamiliar with the plays.

Actors Maria Tim Pollack (left) and Maya Woodruff (right) in Kentucky Shakespeare’s spring production of “The Tempest” touring schools and parks. Photo by Kyle Ware. Courtesy Kentucky Shakespeare.

Faculty and students alike said they enjoyed Kentucky Shakespeare’s engaging performance of “The Tempest” with its use of Spanish, creative staging, and small but talented cast. The actors created a play that felt modern and intriguing.

While certain choices, such as bilingual dialogue, created moments of confusion, they also encouraged the audience to think more deeply about language, culture, and the use of power.

Kentucky Shakespeare’s performance allowed most students to follow “The Tempest” more easily than they expected, though the five-person cast occasionally created confusion. Averie Melendez, a Francis Parker junior, admitted that “some parts were hard to follow, especially because I haven’t read ‘The Tempest,’ so I didn’t know the basic storyline.” She noted, however, that the actors performed impressively with only 18 days to prepare. She especially admired how they changed their voices and tones depending on which character they portrayed.

Even though Shakespeare wrote “The Tempest” nearly 415 years ago, the Kentucky Shakespeare cast presented the play in a way that differed from traditional performances. The play explores themes of colonialism, especially through the relationship between Prospero and Caliban. Here, power and control are central ideas.

Actors Ian Fitzgerald (front) and Maria Krasel Cardona Morales (under blanket) in Kentucky Shakespeare’s spring production of “The Tempest” touring schools and parks. Photo by Kyle Ware. Courtesy Kentucky Shakespeare.

In the original play, language is used as a tool of control when Prospero teaches Caliban how to speak, reinforcing his authority. Kentucky Shakespeare attempted to challenge those themes by changing how language was used in the performance. For example, the character Ariel was portrayed through a puppet and spoke in Spanish.

English teacher Juan Ramirez wondered if Kentucky Shakespeare intended to use Spanish to subvert the play’s original theme.

“I did have some questions, and my main question would be that Spanish is also a colonizer’s language,” he said. “So, if you’re trying to subvert that, that’s an interesting choice because the indigenous people of the Americas did not speak Spanish.”

Despite those questions Ramirez said he enjoyed the production.

“I thought it was wonderful,” he said, “and again a really cool reimagining of the play.”

Actor Maria Krasel Cardona Morales in Kentucky Shakespeare’s spring production of “The Tempest” touring schools and parks. Photo by Kyle Ware. Courtesy Kentucky Shakespeare.

Incorporating Spanish and creating a bilingual production made the play harder for some students to understand, but most loved it.

“I feel like it added more depth to the story and added more differences between the characters,” said Averie Melendez, a Francis Parker junior.

Although the play initially confused some students who struggled to follow along, many relied on the tone, movement and context to understand what was happening. One student said although they do not understand Spanish, they were still able to follow the story due to the actors’ physical movements and tone, especially through the puppet used to portray Ariel.

The use of Spanish also created a different emotional experience for the audience. At certain moments, the play felt more intense or expressive when performed in another language, even if audience members could not understand the words. Some students said the use of two languages made the play feel more interesting and modern, while others felt it complicated the story.

Actors Maya Woodruff (left) and Ian Fitzgerald (right) in Kentucky Shakespeare’s spring production of “The Tempest” touring schools and parks. Photo by Kyle Ware. Courtesy Kentucky Shakespeare.

English teacher Ramirez said the bilingual approach was “meaningful and enriching for those of us who do understand and speak Spanish,” adding that even for those who do not, it helps show “the differences between two cultures.”

This highlights how the use of Spanish added depth to the performance beyond the dialogue itself. The use of Spanish was not simply a stylistic choice, but a way to highlight deeper themes within the play. Even though Spanish is historically connected to colonization, its use still challenged the expectation that Shakespeare must always be performed in English, encouraging the audience to think more critically about language and power.

This production’s creativity and originality made it one that the students truly enjoyed and would recommend to others. It proved Shakespeare’s work can still feel relevant today, especially when re-imagined in bold and unexpected ways.