Newport Contemporary Ballet will stage the world premiere of choreographer Joshua L. Peugh’s adaptation of “The Tempest” at the WaterFire Arts Center in Providence on May 14, 15 and 16.
All three performances begin at 8 p.m. General admission tickets are $48.
Peugh’s ballet adapts Shakespeare’s late comedy, which centers on the exiled magician Prospero, his daughter Miranda and the storm Prospero conjures to bring his enemies ashore on a remote island. The production retains the play’s romance and humor, from Miranda and Ferdinand’s love story to the antics of the drunken Stephano and Trinculo, while also engaging the colonial dynamics in the original text — Caliban’s Indigenous identity, Ariel’s enforced servitude and Prospero’s exile — and connecting them to Rhode Island’s history of maritime trade.
Peugh worked with composer Brandon Carson on an original score and with costume designer Liz Bourgeois on the production’s visual world.
The May 14 opening-night performance will be preceded by a talk, “Staging the Storm: The Ethics of Performing Colonial Narratives,” at 7:15 p.m. Peugh will be joined by Deloris Grant, a Rhode Island scholar and Shakespeare educator who holds a bachelor’s degree in English, a master’s in teaching and a doctorate in education, all from Rhode Island College. Grant has been active in the English-Speaking Union, which sponsors the National Shakespeare Oration Competition.
A ticketed “Meet the Choreographers” reception is also planned for May 15 at 6:15 p.m.
Newport Contemporary Ballet is a nonprofit professional company based in Newport. Through its academy and Dancing Through Boundaries program, the organization offers dance training to students of all ages and backgrounds.
Tickets and additional information are available through Newport Contemporary Ballet.
