Area thespians will stage Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” next weekend in the outdoor amphitheater behind the John Bryan Center. Pictured above are Jeannine E. Sandin, who plays the magical Prospero, and cowering in the mud is Ryan Heitkamp as Caliban. (Photo by Reilly Dixon)
Area thespians stage ‘Tempest’ in Bryan Center amphitheater
- Published: September 8, 2026
There are few stones in Yellow Springs the Bard hasn’t turned over.
To much local ado, Shakespeare’s been under the stars, on the lawn, in classrooms and on runways around the village. He had a good run at Antioch and, from time to time, still pops up via the YS Theater Company and YS Schools. But it seems ol’ Bill still has some uncharted territory in town.
Next weekend, Springfield-based Star Crossed Productions will stage “The Tempest” in the old abandoned amphitheater tucked behind John Bryan Community Center — a dramatic, albeit fleeting renaissance for one of Yellow Springs’ forgotten spaces.
“The Tempest,” a classic tale of love, loss and revenge, will be situated among the mud and mire of the amphitheater’s concrete ruins, making for an immersive and analog performance that switches curtains for tree branches, Chardonnay concessions for bug spray and velveteen seats for stone steps.
What better stage could there be for a play that takes place on an enchanted deserted island?
Alonso, played by Jack O’Connor, being tormented by the mystical spirit Ariel, played by Grace-Ellen Rison, at a rehearsal. (Photo by Reilly Dixon)
The production is set for three performances between Friday and Saturday, Sept. 11 and 12, with tickets starting at $10 and available for purchase at starcrossedproductions.com or at the “door.”
To reach the old amphitheater, attendees are to park in the Bryan Center lot and follow the grassy path behind John Bryan Community Pottery. Lights and fairies will reportedly guide the way.
Some familiar faces will trod the stone stage. Villager Art Boulet will don Sebastian, one of the shipwrecked nobles stuck on Prospero’s magical island. Area resident and Irish-born Jack O’Connor is King Alonso, one of the play’s mains who before the story begins, had overthrown the magical outcast.
Providing ambient live tunes throughout the performances is Donovan Geer, who in less mystical moments works in the kitchen at Mills Park Hotel — with the help of such less familiar instruments as the shruti box (a kind of Indian accordion), mountain dulcimer and seed pod shaker — to name a few.
Aside from a few salient differences, this “Tempest” will largely follow Shakespeare’s original throughline. A violent storm shipwrecks and separates a crew on a remote island run by a deposed magician and fantastical forces bent on revenge. Imagine: love, intrigue and mysticism all the while. Shakespeare scholars suggest “The Tempest” was his last play — one that offers some metacommentary on performance and theater, audience and spectacle.
Actors at a recent rehearsal at the John Bryan amphitheater. (Photo by Reilly Dixon)
Director Liz Hardy told the News at a recent rehearsal that Shakespeare’s profundities that some have deemed inaccessible are basically moot. Star Crossed Productions, she said, is bent on bringing the Bard back to Earth.
To audiences: Hardy said come as you are and take away what you will. It’s a thought-provoking play certainly with some ties to the here and now, but don’t take it too seriously, she said.
“I want my people to come away with their own conclusions — their own interpretations allegorically, personally, politically,” Hardy said. “I think people might expect this to turn into the typical revenge tragedy, and narratively that makes sense — Prospero lines up his enemies at the end of the play. He’s been talking about revenge the entire play.”
But Hardy and her cast do this “Tempest” differently.
Jeannine E. Sandin as Prospero and Ryan Heitkamp as Caliban. (Photo by Reilly Dixon)
Of note, Prospero in this case is a woman — Jeannine E. Sandin — which, in Hardy’s directorial view, upends the play’s predominant father-daughter dynamics between the former Duke of Milan and his daughter Miranda — played by Sarah Dykhuizen.
“We wanted to go a bit gentler,” Hardy said of Prospero’s gender swap. “There are still moments of violence and fight from her, but now, with her as female, those juxtaposed differently with a soft, loving relationship with her daughter. We challenge that — and that alters the core dynamics of the play by rippling out to affect all the other relationships.”
There are a few other changes Hardy wanted to brace local audiences for: The script has been consolidated to an hour and a half to make the play “more accessible to the modern audience,” mostly in the interest of getting more folks into the stone seats — not just literature or theater buffs.
Hardy also noted that her cast will largely sport “relatively modern” costumes. One set piece is a large, inflatable donut. Hardy didn’t say what that’s for.
All adaptations aside, it’s the setting of the Bryan Center amphitheater that Hardy and her cast are counting on to bring audiences into their tale. Though stacked slightly above, the crescent seating butts against the stage — which Hardy said is being kept intentionally muddy and overtaken by nature. With all the standing puddles and being right by the Yellow Springs Creek, attendees are encouraged to bring their own bug spray to ward off any uninvited winged attendees.
Beyond a quiet water bottle, food and drink are discouraged. Hardy does welcome, however, audience engagement — laughs, claps, gasps, oohs and ahhs.
“The energy and ephemeral nature of live performance is what makes it so important — it’s always different. There’s a catharsis about live theater that you can’t get watching TV alone,” Hardy said. “Live theater feeds on energy — actors can feel when you react, and that feeds the performance.”
She continued: “So, react. I think a lot of times when people see a Shakespeare play, they get nervous or stiff. It’s always so much better with a reaction.”
For more information and ticket sales, go to http://www.starcrossedproductions.com
The three performances are set for Friday, Sept. 11, 7 p.m.; and Saturday, Sept. 12, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m..
The technical address of the amphitheater is 100 Dayton St., located behind the John Bryan Community Center. Attendees are to park in the lot and go behind the John Bryan Community Pottery Building and follow signage into the ravine.
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