Synopsis: For a complete, detailed plot outline, see the following link.

Cast:
David Strathairn .... Prospero

Notes:
• David returned to his hometown of San Francisco to perform in Shakespeare's The Tempest.
• David was personally asked by director Carey Perloff to do the role. Perloff and David had previously collaborated twice on productions of The Birthday Party and Mountain Language in New York.

Critical Praise & Commentary:
(David On His Role:)
• [on the play] "The play calls for magic of a kind. It can be the magic of the mind or, in some productions, the magic of technical tricks. They are trying to blend both, which is quite a challenge." -David Strathairn, 1995

• "She [director Carey Perloff] didn't have to sell it very hard. My heart has always been with theater from the beginning. I take any chance I've had to go back and do a play." -David Strathairn, 1995

(Carley Perloff On David:)
• "David had done The Birthday Party for me. Then he did this film on Oppenheimer (Day One), whom he played as a poet/physicist, terrified about the power of his own knowledge, which is so Prospero. And I said to David, you should play Prospero. And he said, 'Well, I'm just terrified of that.' And I thought, I'm terrified of it, too. So it's always a good place to start with something that terrifies you because it's ahead of you and it leaves you something to aspire to." -Carey Perloff, director

• "After David played (physicist) J. Robert Oppenheimer in a television film, we talked a lot about Prospero, which had many similarities. I said to him, 'It's really time for you to do this, to play the lead in a major Shakespeare.' It all came together by instinct, almost." -Carey Perloff, director

Related Links:
American Conservatory Theatre (ACT) - San Francisco (off site)