Artsource
THEATRE ®
The Music Center’s Study Guide to the Performing Arts
TRANSFORMATION
ENDURING VALUES
ARTISTIC PROCESSES
TRADITIONAL CLASSICAL
1. CREATING (Cr)
CONTEMPORARY
2. PERFORMING, PRESENTING, PRODUCING (Pr)
EXPERIMENTAL
3. RESPONDING (Re)
MULTI-MEDIA
4. CONNECTING (Cn)
FREEDOM & OPPRESSION
THE POWER OF NATURE
THE HUMAN FAMILY
Title of Work:
About the Artwork:
The Tempest
The Tempest, by William Shakespeare, unfolds on an
Creators:
enchanted island where Prospero, the rightful Duke of
Producer: The Guthrie Theater Director: Jennifer Tipton b. 1938
Milan, has found refuge with his daughter Miranda.
Background Information:
Prospero brings his persecutors to the isle and exacts
Jennifer Tipton’s artistry and vision have established her
justice and spiritual redemption. In this world of fantasy,
as one of the world's premier lighting designers for theatre,
Shakespeare brings to life a story of love, revenge,
dance and opera, and she also directs. Ms. Tipton has
righteousness, despair, hope and wisdom, all
collaborated with many of the world’s great artists,
interwoven in a delicate web of poetry, imagination and
including Twyla Tharp, Robert Wilson and Mikhail
charms. In the end, Prospero gives up his magic powers
Baryshnikov. The daughter of two teachers, a zoologist
and returns to Milan and the world of men.
father and a physicist mother, her childhood was spent traveling from one college campus to another following their fairly itinerant careers as university professors. She arrived at Cornell University planning to major in astrophysics. While in college, she became involved with a dance program and before long, a love of dance eclipsed her other interests. She graduated with a degree in English and went to New York City where she studied
With his art and magic, and the help of the spirit Ariel,
Creative Process of the Artist or Culture: “As a designer, the directors I have come to admire always allow me to bring some part of myself - as an artist - to the creation of the work.” Jennifer Tipton quietly smiled. “That’s a quality I aspire to as a director.” She assembled a remarkable team of internationally acclaimed artists with whom she created an island world reflecting the elements of
with Martha Graham and joined the Merry-Go-
nature, art and decay. The themes
Rounders, a dance troupe which performed for children.
which were highlighted in the
When Ms. Tipton became rehearsal director for the
production were mirrors, shadows
troupe, she had to design their lighting as well. She
and dreaming, for the island in The
apprenticed under eminent lighting designer Tom
Tempest, like a stage, is a place for
Skelton and he became her mentor. Ms. Tipton soon gave up the idea of dancing to concentrate solely on
dreams. Photo: Michal Daniel
lighting. Winner of Tonys, Drama Desk Awards, and Bessies, she has been honored by the National Endowment for the Arts as the recipient of the 1991 Distinguished Artist Fellowship. Ms. Tipton is also a faculty member of the Yale School of Drama, where she has taught stage lighting since 1981.
“ The Tempest is a play of questions, not answers. I like to ask questions.” Jennifer Tipton
Minnesota
New York