'The Tempest' is brewing in Sisters

"The Tempest" will break over Sisters on Friday, August 17. The Innovation Theatre Works production of William Shakespeare's play is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Village Green and admission is free.

The public is welcome to bring blankets or lawn chairs and a picnic. No alcohol is allowed.

Innovation Theatre Works is living up to its name with the setting of the play, which is believed to have been written in 1610-11. The Sisters production is set at the Woodstock music festival in 1969.

Given the setting, there has to be music in the show.

"We've got everything from Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young to The Band to Joni Mitchell," said Julia Rahm, a Sisters High School graduate who plays Prospero's daughter Miranda. "The idea being to incorporate certain songs that were sung at or pertain in some way to Woodstock itself at moments when they make sense in the plot. So the show is for music-lovers as well."

In the play, the magician Prospero has been exiled to an island. When a ship bearing those who have condemned him approaches near, he brews up a tempest that causes the ship to run aground, allowing him to confront those who brought about his downfall.

"He struggles with whether he wants to get revenge on these people," Rahm said. "In the end, he decides to forgive them."

The theme of Prospero opening his heart is compatible with the Aquarian spirit of Woodstock, Rahm explains.

The set depicts the rolling hills of the upstate New York farm country where Woodstock took place.

Rahm is interning with Innovation Theatre Works on break from Sarah Lawrence College, where the singer and actress is studying theater.

"I really like New York a lot," she said. "There are so many cultural opportunities."

For more information visit www.innovationtw.org or call 541-504-6721.