The Tempest: MEET THE CAST

The Tempest

by William Shakespeare

A Mud Bay Bards Production, directed by Maynard Smith

A magical storm brings a ship carrying royal passengers to shore in an unknown land where an exiled duke has made a home. Plots and intrigues and love stories follow, aided and disrupted by spiritual forces.

October 6 & 7 at 7:00 PM, October 8 at 2:00 PM, October 13 & 14 at 7:00 PM at the Homer High School Mariner Theatre.

Read on to meet the cast!

Wayne Aderhold - a mariner

Wayne is excited to resume his adventure in drama after a brief (68 yr) hiatus … last playing Davy Crockett (along with 50 other Kindergarteners in coonskin caps).

Katherine Brennan - Iris

Although this is the first time for Kathy Brennan to do Shakespeare, she is no stranger to being flowery with her words. Cast as the rainbow messenger, with many things to say, Kathy plans to utilize her gossip-girl talents to bring life to her character. Small town grown, wanderer, flair for the drama…Kathy eats up any bit of time she may get on the stage.

Sarah L. Brewer - a mariner & Ceres

As she weathers her own Tempests, Sarah finds complete solace in the words of this magical Bard. She was most recently seen as Madame, the opera singing wardrobe in Beauty and the Beast. Some of her favorite Shakespearean roles she has undertaken are Mistress Quickly, Lady Macduff, Miranda, as well as improvisational Sycorax along the Pratt Museum trails. One day she dreams of playing Queen Margaret or Paulina. She chairs the Mud Bay Bards, and will forever be grateful to the family that is Pier One Theatre, as well as you, for sharing the space with us today. Gramercy!

Brian Duffy - Antonio

Brian has a longtime love of Shakespeare. His first Shakespearean role was as Malcolm in “Macbeth” (directed by Maynard Smith.) He has since appeared as Malvolio in Twelfth Night, Duke Theseus in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” Antonio in “Much Ado About Nothing,” and played Hamlet in Tom Stoppard’s “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead.” In 2020, he played the fae king Oberon from “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” in “Haunted Shakespeare: His Murdered, Ghosts, & Otherworldly Creatures” who battled with his estranged fairy wife Titania causing tempests to rage across the land.

Miranda Green - a mariner, nymph, & islander

Miranda has done so many activities including karate, swimming, piano, cross country, ballet, battle of the books and student council but out of all of those activities one of her favorites is acting. Miranda has a special place in her heart for acting and always will. She wants to thank her mom and dad for supporting her always. She also wants to thank her classmates for coming to support her and she wants to thank you for coming too. So, thank you.

Kathleen Gustafson - Prospero

Kathleen Gustafson has been a Homer actor and director since the turn of this century. She is Director of Youth Theatre at Pier One and a member of the Mud Bay Bards, Pier One’s Shakespeare club and wants to see you ALL at the next set of auditions.

Rob Johnson - Alonso

Rob Johnson will be making his theater debut as King Alonso. He currently works with special education students at Chapman Elementary School. He moved to Alaska in 2009. He has lived on the Kenai Peninsula since 2013. The Tempest reminds him of the strong summer thunderstorms of his New England boyhood, as well as his travels to Milan and the Mediterranean coast.

Ken Landfield - Francisco

Temp, temper, tempest.

Tempest fugit (so, carpe diem)!

Thank you for joining us as we explore this subtle, tender and delicate isle. Enjoy the show!

William Trevor Long - a courtier & islander

William Trevor has been helping in various aspects of the theater since high school and this is his 2nd production with Pier One. Unlike his character, he's not planning on jumping ship anytime soon.

Meaghan McCallum - Miranda

Meaghan was raised in Homer, and grew up attending many Pier One productions. After years of wanting to participate, she gathered up the courage to audition for The Tempest. She’s thrilled to be portraying Miranda for her first Pier One experience, and is flattered someone thinks she can still pass for 15.

Tyler Munns - Ferdinand

Tyler Munns has played the roles of Dave Moss and George in Pier One Theater productions of David Mamet’s “Glengarry Glen Ross” and Edward Albee’s “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” in 2015 and 2016, with his most recent collaboration being Musical Director of Pier One Theater’s 2023 production of Trey Parker’s “Cannibal! The Musical.”

Carolyn Norton - Stephano

Among her numerous performances on the Pier One stage, Carolyn has dabbled with the “Immortal Bard” on a few occasions. Most recently she appeared in “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged).” She played Don Pedro in “Much Ado About Nothing,” read for Lady Macbeth at the Kachemak Bay Highland Games, and, appeared as as Guildenstern in Tom Stoppard’s riff on Hamlet “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead.”

Peter Norton - Gonzalo

“The Tempest” marks Peter’s eighth venture into Shakespearean waters in 54 years. He fully expects there to be no shipwreck to prevent him from performing in eight more during the ensuing 54.

Rachel Ostler - Juno

This is Rachel’s 2nd play with Pier One theater and she is excited to continue her journey as she gets to know and play more characters. When she is not being a goddess, you can find her teaching the 1st graders at Chapman Elementary in Anchor Point. Go Eagles!

Isolde Panarelli - a nymph & islander

Iso's first production was this summer, Anne of Green Gables, and after that she totally fell in love with theater. She is a bookworm who loves Halloween. She's thrilled to be a part of the Tempest.

Adele Person - Ariel

I was born in the south of Argentina in a place where shearing winds scour dry deserts, but grew up in Houston, Texas and Buenos Aires where storms come as deluges of rain. Whether of wind or rain, or the snow and waves we have here in Homer and on Kachemak Bay, a good storm disrupts an ordinary day. Theatre does the same. We get up on stage and pretend to be something we are not. It’s extraordinary, and as exhilarating as any weather.

Deb Rowzee - Trinculo

Deb first came across The Tempest by falling in love with a painting called Miranda by John William Waterhouse. She would like the audience to know that a "butt of sack" is about 600 bottles of sherry. She thanks her friends in the Adult Day Program of Homer Senior Citizens, Inc. for embracing her brand of wacky every day. She recommends taskmaster Richie Rowzee to anyone that needs help memorizing lines.

Kyle Schneider - Sebastian

As anyone who has stood at the window or on their porch to watch the process of a storm can tell you, some people find serenity in such weather. This serenity is turned on it’s head when you are within that storm, especially when it is unclear the direction or duration that will be endured. Still, we all know the feeling of the immense calm that can follow these events. Here today we invite you to witness both the chaos without and within, and the process by which we all exist in this life whilst coming to terms with the next, in ways both natural and supernatural.

Michael Selle - Caliban

Michael delivered pizza in the Great Halloween Blizzard in '91, so it makes perfect sense that he's playing Caliban in this tempest. He thanks Pier One, Mud Bay Bards, and Maynard for letting him be the monster your mother warned you about.

Val Sheppard - Boatswain

In 2003 Val was still in high school and was part of the Cross Country Running team. She and her other teammates had a meet in Kodiak that year and took the Tustumena from Homer all the way to the island and back. The seas were quite stormy for both legs of that journey and at one point she stepped outside briefly to experience the powerful winds and heavy rains, if only for a moment. She recalls feeling quite overwhelmed and also rather terrified in that moment that the sea itself might reach up and swallow her whole for daring to venture outside of the safety of the forward lounge.

It’s entirely possible that she would be the first one in the water screaming about hell being empty if she were stuck on the same vessel that was fated to run aground on Prospero’s isle, but that’s why she’s playing the Bo’s’n on stage instead of in real life. She’s very excited to be returning to the rich and diverse world of Shakespeare with such a lovely cast and crew, and hopes you enjoy the show!

Evan Spencer - a mariner, nymph, & islander

Born in Valdez, Evan Spencer will be playing several rolls. He will be playing a Mariner, a shape, a Nymph, and Prospero’s hounds. He currently attends Chapman Elementary School. He enjoys cooking and playing soccer. He is the son of Rob Johnson (King Alonso). As a baby, he visited Milan and the Mediterranean coast with his family.

Robanne Stading - a mariner

Robanne Stading joins the Mud Bay Bards in her third production with Pier One Theatre, finding the autumn stage a safe harbor from the tempest of teaching. A literary nerd in her teen years, summer weekends meant outdoor Shakespeare productions under warm, starry skies. She now enjoys volunteering for Pier One during the summer season at her favorite venue, the Pratt Museum Park – though no stars blink in Alaskan evenings. Like Prospero, she (mostly) dotes upon her three kids, and like so many others who weather life's maelstroms, she knows "what is past is prologue" as one navigates through a "brave, new world."

Cathy Stingley - a mariner & reaper

Ere the tempest blows and carries us out to sea,

Hail thee audience adored and hear our earnest plea.

Lend this night your ear, as the players ply their trade,

For without your seats adorned, their efforts naught be made.

Then hail these hearty fellows for their labors tried and great,

And they shall come to fill again their drama upon your plate.

- Sheikh Spear the Second

Steve Zimmerman - a mariner

Steve Zimmerman is a long time Pier One occasional player. Sometimes on the boat sometimes off the boat.