Department of Drama students traveled to Mexico to produce “The Tempest,” a Shakespearian play, as part of a collaboration with CENTRO University.
Led by Associate Professor Katherine McGerr, the collaboration gave Syracuse students a look at how theater is made in other countries. It also presented an opportunity for performers to work closely with designers.
During the Fall 2024 semester, students in Selected Topics (DRA300) worked on “The Tempest” in coordination with CENTRO scene design students. The class culminated in a trip to Mexico City.
The actors included Magdaliz Rivera ’25, Micaiah John ’25, Anthony Tibolla ’25, Sarah Cummings ’25 and Emma Waterhouse ’25, all acting majors. Theater management major Wesley Tipton ’24 served as dramaturg, and theater management major Maya Zepeda ’25 was stage manager. Theater design and technology major Mabel McPhee ’24 designed the costumes.
McGerr, who directed the play, met routinely with CENTRO students via Zoom, sharing ideas prior to meeting in person.
“The Tempest” follows Prospero, the exiled Duke of Milan, who has taken over a remote island. He lures his usurpers to the island for an elaborate revenge scheme, which he ultimately abandons in favor of forgiveness.
Syracuse students discussed the play at length in class, exploring topics like land ownership and revenge, determining how closely the play’s world would mirror today’s.
“There’s one version of that story that really leans into some very discriminatory tropes regarding the behavior of the island inhabitants towards Prospero and his daughter Miranda,” McGerr says. “We had to talk as a group very frankly about what we wanted to do with that. The students felt very strongly that we had to hold both truths, giving validity to characters’ anger towards their oppressors without excusing misogyny.”
CENTRO students incorporated Tyvek, a plastic substance, into the design to make the setting colorful and contemporary.
When making theater in the U.S., many design elements are set prior to the actors’ arrival, McGerr notes. This is not always the case in other counties as Syracuse students discovered. Students adapted to the design as it came to life in front of their eyes in Mexico.
“It was such an interesting experience rehearsing while the set was still being built around us,” actor Anthony Tibolla ’25 says. “Having the set be unfinished allowed the rehearsal process on set to be less explorative and more influential. It made our ties to the world we were in stronger because we saw it at every step of the way.”
McGerr hopes to do a similar collaboration in the future and is exploring funding avenues. The recent trip was funded by a VPA Faculty Research and Creative Grant, the Department of Drama, CENTRO University for Design and VPA Student Grants.
“I’m proud that we could make it happen. There’s just been such a great deal of flexibility and trust that we’d make it work,” says McGerr. “I hope that more of our students will have the opportunity in their training to expose themselves to the way theater is made and the way we train theater makers in other cultures.”