The lights flicker rapidly and a wave of movement descends upon the stage. People and colors swirl together amid the sound of crashing waves. Then almost as soon as it appeared, the frenzy fades. The ship has been wrecked on an island.

The school theater department hosted a summer program in which students from Blue Valley schools auditioned for, rehearsed and performed Shakespeare’s play “The Tempest”. This was the first year the program was held at Southwest.

The play begins with a ship carrying Alonso, the king of Naples, being wrecked on an island by a tempest, or storm. The island is uninhabited except for Prospero, a wizard, his daughter, Miranda, and their slave, Caliban. Prospero controls the spirit, Ariel, who he had rescued from imprisonment and uses to control or influence people. Prospero was dethroned many years ago by Alonso and wants revenge.

Prospero eventually confronts the king and his comrades. He casts a spell and freezes everyone, receiving a chance to kill them and carry out his revenge. Instead, he forgives them for their wrongs.

Theater director Dan Schmidt remembers participating in summer theater programs during college. He wanted to let the students have a similar experience.

“The Tempest” was a good choice for the program because of the large flexible cast size. For example, the spirit Ariel was originally one character but was expanded to six roles.

“[This play] has a fantastical setting — it is on an island, has magicians and is funny,” Schmidt said. “‘The Tempest” is a perfect summer show.”

The students auditioned for the play in July using a monologue they memorized from a selection given to them by Schmidt. They then presented to him and were cast. The rehearsals occurred four days a week for two and a half weeks.

Sophomore Bailey Cockerham has been involved in theater since the fourth grade. She was encouraged by Schmidt to try out for the summer program and was cast as part of the spirit Ariel.

“A lot of people are intimidated by Shakespeare because they’re worried they won’t understand it or it’ll be boring,” Cockerham said. “People normally learn about Shakespearean texts in English class, [which] I think takes away from the actual performance — I think reading the script doesn’t do it justice. The way Schmidt directs and the way the people in the theatre department perform Shakespeare, they make it very easy to understand, and they make it fun.”

The beginning acting class at Southwest studies Shakespeare, so Cockerham didn’t have as much difficulty with the dialect. Instead, the most challenging thing for her was the choreography.

“There are about three actual dancers and one of them did all of the choreographing [for the show],” Cockerham said. “She did an amazing job of choreographing for five people who did not know how to dance.”

Junior Adnan Islam played Alonso, the king of Naples, in the play. He enjoys theater, and chose to participate in the summer program so he could have more time for other activities during the school year.

Islam spent time at home working out how he portrayed his character. This aids in getting the meaning of the words across. Islam said people may be turned off by Shakespeare because it was written so long ago.

“[Schmidt] emphasizes great acting so the audience can understand it, despite the difficult language,” Islam said.

His favorite part of the summer program was joking and having fun offstage.

“A lot of people are hesitant to join theater and other groups because they are afraid of what others will think of them,” Islam said. “If you think you have an interest in something, try it. If you don’t go into it as a career, you may make some of your best friends and best memories.”

Schmidt says he plans to continue with the summer program. The play took a lot of work and effort to put together with a shorter season than usual, but this year was very enjoyable and he had a great time.

“It’s tough, but also very fun. It’s why I do it,” Schmidt said. “I love it.”