INTERVIEW: Howard W. Overshown shifts the focus in Hudson Valley’s ‘Tempest’
Photo: The Tempest is currently playing at the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival. Photo courtesy of HVSF / Provided by official site.
The Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival is currently presenting one of the most beloved shows by William Shakespeare. The Tempest follows the travails of the exiled Prospero, in this production played by Howard W. Overshown, and how he lures his enemies to an enchanted island.
The spectacle of seeing this Ryan Quinn-directed play can be appreciated when walking from the parking lot to the theater, which is located on the banks of the Hudson River, across from West Point, New York. The tent looms high, and the nearby lawn is expansive, affording wide views of the lush countryside and the churning river below. It should come as no surprise that Quinn, Overshown and the company of actors utilize these unique environs for full effect when telling the Bard’s tale.
For Overshown, who is an alum of both Broadway and off-Broadway, the experience of playing this role in the Hudson Valley has as much to do with his colleagues on stage as it does with the surroundings.
“It’s a pretty special cast,” Overshown said in a recent phone interview. “It’s my first time working with Hudson Valley Shakespeare. I had worked with Nance Williamson … at the Shakespeare Theatre in Washington, D.C., back in 1996, so I’ve known her for a long time. But I had never seen a show at the theater, so to come and be the newbie, it was pretty incredible. It’s just a great company of actors and artists.”
The actor said he did not come to the well-respected theatrical company with any nervousness. After all, the cast and crew are professionals and welcoming; any hesitation he might have held had to do with his desire to honor the process and learn the HVSF way.
“On the first day of rehearsal, we came up with company agreements, sort of like philosophies for the run of the show, and one of them is process over product, which is very good for me to hear,” he said. “I agree with that philosophy, which is basically I like working with good teammates as opposed to someone who is full of talent but not a good teammate. … I wanted to come in and make sure I honor the wonderful work environment that they have. It’s not always like that. … This group is very collaborative. There’s mutual respect for every individual, and that’s just really rare.”
It also helped that Overshown and Quinn are actually neighbors in real life. This fact only emerged after Overshown signed up for the production. They met up a few times before rehearsals began and dissected the play and the role of Prospero.
“I’ve been in two productions of The Tempest,” Overshown said. “I played Sebastian, and I’ve played Ferdinand when I was a young man. And in those productions, the Prosperos were wonderful, but it was all about Prospero. Whereas for Ryan and I, the general thing we had a strong feeling about is it’s all about my daughter [Miranda]. … As opposed to it being about getting my dukedom, it’s really about just getting my daughter, who has become a woman, getting her set up.”
Only until he is at peace with his daughter can Prospero seek repentance for his sins. This journey that Overshown and his character take over the course of two-and-a-half hours features unique directorial choices, acting choices and choreography to help build the narrative and progress the plot. Quinn had a vision for many aspects of the production, and, according to Overshown, he also discovered quite a lot about the play throughout the collaborative process of rehearsals.
“I saw eye to eye with Ryan pretty much on everything,” Overshown said. “He’s a great director. Prospero has a lot of language, especially in Act V after he’s decided to forgive everyone. That can make it seem like everything is settled, and Ryan was very big on not having things settled until the very, very end. It was nice to have him sometimes [because] as an actor you don’t see that. ‘It feels settled to me,’ sometimes I was telling him. He’s like, ‘No, but there’s this and this.’ That was really wonderful. Ryan, he’s an incredible director. He’s an actor as well. He really, really knows how to communicate with other artists.”
Overshown’s experience at the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival has been a positive one, and audiences can see him as Prospero through Sept. 4 (streaming the production is also an option). This may be the start of a great relationship between the actor and the theater company.
“The fact that it’s so community-oriented is pretty wonderful,” he said of HVSF. “It feels grounded and earthy. … It makes it more comfortable, even though we’re sweating profusely in the heat. It’s really wonderful. I told someone this is the toughest company I’ve ever worked with because the elements are no joke. It’s hard, especially under the lights. We’re hydrating backstage. We’ve got Gatorade. We’ve got water. We’ve got tons of stuff, as opposed to working in an air-conditioned theater with lots of fly space and props and all these things. I love this environment. … Pre-show is when I really enjoy looking out over the river. That kind of settles me right before my first entrance.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
The Tempest, featuring Howard W. Overshown, is now playing at the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival. Click here for more information and tickets.
