Tempest Productions

08/28/2026

Open House Time for Kids aged 5 & under AND their families!
Saturday mornings, 10:45-11:15am. August 29 & Sept 12.
Free - space is limited. Sign-in 10:30-10:45am!

We've got ribbons, scarves, kazoos, drums, books, and so much more. Come check out Tempest Studios, the big little theatre on the alley, 140 Kelly Alley, ground level of the Fraser Street Garage. Free Parking too!

www.tempestproductions.org

08/25/2026

31 Seasons Wow bringing Creativity and Joy

The number 3 brings us joy and the energy of growth and self-expression while the number 1 represents new beginnings - all at our big little theatre on the alley!

Join us for Bad Books, Deep Into That Darkness, Glengarry Glenn Ross, Love Letters, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, and Winnie the Pooj (and that's just the start)

at Tempest Studios
the big little theatre on the alley
140 Kelly Alley, Downtown State College

www.tempestproductions.org

08/25/2026

Auditions! Tempest has several projects in the work and we're looking for performers! From our Theatre for Young Audiences programming to our Reading Series and Play Festivals, there are several roles open.

Saturday & Sunday (only need to attend one)
Noon-1:30pm.Be prepared to move about.

What's on deck? Wind in the Willows, Winnie the Pooh, Chamber Music, Banned Book Reading Series, One Act Festival, New Play Festival, Shakespeare Festival - there's lots going on!

Tempest Studios
the big little theatre on the alley!
140 Kelley Alley

08/20/2026

Our 31st Journey Begins as part of a collective examining Identity and the power of art. Join us at 3 dots for this powerful presentation and come make an Identity Mask with us. Thursday, Aug 20, 5-8pm.

www.tempestproductions.org

08/17/2026

Happy Birthday to the late great Mae West! Born on this day in 1893. Interesting fact about her - She wrote and starred in a play entitled "S*x" in 1926, which landed her in jail for 10 days. Do you have a favorite Mae West quote? Mine is: "You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough."

08/15/2026

I am an actor partially because I love storytelling. I love what he says here - it is about taking on another’s thoughts, another’s point of view that may be very different than mine, and living there for a bit.

08/14/2026

August 14 is Navajo Code Talkers Day. Two Code Talkers are still alive today, Peter MacDonald Sr. and Thomas Begay.

GREY: Enemy Slayer: A Navajo Oratorio

My brother and I fought together
Warriors for our nation
Warriors for the future
We signed away our lives
with gratitude, with honor, with love

To honor the day, listen and read works by Laura Tohe, poet, writer, and librettist. Tohe wrote the commissioned libretto for Enemy Slayer: A Navajo Oratorio for the Phoenix Symphony's world premiere in February 2008 and is a soundtrack recording on the Naxos classical music label. Code Talker Stories (2012), an oral history of the Navajo Code Talkers.

GREY: Enemy Slayer: A Navajo Oratorio

My brother and I fought together
Warriors for our nation
Warriors for the future
We signed away our lives
with gratitude, with honor, with love

In our hands we held the power of the sun
to seek and slay the enemy
Rapid explosions rained in the streets
The sky filled with flames and smoke
Turquoise was our shield

From across the big water
I returned lightly as if traveling on a rainbow
Red earth below my feet now
I am part abalone shell

Brother, I miss you tonight
In my mind I see the mound of earth
and the plastic flowers baked by the sun that cover you now
Black jet, black jet, black jet

https://www.lauratohe.com/libretto

There's also this beautiful piece by Connor Chee
https://www.yourclassical.org/story/2022/11/17/connor-chee-unbroken

As part of The Phoenix Symphony's 60th Anniversary Season, the orchestra commissioned a work to celebrate the vibrant musical and cultural heritage of Arizona. The world premiere performance of Enemy Slayer: A Navajo Oratorio occurred in February 2008. The oratorio depicts the journey of Seeker ...

08/14/2026

Today in theatre history: It is the anniversary of the birth of Robert Hubber Thorne Burnside (August 13, 1873 – September 14, 1952) He was an American actor, director, producer, composer, and playwright, as well as artistic director of the New York Hippodrome from 1908 to 1923. He wrote and staged hundreds of dramas, musicals and theatrical spectacles. Two fun facts from his childhood:

- His first stage appearance was as a dog in “The Bohemian Girl” in a royal command performance, starring Edward O'Connor Terry, before the Prince of Wales, later King Edward.
- He took a brief break from attending school in Great Yarmouth to join a wagon circus at age six but returned to school when the venture proved unsuccessful.

08/11/2026

Happy Birthday David Henry Hwang, playwright, storyteller, librettist, screenwriter, Tony Award Winner, 3-time Pulitzer Prize Finalist and the list goes on.

For the stage he has written M. Butterfly, Yellow Face, and FOB, as well as the musicals Aida, Flower Drum Song, and Disney’s Tarzan. Called America’s most-produced living opera librettist, he has written thirteen libretti with composers such as Philip Glass, Osvaldo Golijov, and Huang Ruo. Catch these interviews with David Henry Hwang on The Center for Fiction and on PBS with Our Friends at Roundabout.

You can also catch film of Yellow Face on Great Performances.

https://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/blog/from-our-friends-at-roundabout-david-henry-hwang-interview/

https://centerforfiction.org/videos/story-teller-arts-david-henry-hwang-on-yellow-face-with-james-ijames/