Calibanana

A Tempest Teapot

by Barry Kornhauser

Galumphing out of the pages of Shakespeare's The Tempest comes poor Caliban. His childhood cursed by nature and by nurture, nobody on the Bard's enchanted isle can find a kind word for him. But this "monster" has a dignity all his own, his nightmarish life haunted by dreams of beauty. In Calibanana everything Shakespeare wrote goes bananas as Caliban, fiddling with the magic so central to The Tempest, escapes the confines of the text. Yet underlying all the tomfoolery is the serious notion that the real magic of the world rests within ourselves. As Caliban reminds us, it is there that we may find the power to transcend our circumstances. 

Regular price $12.00
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Quick Details

  • Type: Play
  • Length: 45-60 minutes | Can be cut for competition
  • Availability: Available for productions worldwide
  • Cast Size: 8 Roles | Can be doubled for a cast of 4

Full Details

Can be doubled for a cast of 4

Roles:

  • Caliban
  • Ariel
  • Prospero
  • Stephano
  • Shakespeare
  • Sycorax
  • Miranda
  • Trinculo

The following resources are included in each performance license:
  • Permission to photocopy the PDF script for your production so there is no additional cost for these assets.

The following resources may be added to you license for an additional fee:
  • Logo/Media package

Barry Kornhauser

Barry Kornhauser's theatre honors include the Children's Theatre Foundation of America's Orlin Corey Medallion, the American Alliance for Theatre & Education (AATE) Charlotte Chorpenning Cup, Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Play (Cyrano), Ivey Playwriting Award (Reeling), Bonderman Playwriting Prize (Worlds Apart), South Africa National Theatre Festival’s Fringe Ovation Award (Balloonacy), and three AATE Distinguished Play Awards (- This Is Not A Pipe DreamBalloonacy, Corduroy). Closer to home, Barry was named Artist of the Year at the 2017 Pennsylvania Governor's Awards, and his youth theatre program for teens living with disabilities and other life challenges was honored at the White House as one of the nation's top arts-education initiatives. Barry's plays have been commissioned and produced by such Tony Award-winning stages as the Children's Theatre Company, La Jolla Playhouse, Alliance Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Denver Center Theatre Company, and the Shakespeare Theatre, as well as the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Other venues include Childsplay, Children's Theatre of Charlotte, Dallas Children's Theatre, Discovery Theatre at the Smithsonian, Emerald City, Honolulu Theatre for Youth, the Rose, and Seattle Children's Theatre; festivals from New York to California -including New Visions/New Voices (Power Play); and internationally as far afield as Australia and Myanmar, and including at the National Children’s Theatre of South Africa. Over the years, Barry has conducted theatre residencies everywhere from a one-room Amish schoolhouse to universities across the county. He has received grants and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, TYA/USA, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, MetLife Foundation, Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, and Pennsylvania Performing Arts on Tour. Currently, Barry works for the Millersville University Office of Visual & Performing Arts. Prior to this, he served over 30 years as Playwright-In-Residence, TYA Director, and sundry other positions at the National Historic Landmark Fulton Theatre.

Commissioned and First Produced by Fulton Theatre

Reviews

Now Shakespeare is about as popular with most schoolchildren as spinach is in most school lunches. But Kornhauser has taken the Bard’s 1611-vintage comedy and dressed it up in a tasty casserole of sugary affection and spicy confrontation, with layers of bananas in every scene... Kornhauser has brought Caliban to full-bodied life as a creature with feelings remarkably similar to feelings any child might have today... Never takes a misstep, despite a stageful of banana peels... Dazzling!

- New Era

Once again, Kornhauser has created a lively, fun and touching play that kids will love and adults will appreciate.

- Intelligencer Journal