Announcing the Cast of The Tempest

“I’m excited by this cast because it is truly a diverse group of imaginative artists that value language and poetry,” said Cameron Knight as he prepares to direct The Tempest this season at the Utah Shakespeare Festival. “I believe this will allow us to really unpack the questions in this play that pull on our humanity.” This group of actors includes actors with years of experience, including past work at the Festival, as well as actors whose faces will be new to Festival audiences.

The actors are:

Jasmine Bracey is returning to the Festival this year to take on the magical Duchess Prospero in The Tempest. In 2021, she played to great acclaim at the Festival as Belarius in Cymbeline and Mrs. Dickson in Intimate Apparel. She has also worked at numerous other theatres, including Asolo Repertory Theatre, Goodman Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, American Blues Theater, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Alley Theatre, Guthrie Theater, Resident Ensemble Players, The Acting Company, Ten Thousand Things, Chicago Dramatists, and Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival. She has also appeared in the television series New Amsterdam and Chicago P.D. and has performed voiceover work. She is a member of Actors’ Equity Association and SAG-AFTRA.

Freedom Martin is making his debut at the Festival this season, playing the roles of Ferdinand in The Tempest and Edgar in King Lear. Trained at the Juilliard School, the British American Drama Academy, National Youngarts Foundation, and the Chicago High School for the Arts, he has extensive regional theatre experience. He has worked at Definition Theatre, TimeLine Theatre, the Artistic Home, Haven Theatre, and others, as well as at such academic venues as the Juilliard School, Chicago Youth Shakespeare, and Fury Theatre. He also appeared in the film Giving Voice.

Sophia K. Metcalf is also debuting at the Festival this season in the roles of the ethereal Ariel in The Tempest and Citizen and Musician in All’s Well That Ends Well. Work at other theatres includes Guilty Party at Cosmic Cherry Arts Festival and Twelfth Night with The Acting Company (both in New York City), Twelfth Night with the Irvington Shakespeare Festival, Gilgamesh with Counterbalance Theatre Company, and The Penelopiad, Human Error, Book of Will, and Macbeth at the University of California–Irvine. Metcalf also appeared in the Netflix film I Am No Longer Here.

Aidan O’Reilly is returning for his second year at the Festival to play Caliban in The Tempest and the Fool in King Lear. In the 2021 season, he played Cerimon in Pericles, Richard in Richard III, and Angelo in The Comedy of Errors. Other theatres he has worked at include Prague Shakespeare Company, Marin Shakespeare Company, American Shakespeare Center, City Lights Theatre Company, Renegade Players, Avalon Players, Sonoma Valley Shakespeare Company, Arkansas Repertory Theatre, and Studio Theatre of Little Rock. A graduate with honors from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, O’Reilly is a member of Actors’ Equity Association.

Amara Webb returns to the Festival after appearing as Sister in The Pirates of Penzance and Ensemble in Ragtime in 2021. This year in The Tempest she will perform the role of Miranda; and in All’s Well That Ends Well, Diana. She has played numerous roles at other theatres, including Henriette in The Learned Ladies and Sarah Chandler in The Living, both at Sargent Conservatory at Webster University.

Other members of the cast include: