The first time I applied to grad school, I was preparing to direct this play. The parallels between Prospero's plan to get off the island and my own plans to move from teaching high school theatre to grad school and, eventually, a more professional directing career, were very powerful for me. My concept for the production was one question: "What is your desert island?" I used this concept to encourage my designers and actors to approach this production with their own life experiences, directly influencing design and performance choices. The most poignant example of this was at the end of the play (which was our last for the school year) when we had all the seniors involved in the production come out onto the stage during the curtain call to take their final bow as they say farewell to high school, the island they had been on for the past four years.
