Southern Shakespeare Company’s 2026 Shakespeare in the Park Festival production of “The Tempest” arrives buoyed by a reputation for both artistic excellence and enthusiastic audiences — and at its center will be an actor whose career has spanned cult classics, network television, and prestige drama.
When William Ragsdale steps onto the stage at Cascades Park this February as Prospero, Tallahassee theatergoers will see a performer whose work has connected powerfully with viewers across generations.
The acclaimed film, television, and stage actor will star in the mainstage production of the festival, taking place Feb. 19-22, at Adderley Amphitheater in Cascades Park.
Best known for his breakout role as Charley Brewster in the “Fright Night films” and as the title character in Fox’s hit comedy Herman’s Head, Ragsdale also brought quiet authority to the critically acclaimed FX drama “Justified.”
Over nearly four decades, he has built a reputation as an actor of both charm and depth, continuing to captivate audiences through a wide range of roles.
Now, he brings that breadth of experience to one of Shakespeare’s most complicated creations: Prospero, the wronged duke whose mastery of magic, memory, and forgiveness shapes the world of “The Tempest.”
The 2026 Festival marks a new chapter for Southern Shakespeare Company, with performances now moved to February. “The Tempest” will be performed alongside “The Winter’s Tale,” presented by SSC’s student troupe, The Bardlings, in a weekend-long celebration of free, outdoor Shakespeare.
Southern Shakespeare Company has a long tradition of inviting notable performers lead its Festival productions, pairing accomplished artists with a passionate local ensemble. The goal is not simply recognition, but resonance — and in Ragsdale, the company has found an actor whose instincts and sensibilities seem uniquely suited to Prospero.
“For me, the excitement is in exploring Prospero’s many layers,” Ragsdale said. “Who wouldn’t love to have their own island and be able to use magic as a tool to rule upon it? But Prospero, while a magician, is also quite mortal. He’s thinking about what’s next for himself and especially for his beloved daughter. He carries a powerful sense of longing and regret concerning his break with his brother and the world he left behind.” He adds, “I think he’s looking to make amends and see that his daughter is given her greatest opportunity to have a full, rich life.”
In addition to his best-known roles, he has appeared in Judging Amy, Ellen, Grosse Pointe, Mannequin Two, Left Behind, and in a wide range of stage work that often returns him to his first artistic love: classical theater.
“I’ve always had such a love of Shakespeare and his ability to distill so much of our universal human essence with his words,” Ragsdale said. “Prospero is a wide-open character. It’s not always clear what his motives are, and at times his methods seem at odds with his ends. Maybe he’s not even sure of them himself. He has what many would fantasize to be a perfect life — seclusion on a tropical island, books to read, servants to attend him — yet he longs to return to his former life. I feel like we’re all torn between our desire for our optimal inner private life and our calling toward our outer societal one.”
“The Tempest” is often read as Shakespeare’s own farewell to the stage — a meditation on legacy, mastery, and letting go. Ragsdale connects with those themes, but he sees them as part of a much broader pattern in Shakespeare’s writing.
“Letting go — uncertain as it often feels — is a key component of how we get from one place to another,” he says. “Shakespeare understood that the journey is what makes us who we are.”
Performing the play outdoors adds a layer of magic that feels especially appropriate for a story filled with spirits, storms, and shifting realities. For Ragsdale, it’s also a return to his roots.
“I can’t WAIT,” Ragsdale said. His first professional acting job, at age 15, was in an outdoor drama in Louisiana. “Outdoors under a dark sky, around the fire, is literally where our species’ great stories and myths all began. It feels primal in a wonderful way.”
That primal sense of story is part of why Southern Shakespeare’s Festival has become a beloved community event, drawing thousands each year to watch a centuries-old play come alive in the open air. Ragsdale hopes audiences will feel what audiences felt in Shakespeare’s own time.
“In this play, we have our greatest playwright dappling the stage with spiritual beings, monsters, great storms, lost mariners, new-found loves, and magical devices for the sheer pleasure of it,” he says. “I hope audiences will be transported and give over to that wonder that the Globe Theatre audiences must have felt under the same stars 500 years ago.”
James Alexander Bond is the Artistic Director of Southern Shakespeare Company.
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