What a smart idea: the North Coast Rep joined with MiraCosta College to stage Shakespeare's late comedy. Not only do equity actors work with students, NCRT's small theater doesn't have the resources for a full production of the Bard. MiraCosta does, as shown in scene one, where sound designer Chris Luessman's booming thunder makes one reach for an umbrella. Although the results are mixed, the benefits suggest the collaboration should become an annual tradition! Take away the mystical island stuff, and The Tempest is a revenger's dream come true. The storm plops all of Prospero's enemies onto his island. If he wanted, he could murder at his leisure. Instead, he opts for the "rarer action": virtue. He will harm no one. Given the degree of his pain, it's an extraordinary choice. Although he went up on a few opening night lines, Jonathan McMurtry hit the core of Prospero's conflicts. Ryan Kidd (Ferdinand), Amimee Burdette (Miranda), Christopher M. Williams (an agile Ariel), and Jason Maddy (Trinculo), John Herzog (Stephano) turned in useful efforts under David Ellenstein's capable direction. Dreadlocked, hunched down on all fours in subservience, both loose cannon and natural poet, Richard Baird does the best Caliban I've ever seen.