Shakespeare returns to stage with MET’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Release Date: 4/17/2008. Expired: 5/23/2008
Shakespeare returns to the stage of The Renaissance Center when the Mind Enriching Theatre series presents A Midsummer Night’s Dream as one of its field trip offerings this spring.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream will be available for field trip performances Tuesdays-Fridays, April 15-May 23. It is recommended for middle and high school students and adults. Field trip performances are available for $4 per student for groups of 25 or more. Groups smaller than 25 can join an already scheduled performance and individual tickets are available to the public as long as the theater is not full.
Believed to have been written in the 1590s, A Midsummer Night’s Dream is one of Shakespeare’s most popular plays. It is often seen as a romantic comedy reworking of the tragic Romeo and Juliet, which Shakespeare is believed to have been working on at the same time.
The play is a story of children rebelling against parents, love both realized and unrequited with fairies, magical spells and a variety of characters added to the mix to show how wonderful and silly love can be.
“The course of true love never did run smooth,” the Bard writes.
Lysander and Hermia are in love. But Hermia’s father prefers she marry Demetrius, who used to love Helena but now loves Hermia. Helena loves Demetrius and chases him into the woods when he pursues Lysander and Hermia who have decided to elope. Throw in interlocking plots that involve the wedding of Duke Theseus of Athens to Amazonian Queen Hippolyta and an inept group of amateur actors and mayhem and comedy ensue.
The MET series has not offered a Shakespeare piece since its 2003 production of Romeo and Juliet -- unless you count presenting ALL of his plays in one show with 2005’s The Compleat Wrks of Wllm Shkspr (abridged). The MET series previously presented A Midsummer Night’s Dream in 2001 and also has performed Shakespeare’s MacBeth, Twelfth Night, As You Like It and Richard III since The Renaissance Center opened in 1999.
“It’s been a few years since we brought Shakespeare to the stage and we couldn’t think of a better way to revive that tradition than with perhaps his most popular romantic comedy,” said Amy Scott, assistant artistic director for The Renaissance Center. “A Midsummer Night’s Dream is one of Shakespeare’s plays that today remains very relatable for middle and high school students.”
A Midsummer Night’s Dream has been produced on Broadway 11 separate times in the last 180 years. Stage versions have featured Sir Ben Kingsley (Oscar winner for Gandhi), Patrick Stewart (Professor Xavier in the X-Men series) and Patrick MacNee (from the 1960s series The Avengers). A 1999 movie version featured Kevin Kline (currently appearing in Definitely, Maybe), Michelle Pfeiffer (Stardust), Calista Flockhart (Brothers and Sisters, Ally McBeal), Christian Bale (The Dark Knight, 3:10 to Yuma), David Strathairn (The Spiderwick Chronicles, The Bourne Ultimatum), Stanley Tucci (What Just Happened) and Rupert Everett (Stardust).
The MET series production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream is directed by Tracy Nichols, a full-time faculty member at Austin Peay State University’s Communication and Theatre Department where she teaches theatre and public speaking. She earned a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Arts from APSU.
For more information on field trip opportunities or to schedule a performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, contact Laura Jackson at (615) 740-5533 or laura.jackson@rcenter.org. To find out about scheduled performances or purchase tickets, call (615) 740-5601.
The Renaissance Center is a fine arts education and performing arts center at 855 Highway 46 South in Dickson, just 35 miles west of Nashville on Interstate 40 at exit 172.
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