Director's Note

A Midsummer Night's Dream is an exciting story of escaping reality with magic, comedy, and wonder. Two couples run away from the strict laws in pursuit of love. They soon enter into a world of wonder when they encounter mischievous fairies and have some pretty epic "fights". Meanwhile, a group of actors rehearse and perform a funny, albeit terrible, play about love. In this story, chaos, hilarity, and conflict reign supreme.

In High School (especially in a somewhat Post-Covid time), our students fully understand what it feels like to have your identity and relationships shift in front of your eyes, and sometimes without cause or warning. Midsummer was the perfect choice to escape reality while also reflecting the world around them. Despite the challenges this "new normal" time brings, inspiration can be found all around us. The concept behind our production of Midsummer came to me while hearing students singing various *NSYNC/Backstreet Boys songs - which I hadn't heard in decades. Immediately struck with nostalgia, I decided to dust off my old CD's (I know, right?!) and take a trip down memory lane. As I listened to these songs again, I really made a connection that most, if not all, dealt with the complications of love. Thus, our "Boy Band meets Shakespeare" play was born! This concept was enough to entice our hesitant actors to dive right in and realize that Shakespeare can be fun, despite the hours of text analysis and "homework" required to perform. We have faith that our concept aligned with the brilliant words of Shakespeare will allow you to sit back and escape into a world of nostalgia and magic ... and possibly dance or sing along if you feel so inclined!

Finally, I would be remiss to write a director's note without acknowledging how blessed I am to be surrounded by a group of teachers and staff who have helped me create this wonderful opportunity for our students. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart. It takes a village, and mine came out of and back into the woods to make this vision as magical as it has been.

"Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind, and therefore is winged Cupid painted blind." ~Helena. Act 1, Scene 1

Enjoy the show!
~Brett Harwood, Director

Plot Summary

At the beginning of the play, Theseus, the Duke of Athens, prepares for his marriage to Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons. He is interrupted by Egeus, who asks for the Duke to intervene in a dispute: his daughter, Hermia, will not agree to marry Demetrius (whom Egeus has chosen for her) because she is in love with Lysander. Theseus offers her one of two options: she must either die or accept life as a nun. Lysander and Hermia plan to run away to the woods and elope. They share their secret with Helena, Hermia's friend, who is desperately in love with Demetrius. At night, Lysander and Hermia escape from Athens; but they soon lose their way in the woods. After Helena tells Demetrius of their intention to defy the law, Demetrius decides to follow the lovers into the woods. In turn, Helena follows Demetrius in the hope that he will give up on Hermia and choose her instead. Meanwhile, a group of workers is preparing a play to present before Theseus and Hippolyta on their wedding day. 

Nearby, Oberon - King of the Fairies—is fighting with his queen, Titania. She refuses to hand over a boy to Oberon to use as a page. Oberon plots a way to get revenge on Titania and sends his fairy servant, Puck, to fetch a purple flower with juice that makes people fall in love with the next creature they see. Afterward, Oberon overhears Demetrius mistreating Helena and tells Puck to anoint 'the Athenian', so Demetrius will fall in love with the first person that he sees. Puck mistakes the Athenian and puts the flower juice on the eyes of the sleeping Lysander. When he is woken by Helena, he immediately falls in love with her and rejects Hermia. When Demetrius rests, Oberon puts magic juice on his eyes, which makes him fall in love with Helena as well. 

The workers' rehearsals in the woods are overheard by Puck, who plays a trick on them by giving Bottom a donkey's head. After frightening the others away, Bottom is lured toward the sleeping Titania. On waking, the fairy queen falls in love with the donkey and entertains him with her fairies. Meanwhile, Demetrius and Lysander, still under the spell of the flower juice, pursue Helena. Hermia is jealous and confused about the lack of attention paid to her. Oberon and Puck watch the chaos, and Oberon commands Puck to fix this problem. The couples' arguments have tired them all out as they have chased one another through the woods. Puck eventually distracts the two men from their pursuit of Helena by impersonating their voices and they get lost in the woods. The couples fall asleep, exhausted. Puck places restorative juice on Lysander's eyes.

After an afternoon of being pampered by Titania's fairies, Bottom falls asleep beside her. Oberon restores Titania's sight and wakes her. After expressing her dismay at the sight of Bottom, she reconciles with Oberon. Bottom's donkey head is removed and he returns to the city to rejoin his friends as they prepare to perform their play. The couples are woken by Theseus and Hippolyta. Lysander falls back in love with Hermia and Demetrius realizes that he does, in fact, love Helena. 

Happily reunited the couples agree to share the Duke's wedding day. The very bad play, Pyramus and Thisbe, is presented before the wedding guests. Puck ends the story by asking the audience to clap if they enjoyed the show and if they didn't, pretend it was all a dream.