SHHS drama students to stage ‘Midsummer Night’s Dream

The Sweet Home High School Theatre Department will present Midsummer Night’s Dream, a Shakespearean Comedy, on Jan. 27 at 7 p.m. and Jan. 28 at 2 and 7 p.m. at the high school auditorium. The play is preceded by a free student art show in the auditorium lobby.

Lobby doors open at 6 p.m. on Friday and and 1 p.m. on Saturday. Tickets cost $5, and $20 for a family of five.

“I am a huge fan of Shakespeare, and Midsummer Night is my favorite because it’s so much fun,” said Co-Director Leah White. “Compared to some of the other comedies and dramas and tragedies that Shakespeare does, it’s more magical and a little easier to follow.”

She said that the Shakespeare script will be followed verbatim, with a couple of small cuts but no changes.

The play, set in Athens, consists of several interconnecting subplots that revolve around the pending marriage of Theseus, duke of Athens, and Hippolyta, the Amazon queen, whom he has conquored. One involves a conflict among four Athenian lovers, while another follows a group of six amateur actors rehearsing the play that they are to perform before the wedding.

Both groups find themselves in a forest inhabited by fairies who manipulate the humans and are engaged in their own domestic intrigue.Meddling with love potions by the fairy king, Oberon, and his mischievous servant Puck, further complicate the situation.

The play is regarded as one of Shakespeare’s most popular.

“The students are doing an awesome job,” White said. “I’m so proud of our actors and all of the other students that have done stuff in the show.” She mentioned that art class and sewing students helped create the set.

“The students love this one, because with the fairies and all the magic, it makes it a lot of fun,” White said. “We’ve got a little fight scene.”

Co-Director Alison Hay added that, “They’re having fun putting their own modern twist on it and their own personality twist.”

White noted that “the students have really been behind all the major creative decisions.”

“I think one of the reasons the kids have gotten behind (the play) is that there is so much choice to what we do,” she said. “We even had the theater class do dramaturgical research and come up with different ideas for what we could do for our production design, and then we voted on which idea we would go with.

Stage Manager Melody Castaneda, a junior, said, “I’m super nervous but also super excited. I have liked the process so far and I’m really proud about how it’s turning out. The stage looks beautiful, and the actors are super excited.”

Senior Iris Erickson, who plays Hippolyta as well as Titania, said, “I’m very excited to be doing a play that goes outside of the classical expectations of a high school play. It’s been really fun being able to explore a different genre, especially Shakespearean. I’ve never done a Shakespearean play before, and it’s been really cool to see what our directors and production team have been able to give us.”

Fellow senior Audrie Frangente, who plays Theseus, said, “It’s going to be really fun. I like the ambiance of it and everything. We’ve all had a good time practicing it and we’ve all put our best foot forward.”

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