Baltimore Shakespeare Factory to Stage A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM This Summer

Baltimore Shakespeare Factory (BSF) presents its 2017 Shakespeare in the Meadow series with A Midsummer Night's Dream and Love's Labour's Lost, two of Shakespeare's plays that are full of love and mischief.

Shakespeare in the Meadow shows are performed outdoors at Johns Hopkins Evergreen Museum and Library.

Tickets start at $15, plus applicable service fees, and are on sale now at Brown Paper Tickets. For more information, call (410) 662-9455 or visit BaltimoreShakespeareFactory.org.

As with all BSF productions, A Midsummer Night's Dream and Love's Labour's Lost are presented using the staging conditions of Shakespeare's day. The productions bring Shakespeare's works to life in a way that is fresh and accessible to modern audiences without compromising the original language. The result is fun, engaging, and fast-paced shows that celebrates the artistry of Shakespeare's language.

A Midsummer Night's Dream, directed by BSF Artistic Director Tom Delise, is a magical tale of young lovers, supernatural creatures, and a charming group of artisan performers that is one of Shakespeare's most popular and endearing works. It is two hours of perfect theatre that has charmed audiences for over 400 years.

"As a director, quite simply, A Midsummer Night's Dream makes me happy because I think it is an excellent example of perfect theater. Filled with magic and fun, it is hard, if not impossible, to dislike it," Delise explains. "Some people critically refer to it as the Disney of Shakespeare, but I do not look like that as derogatory. Disney is popular for the same reason as A Midsummer Night's Dream - they both strike chords in us that remind us what it is to be human, and they are both just plain fun!"

Love's Labour's Lost, directed by BSF Assistant Artistic Director Chris Cotterman, is a tale of what happens when friends take an oath to hid away and dedicate themselves to a life of study and avoid the company of women for three years. As soon as the pledge is made, beautiful women arrive and begin to test the men's high-minded resolve.

"Love's Labour's Lost is dazzlingly creative and confident; absurd in all the best ways, it's also remarkably fresh, gleefully skewering gender norms and the conventions of courtship with the dizzy delight that's the hallmark of Shakespeare's best work," says Cotterman.

IF YOU GO:

A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM
July 7 - 23: Outdoors in the Meadow at Johns Hopkins Evergreen Museum and Library
4545 North Charles Street
July 28 - 30: Indoors at the Great Hall at St. Mary's Community Center
3900 Roland Avenue
Fridays at 8 p.m., Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 4 p.m.
Pre-show entertainment begins 30 minutes before show time
Performances at the Meadow are open for picnics one hour before show time
www.baltimoreshakespearefactory.org

THE CAST (in alphabetical order):
Cheryl Campo Snug / Moth / First Fairy
Valerie Dowdle* Hippolyta / Titania
Kathryne Daniels Peter Quince
Fred Fletcher-Jackson Lysander
Liz Galuardi Hermia
Tess Garrett Egeus / Snout / Mustardseed
Davon Harris Demetrius
Jeff Miller Flute / Peaseblossom
Micaela Mannix Helena
Elijah Moreland Theseus / Oberon
Allie Press Puck / Philostrate
Shaquille Stewart Nick Bottom
Tegan Williams* Starveling / Cobweb

ARTISTIC TEAM:
Director Tom Delise
Assistant Director Marshall Garrett
Stage Manager Rachel Tilley*
Costume Designer Jessica Behar*
Music Director Jamie Horrell
Graphic Designer Lynne Menefee

LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST
July 28 - August 13: Outdoors in the Meadow at Johns Hopkins Evergreen Museum and Library
4545 North Charles Street
August 18 - 20: Indoors at the Great Hall at St. Mary's Community Center
3900 Roland Avenue
Fridays at 8 p.m., Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 4 p.m.
Pre-show entertainment begins 30 minutes before show time
Performances at the Meadow are open for picnics one hour before show time
http://www.baltimoreshakespearefactory.org

THE CAST (in alphabetical order):
Grace Baker Maria / Jaquenetta
Michael Blaine Dumaine
Sarah Burton Katharine / Sir Nathaniel
Conrad Deitrick Costard
Ronnita Freeman Rosaline
Nicholas Fruit King of Navarre
Holly Gibbs Don Armado
Erin Hanratty Princess of France
Flynne Harne Longueville
Utkarsh Rajawat Berowne
Anne Shoemaker Boyet / Holofernes
Emily Su Moth

ARTISTIC TEAM:
Director Chris Cotterman*
Stage Manager Mia Merrill
Costume Design Dominique Seibert
Production Intern MJ Smith
Graphic Designer Chris Cotterman*

*denotes Resident Company Member

Tom Delise founded Baltimore Shakespeare Factory (BSF) in 2006 and is the artistic director of the company. He received a BA degree in English from Brockport University and a master's degree in liberal studies from Towson University. For BSF, he has directed The Taming of the Shrew, Twelfth Night, The Comedy of Errors, Much Ado About Nothing, As You Like It, Macbeth, Love's Labor's Lost, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Richard III, Measure for Measure and co-directed A Midsummer Night's Dream with Chris Cotterman. He has also directed a staged reading of The Famous Victories of Henry V, performed at the American Shakespeare Center. Delise has been a high school teacher for over thirty years and is the author of the book, That Is the Question: The Ultimate Shakespeare Quiz Book.

Chris Cotterman has been part of Baltimore Shakespeare Factory since 2012. He directed last season's Much Ado About Nothing, and co-directed 2013's A Midsummer Night's Dream with Tom Delise. Most recently, HE directed the world premiere of Welcome to the White Room for Glass Mind Theatre. As an actor he has appeared in BSF productions of The Merchant of Venice (Bassanio), Richard III (Richard), Hamlet (Horatio), Romeo and Juliet (Friar Laurence), The Two Gentleman of Verona (Proteus), The Taming of the Shrew (Petruchio), and Love's Labour's Lost (Berowne).

Baltimore Shakespeare Factory (BSF) is dedicated to bringing the works of William Shakespeare to life for audiences of all ages and backgrounds. In Shakespeare's time, the theater was accessible to everyone, and BSF prides itself on continuing that tradition by presenting professional quality work at affordable prices.

BSF productions are designed to help audiences understand and enjoy Shakespeare's mastery of language and wordplay. The language of Shakespeare's works is the cornerstone of their artistic and literary merit, and BSF takes great pride in paying meticulous attention to that language in order to deliver it in such a way that makes it accessible to modern audiences. BSF productions are not notion or concept driven - we believe the language that Shakespeare gave us is all an audience needs to appreciate these works.

The core philosophy of BSF is to reproduce the staging conditions that Shakespeare used to present his plays on the stages of the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods. Productions use universal lighting, allowing the actors to see and interact with the audience. Just as Shakespeare's actors entertained audiences with the songs of the day, BSF actors perform modern music (thematically related to the show) prior to the show and during intermission. BSF also makes liberal use of cross-gender casting as a nod to the conventions of Shakespeare's stage where virtually all female roles were played young boys or men. Productions regularly feature women playing the parts of men and men playing the parts of women. In addition, the acting companies of Shakespeare's time also liberally used doubling, when one actor may play more than one role in a play. Our actors have played as many as eight roles in a single play.

BSF also continues to expand its outreach into the community, offering programs in local schools and libraries, as well as extensive summer camp programs for local elementary, middle, and high school students. The Baltimore Shakespeare Factory is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization and a member of the Shakespeare Theatre Association and the Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance.