Chesapeake Shakespeare Co Presents A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Chesapeake Shakespeare Company, best known for their imaginative classical productions at the PFI Historic Park in Ellicott City, recently completed their first state-wide educational tour of their highly acclaimed A Midsummer Night's Dream. Reaching over 2,000 students from the Eastern Shore to Western Maryland, CSC's dynamic team of professional actors broke down the barriers of stuffy-served Shakespeare with a 90 minute carnival-themed presentation of the classic comedy and hands-on (sometimes sword-wielding) workshops with students and teachers.

The tour was made possible, in part, by a Wells Fargo Cultural Excellence grant and a grant from the Baltimore County Arts and Sciences Commission. High school students in Maryland (many of whom had never seen a play before) received a live introduction to the works of William Shakespeare. Participating high schools included: North Harford H.S. (Harford County), Woodlawn (Baltimore County), Mountain Ridge (Frostburg), North Dorchester (Eastern Shore), and Oakland Mills (Howard County). Over 1,100 students saw performances free. "In our rural area, students do not often have the opportunity to see professional performances," comments Theresa Connors, Supervisor of English, Dorchester County Public Schools. "The production was highly interactive, with actors in the aisles as well as on the stage. Students participated in drama workshops the following day given by the actors." Nancy Green of Harford County Public Schools adds, "I applaud the teaching artists and the entire company for making Shakespeare entertaining and accessible for our students, for working so hard and going to such great lengths to provide such rich cultural and artistic experiences to our public school students-many of whom had never seen a live production before today!" "The students enjoyed the workshop as much as the play," says Nicole Kyle, a 12th grade English teacher for Allegany County Public Schools, "This group of people are AMAZING! Their passion and enthusiasm were contagious!"

The educational tour caps Chesapeake Shakespeare Company's outstanding year of growth and outreach, reaching nearly 12,000 patrons and students in 2011. CSC has a strong mission to create a new relationship between classical theatre and the community. Audiences are encouraged to attend the "Extended Version" pre-show discussions, friendly casual Pub Nights, and special guest speaker events such as last year's presentation of the Shakespeare Behind Bars program by Kurt Tofteland. "Those of us who started Chesapeake Shakespeare Company knew we wanted to share it with a wide community, and we knew we wanted to present plays in new ways that excite a whole variety of people. It is especially gratifying to make Shakespeare available to students who would not otherwise have any other access to Shakespeare's work in performance," observes Founding Artistic Director Ian Gallanar, "Maryland is our community and this is a terrific way to serve our community." For more information about Chesapeake Shakespeare and their upcoming season, visit ChesapeakeShakespeare.com.

Mission: The Chesapeake Shakespeare Company creates performances and education programs out of great classic theatre. Classic plays can be awfully good, but only if they speak to their audience and the community in a way that is dynamic, personal, and pleasurable. We do plays that people like, and we perform them in innovative and intimate ways that intensify the connection between audiences and artists. We do this because we want to know what makes Shakespeare so great-and we ask our audience and our community to explore that question alongside us.