Photo Flash: In Rehearsal with TFANA's A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, Directed by Julie Taymor

Founded in 1979 by its Artistic Director, Jeffrey Horowitz, Theatre for a New Audience's next act is about to begin with the opening of its Center for Shakespeare and Classical Drama in Brooklyn. The inaugural production is Julie Taymor's staging of A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare with original music by Elliot Goldenthal. Previews begin October 19 for an opening on November 2. BroadwayWorld has a sneak peek at the cast and creative team in rehearsal below!

The cast features Tina Benko as Titania, Max Casella as Bottom, David Harewood as Oberon, and Kathryn Hunter as Puck. The production will run through January 12, 2014.

A Midsummer Night's Dream brilliantly conjoins four intertwined stories: the marriage of the Athenian Duke Theseus to the Amazon queen Hippolyta; the warring Oberon and Titania, king and queen of the fairies; the madcap follies of four lovers in a forest; and the comically earnest efforts of a group of working men to stage a love-play for the royal wedding. Lysander loves Hermia, whose father wants her to marry Demetrius. Helena loves Demetrius, who chases the eloping Lysander and Hermia into the woods, pursued by Helena. They are all fair game for mischievous Puck, Oberon's servant, who scrambles their desires and Titania's. As the working men press faithfully on with their rehearsals, the otherworldly night of confusion, passion and diligence proves oddly momentous, touching every life to the quick.

Julie Taymor is the first woman to win the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical, as well as a Tony for Best Costumes, for her production of The Lion King. She has directed four major films:Titus, Frida, Across the Universe and most recently, The Tempest. Her opera stagings include Elliot Goldenthal's Grendel and, for the Metropolitan Opera, Die Zauberflöte. At TFANA, she has directed Shakespeare's The Tempest, The Taming of the Shrew, Titus Andronicus and Carlo Gozzi's The Green Bird.

Photo Credits: Gerry Goodstein and Nella Vera

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