National Players Offers Pay-What-You-Can Nights of Scarlet Letter & Midsummer

National Players, America's longest running touring company, comes home from its 62nd annual tour with William Shakespeare's timeless comedy A Midsummer Night's Dream, and the stage adaptation of Nathaniel Hawthorne's classic The Scarlet Letter. Local audiences will have a chance to see the troupe perform on Olney's Historic Stage before it goes back out on the road.

The Scarlet Letter will be performed Friday, January 21 at 7:30 p.m.; A Midsummer Night's Dream will be performed Saturday, January 22 at 7:30 p.m. Both shows are Pay-What-You-Can. Tickets are available one hour prior to performance. For more information, please call Olney's Box Office at 301.924.3400.

Gods mix with mortals, a feuding king and queen unleash magical practical jokes on each other, spells yield improbable love affairs, and a band of comical tradesmen wander into an enchanted wood and are transformed in the most unlikely of ways. A Midsummer Night's Dream, arguably Shakespeare's most popular and enduring comedy, spins a fanciful and fantastical tale of love, complete with nymphs, fairies, and, oh yes, those misguided human creatures. National Players' production offers a fresh twist on the setting, making it relevant to today's fast-moving, electronic media saturated world.

In Carol Gilligan's adaptation of The Scarlet Letter, it is her daughter Pearl who is an ever looming presence. Although the play is still driven by Hester Prynne and her bold and defiant choices, The Scarlet Letter is now a memory play told from the point of view of a young woman with a daughter of her own. It is an opportunity for Pearl to revisit a pivotal moment in her young life so that she may empower herself with the knowledge that will help her come to terms with her own familial discord.

A Midsummer Night's Dream is directed by Olney's Associate Artistic Director, Clay Hopper. Hopper most recently directed the critically acclaimed production of Triumph of Love last season on Olney's Mainstage. He has been directing National Players and Olney's Summer Shakespeare Festival since 2003. In 2002, he founded and produced a new play series called New Works/After Hours at Lincoln Center Institute's Clarke Studio Theatre.

The Scarlet Letter is directed by David Gram. David is delighted to be returning for his third stint with the National Players after having directed Lord of the Flies last year. Originally from Toronto, David is a Boston-based director, actor, and teacher. Selected directing credits include A Little Night Music, The Good Person of Szechwan, What the Butler Saw, Bug, A Man of No Importance, Waiting for Godot, Tartuffe, Twelfth Night, The Maids, and City of Angels. David is currently on faculty Boston University. He is also an Associate Artist with the Boston Center for American Performance (BCAP), the professional extension of BU's School of Theatre.

National Players Tour 62 is comprised of Kyle Blair, Hannah Burkauser, Jenny Donovan, Chris Egging, Greg Magee, Kelsey Meiklejohn, Sam Robinovitz, and Bethany Rowe.

LOCATION: Olney Theatre Center
2001 Olney-Sandy Spring Road, Olney, Maryland 20832
Located just north of Washington, DC, the theater sits 1¼ mile from the intersection of Olney-Sandy Spring Road (Route 108) and Georgia Avenue (Route 97). Parking is free.

ABOUT OLNEY:
Olney Theatre Center is a 72-year-old nonprofit professional Equity theater in Olney, Maryland. Located in arts-rich Montgomery County, Olney Theatre Center is easily accessible from Washington, DC, and Baltimore, MD. Olney Theatre Center's mission is to create professional Theater Productions and other programs that nurture artists, students, technicians, administrators, and audience members; and to develop each individual's creative potential using the skills and imaginative possibilities of theater and the performing arts.

ABOUT NATIONAL PLAYERS:
In operation since 1949, National Players is America's longest running touring company. Comprised of young professional actors, each year the company travels throughout the country (including every region of Maryland) performing two plays in repertory - one Shakespearean play and one dramatic classic. National Players reaches students and families who might otherwise have a limited opportunity to see live, classical theater. In addition, Players conducts workshops with students in such theater-related areas as Shakespeare, playwriting, acting, stage combat, scene analysis, and improvisation. Committed to the development of young theatrical talent and audiences, National Players' tours celebrate the experience of theatergoing by presenting the world's greatest dramatic literature.

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