Actors' Shakespeare Project presents A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM

Actors' Shakespeare Project closes its 13th season with the definitive Shakespearean recipe for mirth and magic. Start with equal parts poetry and wit, add one misapplied love potion, stir in a feuding celestial couple, and finish with the most unintentionally awful play-within-a-play ever created, and you get A Midsummer Night's Dream. Directed by Patrick Swanson (Revels' Artistic Director), the production features Resident Acting Company members Steven Barkhimer* (Bottom), Sarah Newhouse* (Puck), and Paula Plum* (Titania) (Picture left by Nile Scott Shots.) Performances are May 10 - June 4, 2017 (Press Performance Saturday, May 13, 2017, 8 PM) at Multicultural Arts Center, 41 Second Street, Cambridge. For tickets and more information, visit actorsshakespeareproject.org.

"Frequently dressed as a summer dream with fairies and heavenly music, magic, and fantasy, the play has a surprising amount to say about the real stuff of relationships-domestic spats, in-law problems, steamy sex, laughter, and tears," says director Swanson. "In a world of inverted realities, Shakespeare creates a work of belly laughs and midsummer frolics, of less than innocent merrymaking, and of profoundly fleshy and disturbing fantasy. Layered like a wedding cake this dream has no bottom save Bottom the Weaver whose impulse is to turn it all into a song and thus, we infer, to make sense of it all by making it into art."

Through these antics, Shakespeare's fantastical forest offers a perspective on universal struggles, defining them not as "first world problems"-the bane of its young lovers and amateur thespians-but as fodder for conflict and brinksmanship in the spiritual realm as well. "In a dream, one cannot be held responsible for one's actions. It is Shakespeare's genius that tethers the fantastic world of Oberon and Titania to the no-nonsense world of the mechanicals; when the two come are brought together, the result is both hilarious and awe-inspiring," says Swanson.

Adds Swanson, "Some scholars place the first performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream at a wedding celebration attended by Queen Elizabeth. "Were it so, and intended as a blessing on the happy couple; one sincerely hopes that the queen and the wedding guests were amused."
ASP's A Midsummer Night's Dream cast features Jake Athyal as Lysander; Steven Barkhimer* as Bottom; Elle Borders as Hermia; Monica Giordano as Helena; and Equiano Mosieri* as Oberon; Sarah Newhouse* as Puck; Paula Plum* as Titania; Mac Young as Demetrius and other roles will be played by the ensemble.

The creative team includes Patrick Swanson, Director; Susan Dibble, Choreographer; Eric Levenson* Scenic Designer; Jessica Pribble, Costume Designer; Eric Levenson** & Deb Sullivan, Lighting Designers; David Reiffel**, Sound Designer; Marsha Smith*, Stage Manager; and, Deb Sullivan, Production Manager.

Performance & Education Project Schedule

All the City's a Stage: A Season of Shakespeare at the Boston Public Library and "A Most Rare Vision" Pop Up Performances. ASP youth and adult actors join students from neighborhood partner schools in performing scenes from A Midsummer Night's Dream at the following BPL branches: Grove Hall: Thursday, April 27, 5-6 PM; Brighton: Thursday, May 18, 4-5 PM; and Dudley Square: Wednesday, May 24, 3:30-4:30 PM. For more information visit actorsshakespeareproject.org.

Free Open Rehearsal Saturday, April 29 from 12 PM - 1 PM at Not2B at the Center for Arts at the Armory, 191 Highland Avenue, Somerville. Please RSVP to ASP's Audience Services at 617.776.2200 x225 or boxoffice@actorsshakespeareproject.org.

Preview performances: Wednesday, May 10, Thursday, May 11, and Friday, May 12 at 7:30 PM.

Official opening and press performance: Saturday, May 13, 2017, at 8 PM. Please RSVP to jbpr@comcast.net.

Regular Performances: Thursdays and Fridays, 7:30 PM; Saturdays, 3 PM & 8 PM; and Sundays, 2 PM with post-show conversation. Student matinees sold out.

Post-Show Conversations: Immediately following the Sunday 2 PM matinees.

Tickets
Tickets are $30-$50 ($15 student rush) and can be purchased at actorsshakespeareproject.org, OvationTix at 866.811.4111, or at the theater, although selection may be limited. Senior discount tickets are $3-5 off of regular price. Groups of 10+ may reserve seats for select performances via ASP's Audience Services at 617.776.2200 x225 or groups@actorsshakespeareproject.org.

About ASP

Actors' Shakespeare Project is an award-winning professional theater company with a Resident Acting Company and extensive education, youth and community programs. ASP performs and works in found spaces, schools, theaters and neighborhoods to present and explore the robust language, resonant stories, and deeply human characters in Shakespeare's plays and in works by other great playwrights. Our work is ensemble-based and focused on intimacy, storytelling, language, relationships, voice, risk and artistry within and throughout the Boston area. For more information visit actorsshakespeareproject.org.

*A Member of the Actors' Equity Association, the union of professional actors and stage managers in the United States.

**Member of United Scenic Artists Local 82