McLean Community Players to Present A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM

The McLean Community Players will present William Shakespeare's comedy, A Midsummer Night's Dream, opening Friday, April 14, 2017, at Vinson Hall's Community Building Ballroom, 1735 Kirby Road, McLean, VA 22101. The production runs weekends through Sunday, April 30. (Note: There will be no matinee performance on April 16.)

A Midsummer Night's Dream is usually dated 1595 or early 1596 and contains four interconnecting plots surrounding the marriage of Theseus, the Duke of Athens, and Hippolyta, the Queen of the Amazons. RoseMary Hartman leads an award-winning cast and crew in this production, MCP's first at its temporary venue at Vinson Hall while the McLean Community Center is closed for renovation.

As part of the wedding celebration for Theseus and Hippolyta, Bottom, the weaver, and his friends, the mechanicals, hope to stage a play they have been rehearsing in the forest. Oberon, king of the fairies, and Titania, his queen are also in the forest because Titania plans to attend the wedding. In the meantime, four young lovers involved in a romantic entanglement also end up in the forest. Chaos ensues after Puck, Oberon's servant, uses a magic love potion on the lovers and casts a spell on Bottom to give him the head of a donkey. Eventually, the lovers are paired off-each woman with the man she loves-the spell is lifted from Bottom, and everyone returns to Athens. In Athens, the two young couples join the royal couple in the wedding ceremony, and the mechanicals perform their play.

Director RoseMary Hartman says, "A Midsummer Night's Dream is my favorite Shakespeare comedy. I decided to direct it because I love the storyline, the characters, and the audience appeal. No play was ever named more appropriately; it is a "dream,"-a dream composed of elves, mistaken identities, and wild fantasies. This delightful tale has The Many human elements of love, revenge, humor, and mystery as well as the mystical magic and enchantment of "other-worldly" creatures such as the scheming Oberon, Titania's consort and King of the Fairies, beautiful Titania, Queen of the Fairies, who is furious with Oberon for upsetting the balance of nature over a squabble they are having, and my two favorite characters, Bottom, the garrulous would-be actor, and the mischievous Puck, who carries out Oberon's every wish. Last but not least, the Fairies who will delight with some beautiful dancing. Prepare to be enchanted!

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Production Team for A Midsummer Night's Dream:

Co-Producers ................................................................................ Bunny Bonnes, Jean Matich

Director....................................................................................................... RoseMary Hartman

Stage Manager ............................................................................................... Mary Macfarlane

Technical Design.................................................................................................. Bill Gllikbarg

Set Designer...................................................................................................... John Downing

Costumer .......................................................................................................... Farrell Hartigan

Assistant Costumer............................................................................................. Dailey Parker

Sound Designer ..................................................................................................... Bob Zeigler

Lighting Design ................................................................................................. Lynne Glikbarg

Dramaturge ........................................................................................................... Cristin Moor

Props ............................................................................................................... Emily Besuden

Choreographer .................................................................................................. Victoria Bloom

Sound and Projections .......................................................................................... Jon Roberts

Set Construction....................... Stephen Dennett, George Farnsworth, Bill Glikbarg, Bob Schroth

Publicity ............................................................................. Cathy Farnsworth, Tula Pendergrast

The Cast of A Midsummer Night's Dream:

Theseus ......................................................................................................... Steven Palkovitz

Hippolyta...................................................................................................... Madeleine Murphy

Egeus............................................................................................................. Dell Pendergrast

Hermia............................................................................................................ Catherine Gilbert

Lysander.............................................................................................................. Will MacLeod

Demetrius............................................................................................................ Mytheos Holt

Helena.......................................................................................................... Ilyana Rose-Davila

Robin Goodfellow (Puck)..................................................................................... Gary DiNardo

Oberon .......................................................................................................... Eleanor Tapscott

Titania............................................................................................................... Jessie Roberts

Nick Bottom............................................................................................................... Tom Flatt

Peter Quince........................................................................................................... Matt Bogen

Francis Flute (Thisbe).............................................................................................. David Adler

Robin Starveling (Moon).......................................................................................... Kirk Kaneer

Tom Snout (Wall) .............................................................................................. Michael Gerwin

Snug (Lion)......................................................................................................... Heather Plank

Philostrate............................................................................................................. Todd Meikle

Peaseblossom ........................................................................................................ Kate Knott

Cobweb ......................................................................................................... Camilla Gonzalez

Moth ................................................................................................................. Raquel Salinas

Mustardseed ................................................................................... Maggie Allen, Kyleigh Friel

Fairy 1 ...................................................................................................................... Tess Kay

Fairy 2................................................................................................................ Lauren Sutton

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The Mclean Community Players are proud to announce that they are offering performances with accessibility for both the hearing impaired and the visually challenged. For A Midsummer Night's Dream, audio description for the visually-impaired will be offered by the Metropolitan Washington Ear at the matinee performance on Sunday, April 23, 2017. The final Saturday performance on April 29 will have American Sign Language interpretation. See the Accessibility page at www.McLeanPlayers.org for more information.

A Midsummer Night's Dream opens Friday, April 14, 2017, and runs weekends through April 30. Performances are Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 p.m., with Sunday matinees on April 23 and 30 at 2:00 p.m. in Vinson Hall's Community Building Ballroom, 1735 Kirby Road, McLean, VA 22101.Tickets are $18-$20, and are available at www.McLean Players.org or through Brown Paper Tickets at 1-800-838-3006. Tickets will also be available at the door.

The McLean Community Players, based in McLean, Virginia, celebrate both the musical and dramatic theater traditions. Performing four shows a year - two musicals and two plays - MCP is committed to doing theater for the community, in the community, with the community and sustained by the community. MCP is funded in part by the Arts Council of Fairfax County.