Photo Flash: First Look at Brave Spirits Theatre's A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM and THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN

Brave Spirits Theatre opens its first year­round season, beginning with a repertory of William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream and Shakespeare and John Fletcher's The Two Noble Kinsmen. Scroll down for a first look at the actors onstage!

BST pairs the well­loved comedy A Midsummer Night's Dream with the rarely produced The Two Noble Kinsmen to interrogate to what lengths we will go for love and what happens to those who get left behind. Though Midsummer was written early in Shakespeare's career and Kinsmen was a much later collaboration with Fletcher, both stories are set in the realm of Theseus, who, days before his marriage to Hippolyta, must decide how to manage two young men rivaling for the attentions of one woman.

A Midsummer Night's Dream is a perennial audience favorite, despite Samuel Pepys's infamous dismissal of the work as "the most insipid ridiculous play ever." Indeed, audiences have found much to rejoice at within the ridiculous frivolity that is A Midsummer Night's Dream. With fairies, magical potions, runaways in the forest, and mythological characters, A Midsummer Night's Dream adds up to a evening of sheer entertainment.

The Two Noble Kinsmen is likely to be new to most audience members. Based on a tale from Chaucer, Kinsmen follows the changing fortunes of two best friends, Arcite and Palamon, who fall in love with Hippolyta's sister, Emilia. With a more melancholic tone than Dream, the twists of Kinsmen's plot will keep the audience guessing.
A Midsummer Night's Dream is directed by Jessica Aimone, fresh off of Pinky Swear Productions' hit Tiny House Plays. Washington City Paper called Tiny House Plays "a fascinating five­show compendium of extremely cozy theater." Aimone last tackled Shakespeare in the sold out 2011 Capital Fringe hit Macbeth, produced by Push/Pull Theater Company. The Going Out Guide praised Macbeth as "clever, lightning­quick, and all about taking risks."

Photo Credit: Kevin Hollenbeck

Jacqueline Chenault as Titania with Zach Roberts and Willem Krumich

David Mavricos as Demetrius, Amber G. Gibson as Helena, and Ben Lauer as Lysander

Ian Blackwell Rogers as Oberon and Anderson Wells as Puck

Renana Fox as Hermia

Willem Krumich as Flute, Jenna Berk as Snug, and Zach Roberts as Starveling

Amber G. Gibson, Kelly Elliott, and Renana Fox as the Three Queens, with Carolyn Kashner, Zach Roberts, Anderson Wells, Ian Blackwell Rogers and Jacqueline Chenault

Carolyn Kashner as Emilia and Jacqueline Chenault as Hippolyta

Jenna Berk as the Jailer’s Daughter

David Mavricos as Arcite and Willem Krumich as Palamon

Joshua D. Brown as the Schoolmaster, with Willem Krumich, Kelly Elliott, Renana Fox, Amber G. Gibson, Ben Lauer and Anderson Wells