Beginning Friday, Jan. 25, the Brigham Young University Department of Theatre and Media Arts will present a colorful 19th century, South American setting of William Shakespeare’s romantic comedy “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”
The play will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Pardoe Theatre on Friday, Jan. 25, through Saturday, Feb. 9, with no performances on Sunday or Monday evenings. Tickets are $14 or $9 weeknights and $10 weekends with a BYU or student ID. Dress rehearsals will be held Wednesday and Thursday, Jan. 23 and 24, and a matinee will be held Saturday, Feb. 2, at 2 p.m. Tickets for these shows are $7. Tickets can be purchased at the Fine Arts Ticket Office, by calling (801) 422-4322 or by visiting performances.byu.edu.
Written in the 1590s, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” tells the interlocking stories of an ever-shifting love-quadrangle between four young Athenians, the revenge of the king of the faeries on his estranged wife and a performance by a pompous but loveable troupe of amateur British actors.
Shakespeare’s beloved play is a charming, multi-cultural comedy about the tyranny of repression, the struggles of love and the magic of theatre to transform the world, according to director Megan Sanborn Jones.
Featuring all the trappings of a Latin America Carnival, the BYU production traces the complex process of colonization and cultural conflict in a mythical, South American country.
“Every time multiple cultures come into contact with one another, each influences the other for good and bad,”said Jones. “How these vastly different peoples move towards resolution of their conflicts is the true magic of this most-beloved Shakespeare comedy.”
The show’s cast includes Ben Phalen as Lysander, Liliana Corona as Hermia, Genna Shepard Gardner as Helena, David Liddell Thorpe as Demetrius, Owen Merkling as Quince, Matt Leavitt as Bottom, Brittni Bills as Puck, Clotile Bonner as Titania and Michael Morris as Oberon.
Jones is joined on the production staff by Cory Stephens, choreographer; Marel Stock, dramaturg; Brian Ramos, production stage manager; Eric Fielding, scenic designer; Shiloh Cheney, costume designer; Barta Heiner, acting coach; David Morgan and Ryan Meyers, fight choreographers; and Elizabeth Funk, composer.
For more information, contact Megan Sanborn Jones at (801) 422-1321.
Writer: Marissa Ballantyne
