A Midsummer Night’s Dream: The School Project

Is it all a dream? The playful tricks, the desire for young love, the motivation of the mechanical play, and the question of tired eyes… is it all a dream?

For the 7th grade production we are excited to both perform the famous story of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and learn more about the playwriting process by devising/ adapting the story that we are calling The School Project. 

The story of A Midsummer Night’s Dream takes us on a journey through the story of order and disorder, reality and appearance, and as all Shakespeare comedies do, love and marriage. The Duke of Athens Theseus is set to marry Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons, when a father, Egeus, asks his Duke to hold his daughter Hermia accountable for her rebellious love.

Hermia loves Lysander and Lysander loves Hermia. However, Demetrius loves Hermia too. And, Helena, the best friend, longs for Demetrius’s affection. Hermia’s father is set for her to marry Demetrius, so she rebels and runs off into the woods with her love, Lysander. The other two friends follow and that is when magic joins their story. 

The magic of this story is brought to the stage with Puck, the head of the fairies, who is set out to do Oberon’s bidding of tricks upon the Fairy Queen Titania. In doing so, Puck discovers a group of tradesmen (known as the Mechanicals), led by Peter Quince, who are rehearsing a play for the Duke’s wedding. They rehearse at night, in the forest, and fall into Puck’s magical plan as well.

The story brings Shakespeare’s knack for comedy alive, and the 7th grade class of 2021 is brilliant with the Shakespearean words. Also, in order to learn more about the playmaking process, members of the 7th grade class wrote their own scenes as modern day high school students studying the famous dream play for their high school class. This playwriting structure will not be the “traditional” format you may know of, but rather a devising structure called “Playmaking”. Playmaking allows actors as well as audiences to process the importance of storytelling. This will be accomplished through movement, song, scene work, monologues, and in fun comedic ways! A School Project will be set in modern day New York City, following a group of students who are studying the Shakespeare play. They will draw connections to the modern day and work as narrators of the story. 

We hope to see you in the Logan Loft on Thursday, Feb. 20th for our 4:30pm performance and Friday, February 21st at 7:00pm. Tickets are $5.00 for adults and $1.00 for students. Come on out and support the class of 2021 for their production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream: The School Project.

It is going to be a dream!