A Year in Review....Well, the spark Notes....
Shows I Directed:
Not On My Watch
Truth or Dare
Death Comes for A Wedding
An American Werewolf in Eqqus
Twelfth Night
Goldie and The Bears
Double Play
The Rose Gardener
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Assistant Directed:
The Foreigner with BT McNicholl
Odd Couple with BT McNicholl
Henry V with John Basil
Unaccustomed to My Name with Kevin Laibson
Marrying Meg with Dave Soloman
Production Manager:
The Misunderstanding
DirectorFest 2009
Goals for Next Year:
Get Constant Contact in Order
Getting Things Done System finalized
Complete my brand
Applications for four labs and two festivals
Organize the closet
Direct two musicals
One Holiday Show
One Halloween Show
Cut down the number of Festivals
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Friday, December 18, 2009
Christmas Time
My Christmas Season has officially begun.
Thursday my Mom flew into NYC to spend the weekend with me. We have spent the last 48 hours enjoying each other's company by shopping around the city, taking naps, and checking out Midsummer. It's always lovely when she comes to town, we have the best time. I am lucky to have strong relationships with both of my parents, and to be twins with my mother.
Thursday's performance of Midsummer was one of the most enjoyable night's of theatre I've had in a while. The last 30 minutes were hysterical-to the point where Chris and Mim (Pyramus and Wall) were cracking up and trying to keep it together. Everyone in the audience had tears rolling down their faces (FROM LAUGHTER).
The shows biggest issue right now is small houses-we have to compete with the holiday season which is awful! I know for a fact we are going to have packed houses for the January shows, I just hope the remaining 3 shows this weekend have at least 20 people.
Sunday is the Midsummer Holiday Party-very excited. And Monday Jeff and I fly to Atlanta for Christmas.
Coming up- The Rose Gardener and LOTS of applications!
Thursday my Mom flew into NYC to spend the weekend with me. We have spent the last 48 hours enjoying each other's company by shopping around the city, taking naps, and checking out Midsummer. It's always lovely when she comes to town, we have the best time. I am lucky to have strong relationships with both of my parents, and to be twins with my mother.
Thursday's performance of Midsummer was one of the most enjoyable night's of theatre I've had in a while. The last 30 minutes were hysterical-to the point where Chris and Mim (Pyramus and Wall) were cracking up and trying to keep it together. Everyone in the audience had tears rolling down their faces (FROM LAUGHTER).
The shows biggest issue right now is small houses-we have to compete with the holiday season which is awful! I know for a fact we are going to have packed houses for the January shows, I just hope the remaining 3 shows this weekend have at least 20 people.
Sunday is the Midsummer Holiday Party-very excited. And Monday Jeff and I fly to Atlanta for Christmas.
Coming up- The Rose Gardener and LOTS of applications!
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Yournabe.com Midsummer Review
It seems that Katherine M. Carter, the director of the Queens Players’ adorable version of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” remembered that the important word in the play’s title is “dream.”
Thus, she not only has a dreamy set draped in white linens and softly lit by Lisa Hufnagel, but has costume designer Jeni Ahlfeld dress the cast in pajamas and white ankle socks; Bottom and his men appear in scarlet onesies.
The playfulness is further enhanced by having Snug the Joiner (Timothy Williams) a very tall bloke, carry around a teddy bear. Snug even has a little matching mane made for Teddy when he plays the lion in Pyramus and Thisbe.
The morning is greeted by the songs of birds — kudos to sound designer Jillian Marie Walker. The Bard would have approved.
“A Midsummer Night’s Dream” is one of Shakespeare’s dopier comedies. Though it has a couple of authoritarian male figures, namely Theseus, duke of Athens (Brandon Hillen), and Egeus, father of Hermia (Charles Baker), it has none of the discordance or “slut horror” of a work like “Much Ado About Nothing.” Keeping with the title, it’s 99 percent moonlight and fluff.
The plot is this, sort of: It’s close to the duke’s wedding to Hippolyta, played by the charming Heidi Zenz, but he’s beseeched by Egeus, whose diminutive daughter Hermia (Angelica Duncan) wants to marry Lysander (Joe Mullen), the man she loves, and not Demetrius (James Parenti), the man her father wants for her. The Duke warns Hermia that the penalty for such disobedience is death or being sent to a nunnery. In the meantime, Demetrius is being aggressively wooed — nowadays one might say stalked — by the lovestruck Helena (a wide-eyed Katie Braden), who he doesn’t care for in the least.
On another plain of existence, the fairy king Oberon (Randy Warsaw, in slinky purple silk and guyliner) and his queen, Titania (Tiffany D. Turner, proud and dignified till she wakes up in love with the transmogrified Bottom), aren’t getting along because he wants her to release her page to his service. She doesn’t want to.
Because of her stubbornness, Oberon sends his servant Puck (a Goth and impish Ahlfeld), to bewitch Titania with a love potion so she falls in love with the first ugly thing she sees upon awakening from her nap. Puck also mistakenly bewitches Lysander, because (s)he mistakes him for scornful Demetrius. And Bottom (an appropriately scenery-chewing Chris Kateff) and his men (Andrew Ash, Timothy J. Cox, Charlotte Layne Dunn, Miriam Mintz, and Williams) are putting on a play based on Pyramus and Thisbe, a more tragic tale of bad timing and misunderstanding, for the Duke’s wedding.
All this is an excuse for the cast to not only show their acting chops but gambol about the little whitewashed stage like babies. The rehearsals for the play-within-a-play are only matched in hilarity by the near-brawl between Hermia and Helena after both Lysander and Demetrius are bewitched into falling in love with the latter.
Duncan plays Hermia, who thinks she’s being dissed because she’s short, like a wet cat with the evening crazies. (“How low am I, thou painted maypole?” she screeches at Helena. “Speak! How low am I? I am not yet so low but that my nails can reach unto thine eyes!”)
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Parenti and Mullen play the boys as wonderfully disdainful, pugnacious and lovesick. Also good are Titania’s servant fairies (Sarah King and Trish Phelps), who think nothing of waiting on a man with the head of jackass. Perhaps they think this is normal for mortals?
This most delightful and inventive “Midsummer” will be running through Jan. 3 (they skip Christmas) at the Secret Theatre. They call it the Secret Theatre because it’s a few blocks from the Citicorp building, and hidden behind a loading bay, but they’ll have a sandwich board outside on the street. It’s a summery joy, perfect for a winter’s evening.
If You Go
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
When: Dec. 16-19, Jan. 1-3 at 8 p.m., Dec. 19 and 20 at 3:30 p.m.
Cost: $15 general admission, $10 students
Where: The Secret Theatre, 44-02 23rd St., Long Island City
Contact: 718-392-0722
Web site:secrettheatre.com
Thus, she not only has a dreamy set draped in white linens and softly lit by Lisa Hufnagel, but has costume designer Jeni Ahlfeld dress the cast in pajamas and white ankle socks; Bottom and his men appear in scarlet onesies.
The playfulness is further enhanced by having Snug the Joiner (Timothy Williams) a very tall bloke, carry around a teddy bear. Snug even has a little matching mane made for Teddy when he plays the lion in Pyramus and Thisbe.
The morning is greeted by the songs of birds — kudos to sound designer Jillian Marie Walker. The Bard would have approved.
“A Midsummer Night’s Dream” is one of Shakespeare’s dopier comedies. Though it has a couple of authoritarian male figures, namely Theseus, duke of Athens (Brandon Hillen), and Egeus, father of Hermia (Charles Baker), it has none of the discordance or “slut horror” of a work like “Much Ado About Nothing.” Keeping with the title, it’s 99 percent moonlight and fluff.
The plot is this, sort of: It’s close to the duke’s wedding to Hippolyta, played by the charming Heidi Zenz, but he’s beseeched by Egeus, whose diminutive daughter Hermia (Angelica Duncan) wants to marry Lysander (Joe Mullen), the man she loves, and not Demetrius (James Parenti), the man her father wants for her. The Duke warns Hermia that the penalty for such disobedience is death or being sent to a nunnery. In the meantime, Demetrius is being aggressively wooed — nowadays one might say stalked — by the lovestruck Helena (a wide-eyed Katie Braden), who he doesn’t care for in the least.
On another plain of existence, the fairy king Oberon (Randy Warsaw, in slinky purple silk and guyliner) and his queen, Titania (Tiffany D. Turner, proud and dignified till she wakes up in love with the transmogrified Bottom), aren’t getting along because he wants her to release her page to his service. She doesn’t want to.
Because of her stubbornness, Oberon sends his servant Puck (a Goth and impish Ahlfeld), to bewitch Titania with a love potion so she falls in love with the first ugly thing she sees upon awakening from her nap. Puck also mistakenly bewitches Lysander, because (s)he mistakes him for scornful Demetrius. And Bottom (an appropriately scenery-chewing Chris Kateff) and his men (Andrew Ash, Timothy J. Cox, Charlotte Layne Dunn, Miriam Mintz, and Williams) are putting on a play based on Pyramus and Thisbe, a more tragic tale of bad timing and misunderstanding, for the Duke’s wedding.
All this is an excuse for the cast to not only show their acting chops but gambol about the little whitewashed stage like babies. The rehearsals for the play-within-a-play are only matched in hilarity by the near-brawl between Hermia and Helena after both Lysander and Demetrius are bewitched into falling in love with the latter.
Duncan plays Hermia, who thinks she’s being dissed because she’s short, like a wet cat with the evening crazies. (“How low am I, thou painted maypole?” she screeches at Helena. “Speak! How low am I? I am not yet so low but that my nails can reach unto thine eyes!”)
ADVERTISEMENT
Parenti and Mullen play the boys as wonderfully disdainful, pugnacious and lovesick. Also good are Titania’s servant fairies (Sarah King and Trish Phelps), who think nothing of waiting on a man with the head of jackass. Perhaps they think this is normal for mortals?
This most delightful and inventive “Midsummer” will be running through Jan. 3 (they skip Christmas) at the Secret Theatre. They call it the Secret Theatre because it’s a few blocks from the Citicorp building, and hidden behind a loading bay, but they’ll have a sandwich board outside on the street. It’s a summery joy, perfect for a winter’s evening.
If You Go
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
When: Dec. 16-19, Jan. 1-3 at 8 p.m., Dec. 19 and 20 at 3:30 p.m.
Cost: $15 general admission, $10 students
Where: The Secret Theatre, 44-02 23rd St., Long Island City
Contact: 718-392-0722
Web site:secrettheatre.com
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Greg Cicchino on Midsummer
Greg Cicchino, Director of AS YOU LIKE IT at the Secret Theatre, posted his thoughts on MIDSUMMER on his blog, I wanted to share them with you.
"I then had the pleasure of seeing Katherine Carter’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream in the smaller space. It was very smart and quick. They cut it down to fewer than two hours, so it was over before you knew it. Her concept was that it was in fact, all a dream, so everyone was in colorful pajamas on a stark white space, which made for a very striking contrast. There was also some great text work, which is of course an important point for me as well. Congratulations cast."
Thanks Greg! We are looking forward to seeing his production of ROMEO and JULIET this Winter.
"I then had the pleasure of seeing Katherine Carter’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream in the smaller space. It was very smart and quick. They cut it down to fewer than two hours, so it was over before you knew it. Her concept was that it was in fact, all a dream, so everyone was in colorful pajamas on a stark white space, which made for a very striking contrast. There was also some great text work, which is of course an important point for me as well. Congratulations cast."
Thanks Greg! We are looking forward to seeing his production of ROMEO and JULIET this Winter.
"A Midsummer Night's Dream" delightfully playful
A Review by Willow Belden
Queens Chronical
With pajama-clad actors, a cloud-like white set and whimsical sound cues, the Queens Players’ production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” definitely emphasizes the night and the dream aspects of the play.
Their rendition of Shakespeare’s beloved comedy, running at the Secret Theatre through Jan. 3, is crisp, playful and wonderfully imaginative. The acting is sharp, the punch lines are delivered perfectly and the production moves along at an energetic clip.
You’re sure to leave the theater smiling after taking in the tale of frustrated lovers, mischievous fairies, amateur actors and love potions wrongly administered.
Each set of characters — the Athenian elite, the forest fairies and the lay people rehearsing a production of “Pyramus and Thisbe” — wears a distinct style of pajamas, making it easy to distinguish the groups and adding delightful comic effect.
The four principal lovers — Hermia and Lysander, Helena and Demetrius — are clad in bright pink and green garb. Oberon and Titania, the fairy king and queen, along with their entourage, shimmer in sleek satin.
The prize for best fashion goes to the troupe of half-witted laypeople, though, or “mechanicals” as they’re called. The amateur thespians sport bright red “onesies” throughout the show, the kind of pajamas you wore when you were 2. Brilliant costume choice.
The mechanicals also put forward some of the best acting in the production. Chris Kateff steals the show as Bottom, the verbose, self-important weaver who plays Pyramus in the play within the play and famously ends up with a donkey’s head. Kateff’s transformation to asshood is a delight to watch.
Andrew Ash, who chews innocently on the sleeve of his onesie as Flute the bellows mender, and Timothy Williams, who gingerly steps into the role of the lion while glumly clutching a teddy bear, are also particularly entertaining.
Three of the four Athenian lovers are aptly portrayed. Angelica Duncan is an adorably pixie-like Hermia. Katie Braden captures the desperately jealous Helena with fitting intensity. And Joe Mullen is a charmer as Lysander.
James Parenti is the weak link, beaming through scenes in which a look of outrage would be more fitting.
Jeni Ahlfeld deserves mention for her portrayal of Puck, the fairy messenger, a role she plays with nymph-like agility and appropriately devious grins.
If the acting and costumes aren’t enough to draw you to “Midsummer,” know that the production also includes a ukulele and armor made of a cardboard apple crate.
All told, it’s an excellent feel-good production and the perfect way to warm up a cold winter evening.
‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’
When: Select dates through Jan. 3.
Where: The Secret Theatre 44-02 23rd St., L.I.C.
(718) 392-0304
Ticket price: $15
Queens Chronical
With pajama-clad actors, a cloud-like white set and whimsical sound cues, the Queens Players’ production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” definitely emphasizes the night and the dream aspects of the play.
Their rendition of Shakespeare’s beloved comedy, running at the Secret Theatre through Jan. 3, is crisp, playful and wonderfully imaginative. The acting is sharp, the punch lines are delivered perfectly and the production moves along at an energetic clip.
You’re sure to leave the theater smiling after taking in the tale of frustrated lovers, mischievous fairies, amateur actors and love potions wrongly administered.
Each set of characters — the Athenian elite, the forest fairies and the lay people rehearsing a production of “Pyramus and Thisbe” — wears a distinct style of pajamas, making it easy to distinguish the groups and adding delightful comic effect.
The four principal lovers — Hermia and Lysander, Helena and Demetrius — are clad in bright pink and green garb. Oberon and Titania, the fairy king and queen, along with their entourage, shimmer in sleek satin.
The prize for best fashion goes to the troupe of half-witted laypeople, though, or “mechanicals” as they’re called. The amateur thespians sport bright red “onesies” throughout the show, the kind of pajamas you wore when you were 2. Brilliant costume choice.
The mechanicals also put forward some of the best acting in the production. Chris Kateff steals the show as Bottom, the verbose, self-important weaver who plays Pyramus in the play within the play and famously ends up with a donkey’s head. Kateff’s transformation to asshood is a delight to watch.
Andrew Ash, who chews innocently on the sleeve of his onesie as Flute the bellows mender, and Timothy Williams, who gingerly steps into the role of the lion while glumly clutching a teddy bear, are also particularly entertaining.
Three of the four Athenian lovers are aptly portrayed. Angelica Duncan is an adorably pixie-like Hermia. Katie Braden captures the desperately jealous Helena with fitting intensity. And Joe Mullen is a charmer as Lysander.
James Parenti is the weak link, beaming through scenes in which a look of outrage would be more fitting.
Jeni Ahlfeld deserves mention for her portrayal of Puck, the fairy messenger, a role she plays with nymph-like agility and appropriately devious grins.
If the acting and costumes aren’t enough to draw you to “Midsummer,” know that the production also includes a ukulele and armor made of a cardboard apple crate.
All told, it’s an excellent feel-good production and the perfect way to warm up a cold winter evening.
‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’
When: Select dates through Jan. 3.
Where: The Secret Theatre 44-02 23rd St., L.I.C.
(718) 392-0304
Ticket price: $15
Monday, December 7, 2009
DirectorFest 2009
With Midsummer up and running my attention has turned towards Directorfest 2009.
I am co-production managers with Peggy Samuels this year-and having two heads in better than one. Together we are organizing 4 30minute plays that will be put together in one night of theatre. Each show has its own set, lights, costumes, sound, cast, director, and stage manager. There are a lot of personalties in the room-good but overwhelming at times when we are brainstorming.
We began tech on Saturday morning at 8am-yes the Saturday after Midsummer opened-and will be in tech/dress through the opening on Thursday December 10th. Since I have been doing the prep work Peggy will be taking the lead during the actual tech (save for the 3 days I am here). Her stage manager background is immensely helpful in this situation, as well as her experience with Directorfest.
I have to say, while I love working on this show both production managing and working at the Drama League is a big undertaking this week. With everything together I will be working 150 hours this week alone. Insanity! But that is why I am in theatre yes? To work hard and tell stories.
Also tonight is the big ART/NY holiday party-I am going to pop in during our dinner break at the theatre. Should be a lovely time.
So far no more reviews for Midsummer have come out yet, but we know there are 2 or 3 more cooking somewhere.
Happy Monday!
I am co-production managers with Peggy Samuels this year-and having two heads in better than one. Together we are organizing 4 30minute plays that will be put together in one night of theatre. Each show has its own set, lights, costumes, sound, cast, director, and stage manager. There are a lot of personalties in the room-good but overwhelming at times when we are brainstorming.
We began tech on Saturday morning at 8am-yes the Saturday after Midsummer opened-and will be in tech/dress through the opening on Thursday December 10th. Since I have been doing the prep work Peggy will be taking the lead during the actual tech (save for the 3 days I am here). Her stage manager background is immensely helpful in this situation, as well as her experience with Directorfest.
I have to say, while I love working on this show both production managing and working at the Drama League is a big undertaking this week. With everything together I will be working 150 hours this week alone. Insanity! But that is why I am in theatre yes? To work hard and tell stories.
Also tonight is the big ART/NY holiday party-I am going to pop in during our dinner break at the theatre. Should be a lovely time.
So far no more reviews for Midsummer have come out yet, but we know there are 2 or 3 more cooking somewhere.
Happy Monday!
Sunday, December 6, 2009
BlogCritics Review of A Midsummer Night's Dream
The first review for A Midsummer Night's Dream came out this afternoon. Check it out!
Theater Review (NYC): A Midsummer Night's Dream
Author: Hannah Marie Ellison — Published: Dec 06, 2009
It’s easy to throw A Midsummer Night’s Dream out of balance – there are the pairs of moon-crossed lovers, then there are those rude mechanicals. Often the lovers are in such perfect sync with their out-of-whack, juice-of-the-flower induced crisscrossing that Nick Bottom and his pals seem superfluous. Or contrariwise, the preparation and performance of “The most lamentable comedy and most cruel death of Pyramus and Thisbe” can be so delightful that the romantic mix-ups pale in comparison. So it is a pleasure to report that Katherine M. Carter's dream inspired production, which opened Thursday night at The Secret Theatre in Long Island City, is an adorable delight all around, thanks to a brisk pace, enchanting music and solid performances from an enthusiastic cast.
For those who don't know, Midsummer is Shakespeare's magical classic comedy that involves two pairs of lovers who, after facing a romantic dilemma, flee into the woods only to become the playthings of a group of fairies who are having their own romantic challenges. There is a royal wedding with entertainment by an inept troupe of would-be actors who also fall prey to the fairy antics while rehearsing in the woods. Much confusion ensues with magic and mistaken identities before the air is cleared and things wrap up with a hilarious play within a play (which in this production is quite hilarious indeed).
Unlike some of the Bard's plays, Midsummer's setting is pretty malleable. I have seen productions set in everything from medieval castles to unknown planets without compromising the text. From the moment I walked into the Secret Theatre for last nights' performance, I was instantly swept away in director Carter's world. She has chosen to set her entire piece in a dream, with a stage that is white as snow and bare, save for two blocks and a few pieces of fabric hanging from the ceiling, representing columns. Her company of actors are dressed in colorful and very comfortable looking pajamas (I was a little jealous). It’s welcoming, relaxing and yes, dreamlike. The original music, composed by sound designer Jillian Marie Walker, adds to the magic and wonder and the lighting design by Lisa Hufnagel perfectly captures the mood of the piece.
It is a very playful environment that Carter has created and she has directed her actors to play and boy, do they ever. Carter has gathered together a fantastic ensemble cast. Both Tiffany D. Turner and Randy Warsaw excel as the fairy royals Titania and Oberon, as does the vivacious Jeni Ahlfeld (who also designed the lovely pajama costumes) as Oberon's servant Puck. The four lovers in this play can often be generic and hard to tell apart, but this Hermia (Angelica Duncan), Demetrius (James Parenti), Lysander (Joe Mullen) and Helena (Katie Braden) all have great moments with strong individual personalities and they are also very, very funny as well.
Then there are the mechanicals. As led by Chris Kateff’s gloriously ridiculous Bottom, they are anything but common folk. All of them – Timothy J. Cox as the hapless director Peter Quince, Andrew Ash as Flute, Charlotte Layne Dunn as Starveling, Miriam Mintz as Snout and Timothy Williams as Snug (complete with tiny bear companion) – under- and over-play beautifully, making their appearances seem too few, and too brief. Rounding out the ensemble is Charles Baker, who does fine work as Hermia's stubborn father, Egeus, as do Brandon Hillen and Heidi Zenz as Theseus and Hippolyta respectively. Sarah King (who sings wonderfully in the production, like a young Joni Mitchell) and Trish Phelps also provide able support in their brief roles as Peaseblossom and Cobweb.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream runs at The Secret Theatre until January 3rd. For information on tickets, please visit. www.secrettheatre.com
Theater Review (NYC): A Midsummer Night's Dream
Author: Hannah Marie Ellison — Published: Dec 06, 2009
It’s easy to throw A Midsummer Night’s Dream out of balance – there are the pairs of moon-crossed lovers, then there are those rude mechanicals. Often the lovers are in such perfect sync with their out-of-whack, juice-of-the-flower induced crisscrossing that Nick Bottom and his pals seem superfluous. Or contrariwise, the preparation and performance of “The most lamentable comedy and most cruel death of Pyramus and Thisbe” can be so delightful that the romantic mix-ups pale in comparison. So it is a pleasure to report that Katherine M. Carter's dream inspired production, which opened Thursday night at The Secret Theatre in Long Island City, is an adorable delight all around, thanks to a brisk pace, enchanting music and solid performances from an enthusiastic cast.
For those who don't know, Midsummer is Shakespeare's magical classic comedy that involves two pairs of lovers who, after facing a romantic dilemma, flee into the woods only to become the playthings of a group of fairies who are having their own romantic challenges. There is a royal wedding with entertainment by an inept troupe of would-be actors who also fall prey to the fairy antics while rehearsing in the woods. Much confusion ensues with magic and mistaken identities before the air is cleared and things wrap up with a hilarious play within a play (which in this production is quite hilarious indeed).
Unlike some of the Bard's plays, Midsummer's setting is pretty malleable. I have seen productions set in everything from medieval castles to unknown planets without compromising the text. From the moment I walked into the Secret Theatre for last nights' performance, I was instantly swept away in director Carter's world. She has chosen to set her entire piece in a dream, with a stage that is white as snow and bare, save for two blocks and a few pieces of fabric hanging from the ceiling, representing columns. Her company of actors are dressed in colorful and very comfortable looking pajamas (I was a little jealous). It’s welcoming, relaxing and yes, dreamlike. The original music, composed by sound designer Jillian Marie Walker, adds to the magic and wonder and the lighting design by Lisa Hufnagel perfectly captures the mood of the piece.
It is a very playful environment that Carter has created and she has directed her actors to play and boy, do they ever. Carter has gathered together a fantastic ensemble cast. Both Tiffany D. Turner and Randy Warsaw excel as the fairy royals Titania and Oberon, as does the vivacious Jeni Ahlfeld (who also designed the lovely pajama costumes) as Oberon's servant Puck. The four lovers in this play can often be generic and hard to tell apart, but this Hermia (Angelica Duncan), Demetrius (James Parenti), Lysander (Joe Mullen) and Helena (Katie Braden) all have great moments with strong individual personalities and they are also very, very funny as well.
Then there are the mechanicals. As led by Chris Kateff’s gloriously ridiculous Bottom, they are anything but common folk. All of them – Timothy J. Cox as the hapless director Peter Quince, Andrew Ash as Flute, Charlotte Layne Dunn as Starveling, Miriam Mintz as Snout and Timothy Williams as Snug (complete with tiny bear companion) – under- and over-play beautifully, making their appearances seem too few, and too brief. Rounding out the ensemble is Charles Baker, who does fine work as Hermia's stubborn father, Egeus, as do Brandon Hillen and Heidi Zenz as Theseus and Hippolyta respectively. Sarah King (who sings wonderfully in the production, like a young Joni Mitchell) and Trish Phelps also provide able support in their brief roles as Peaseblossom and Cobweb.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream runs at The Secret Theatre until January 3rd. For information on tickets, please visit. www.secrettheatre.com
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