MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Local
audiences can enjoy "A Midsummer
Night's Dream" amid autumn's chill Nov. 9-12 when MTSU Theatre
students and Nashville Shakespeare
Festival professionals transform their first-time alliance into splendid —
and high-fashion — comedy.
The cast features 20 students and four pros: MTSU professor Kyle Kennedy, the Department of Theatre and Dance’s head of acting, as the
disciplinarian father Egeus; Shakespeare Festival artistic director and
longtime Nashville favorite Denice Hicks
as the glamorous fairy queen Titania; acclaimed Nashville actor Brian Russell as Oberon, king of the
fairies; and Nashville actor Justin Hand
as the comedic Bottom.
The student cast includes Parker
Chase, Alexa Pulley, Lakryslin Williams, Chris Anderson, Connor McCabe, Devin
Bowles, Cailyn Hurley, Blake Holliday, John Carter, Jay Mullens, Aaron Johnson,
Gabriel Matos, JR Knowles, Lauren Hawkins, Ren Creasy, Meredith Aydelott,
Mallory Gonyea, Kaitlin Newcomb, Chance Rule and Matthew Phillips.
A complete cast and crew listing is available at http://ow.ly/24h030glhgY.
Curtain times are 7:30 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, Nov. 9-11, and 2 p.m.
Sunday, Nov. 12. Advance tickets,
available at http://www.mtsuarts.com,
are $10 general admission and $5 for K-12 students and senior citizens 55 and
older. MTSU students will be admitted free with current IDs.
The production also includes 10 a.m. matinee performances Nov. 8-10 for
local school groups. School leaders can contact the Festival’s Morgan Davis for tickets at morgan@nashvilleshakes.org or 615-255-2273.
“Audiences should expect a fast-paced, fun and incredibly colorful
production,” says director and MTSU adjunct professor Santiago Sosa, who serves as artistic associate/apprentice company
director for the Nashville Shakespeare Festival.
“In creating our own world, we created our own rules which puts no
limitations on the creative team. NSF is always looking to entertain and
educate in every way we can throughout Middle Tennessee, and this is just
another one of those great opportunities.”
In a glittery nutshell, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” first published in
1600 and performed in Queen Elizabeth I’s court in 1605, links four
interconnecting plots with the upcoming wedding of the Athenian duke Theseus
and the Amazonian queen Hippolyta.
The plots include the adventures of four young Athenian lovers and a
group of six amateur actors, the "rude mechanicals," who are
controlled and manipulated by the fairies that inhabit the forest in which most
of the play is set.
Sosa's concept sets Shakespeare's popular comedy in an imagined Athenian
world inspired by high fashion. It features a magical soundscape by Nashville composer
Natalie Bell and costume design, set
design and lighting by MTSU theater professors Tommy Macon, Scott Boyd
and Darren Levin, respectively.
“The world we have all collaborated to build is so unique,” Sosa says. “These
students are hard workers. They amaze me every day. They are smart and
enthusiastic. They NEVER complain. They are hungry for more and encourage and
inspire me with their discipline and generous spirit. They all gel so well, and
in a large cast like this, that can sometimes be rare. They continue to affirm
why I do theatre, especially Shakespearean work.”
Sosa first proposed the partnership between MTSU and the Nashville
Shakespeare Festival, which has seen many MTSU students on its stages and in
its crews in its near 30-year history, to theatre and dance chair Jeff Gibson two years ago.
“NSF, as a company, enjoys teaching, growing, and mentoring young
artists with Shakespeare,” Sosa says. “It's such a wonderful gift to be able to
create with MTSU and share in their creative spirit.
“Shakespeare is for everyone, and being able to reach out a little
further outside of Nashville is important to us.”
Tickets also will be available at the Tucker Theatre box office one hour
before curtain times. For more information about the show, visit http://www.mtsuarts.com. For more information on the
Nashville Shakespeare Festival, visit https://www.nashvilleshakes.org.
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