2014 New Stages Tour Production Guide A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S dream Asolo Repertory Theatre presents an FSU/Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training Production: A Midsummer Night s Dream by William Shakespeare Adapted & Directed by Jen Wineman Touring schools September 29 - November 25
Asolo Rep Leadership Producing Artistic Director Michael Edwards Managing Director Linda DiGabriele FSU/Asolo Conservatory Director & Associate Artistic Director of Asolo Rep Greg Leaming MIDSUMMER CREATIVE TEAM Director Jen Wineman Resident Dramaturg Lauryn E. Sasso Costume Design Elizabeth Barrett Groth Sound Design Matthew Parker Props Master Marlenn Whitney Voice & Dialect Coach Patricia Delorey Stage Manager Becki Zaritsky Asolo Rep Education & Outreach Staff Education & Outreach Director Kathryn Moroney Education & Outreach Specialist Tiffany Ford Education & Outreach Apprentice Brittney Biddle the 2013 New stages cast answers student questions following a school performance Overview The New Stages Tour brings a Shakespeare performance directly to your school. You will be seeing a 45-minute adaptation of A Midsummer Night s Dream performed by actors in the Florida State University MFA Conservatory Acting Program. It is their 3rd and final year in this professional training program, housed at Asolo Repertory Theatre in Sarasota, FL. Every performance is followed by a question and answer session with the cast. We encourage you to think about what you might like to ask the actors, including questions about the play, how they interpret their characters, or about their experience rehearsing and performing Shakespeare s work. Teachers are invited to join us for our special Educators Open House and preview performance on Wednesday October 1 from 5-7pm. RSVP by emailing education@asolo.org, and watch to receive confirmation from a member of our staff. EXTRA RESOURCES When you see this logo, additional information is available online at asolorep.org/education/resources. Why do we keep going to the woods? 3 A Midsummer Night s Dream is one of William Shakespeare s most beloved and widely produced plays. It is a comedy that exposes truths about love, self-expression, and society which enjoys even more popularity now than when it was first produced in 1596 England. The irony, of course, is that A Midsummer Night s Dream was not popular in its day. The play was rarely performed until 1840, ushering in a rage for fairies, goblins, sprites, pixies and elves in the 19th century. Critic Randy Gener Full article available online. The plot portrays three parallel story lines with characters who venture into the woods to follow their passions: 1. Young lovers escaping adults and their laws, 2. A group of common craftsmen attempting to rehearse a play for the Duke of Athens 3. Fairies who inhabit the woods, ruled by their own King and Queen. At night in the woods, the lovers and the craftsmen have separate, dreamlike experiences that cause them to question themselves and their passions. They return to society, the But we are spirits of another sort. Oberon, King of the Fairies City of Athens, a little different than when they left. Esteemed director Anne Bogart described her own personal response to Midsummer: The play reminds us that the world we inhabit is far richer, more multifaceted and more mysterious than the repetitions of our day-to-day lives would lead us to assume. We need to believe in fairies and come to know that each of us has a fairy lurking inside. Major Support From Table of Contents COMPARE RELATE CREATE Overview... 2 Asolo Rep Theatre Guild Charles and Marjorie Barancik David and Betty-Jean Bavar Cordelia Lee Beattie Foundation Mandell and Madeleine Berman Foundation Harold C. and Jacqueline F. Bladel Foundation Carole Crosby and Larry Wickless Linnie E. Dalbeck Memorial Foundation Trust Susan Dweck Andrew R. Ferrell Foundation Bill and Christine Isaac William Lawson Plantation Community Foundation Kim and Mark Standish Why do we keep going into the woods?...3 Modernizing Shakespeare...4 Modernizing this production...5 Characters: Welcome to Athens Academy...6-7 After the show...8 Upcoming at Asolo Rep...8 Think of a story with fairies or other magical creatures as influential characters. How would you describe those creatures? What is their influence on the humans around them? Can you compare examples from different time periods or cultures? What do they have in common? Do the differences suggest how the magical creature reflects its time and place? Describe ideas you connect with The Woods, including sensory and emotional adjectives. Do the same for The City. Going Further: Find a written passage, poem, photo, artwork, or piece of music that expresses your impression of one or both places. Why do you think Shakespeare chose to send his characters out of the city and into the forest? What other plays, books, or films have a similar motif, using a trip into the woods or natural world as an important part of the story? When do you feel like a spirit of another sort? What would your fairy lurking inside look like? How would it behave? How is it different from how you usually appear in your life? Going Further: Create an artwork or poem describing your fairy.
Modernizing shakespeare 4 Modernizing This production 5 Laurence tennant jokes, Hawaiian shirts were all the rage in the renaissance. ANALYZE Today, Shakespeare s plays are often adapted and produced with a twist. The director chooses a different style, time, and/or setting than is depicted in the original script. This can range from a contemporary urban neighborhood, to a WWII battlefield, to a minimalist style void of time and place. Despite the modern elements, the original language is often maintained or kept mostly intact with some cuts, like in Baz Luhrmann s pop-style film of Romeo + Juliet or Anne Bogart s Dust Bowl era stage adaptation of A Midsummer Night s Dream. Since Directors have taken such radical liberties with Shakespeare s works, there are many perspectives on modernizing Shakespeare. Purists Say... The first production of Hamlet in modern dress happened 50 years ago in England. Everyone was amazed. But today when one does external modernizing fascist uniforms in the Roman plays, or playing Shakespeare in jeans and bringing motor bikes on stage this amounts to a new cliché. Director, Peter Brook. Shakespeare wrote for a bare stage... The audience should focus purely on the plays themselves. There is a particular power and majesty to his language. Adaptations threaten to obscure his rhetorical beauty and foreground costumes, settings and starlets instead. Take Baz Luhrmann s Romeo + Juliet, where lines are shouted and screamed in front of overwhelmingly kaleidoscopic backgrounds, to the extent that it is a farce to brand the movie a Shakespearean adaptation at all... Lord of the Rings wouldn t be the same if it was adapted into a New York mob thriller. So why do directors think that they can transplant Shakespeare onto the most ridiculous contexts successfully? It s often an attention-grabbing stunt. Journalist Laurence Tennant. Modernizers say... We wanted it to feel urgent and real, populated by characters we could connect with and understand... We set out to make the characters feel human because they are clearly embodied by thinking, feeling people, rather than being the verbal abstractions they can sometimes turn into in the school room. Writer, A.J. Hartley co-wrote Macbeth, A Novel My goal is to try to penetrate what is behind the text, what the author was truly trying to say... Modernizing Hamlet is not bringing in gimmicks; it is digging deeply into the text to find the level where one touches the fibers that have been buried through the years, and have led people to think that the text is sacrosanct. It means making something from the past live in the present representing. And representing demands different things in different plays. Director Peter Brook Full articles available online. Which side are you on? Would you prefer to see a modernized or traditional production of Shakespeare? Why? Peter Brook is an acclaimed director of Shakespeare, and his two quotes were taken from the same interview about his recent production of Hamlet. Why would a director choose to modernize Shakespeare when he believes that most modernizations are cliché? Have you seen an example of an older story adapted for modern times on stage or film? What older story would be interesting to see adapted to a new setting? DID YOU KNOW? Beyond modern settings, in some artists hands Shakespeare s plots provide the source for completely new works, like the musical-turned-film West Side Story (re-envisioning of Romeo and Juliet), and the film-turned-musical, The Lion King (re-envisioning of Hamlet). See more examples of film modernizations of Shakespeare s plays in an article from The Guardian. I have had a rare vision. I have had a dream, past the wit of man to say what dream it was. - Bottom, the Mechanicals leading player A Director s vision often comes from a message or theme in the script that he/she believes is important for the audience to see, hear, and explore. Asolo Rep s Director Jen Wineman describes her vision: In his book, The Power of Myth, Joseph Campbell wrote, Shakespeare said that art is a mirror held up to nature. And that s what it is. The nature is your nature, and all of these wonderful poetic images of mythology are referring to something in you.... While Midsummer deals heavily with magic, my hope is that students will be able to connect with the very human experiences the characters are dealing with: unrequited love, parental disapproval, a desire to rebel, and a need for self-expression. Wineman wants these connections to be recognizable for all the students who see the play. It made sense to focus the storytelling on the young lovers. The city of Athens becomes Athens Academy, a prestigious private school where Helena, Hermia, Demetrius, and Lysander all attend. Hippolyta and Theseus rule the school as dean and principal, while the fairies are represented by rebellious teens who would rather hang out in the woods near the academy than go to class. Our Mechanicals come from the custodial staff, the groundskeepers, the lunchroom staff. These characters, their worlds, and their roles within the story are further explored on the following pages. ANALYZE + CREATE EGEUS Full of vexation I come, with complaint Against my child, my daughter Hermia. Stand forth, Demetrius. My noble lord, This man has my consent to marry her. Stand forth, Lysander: and my gracious duke, This man hath bewitch d the bosom of my child; Be it so she; will not here before your grace Consent to marry with Demetrius, I beg the ancient privilege, As she is mine, I may dispose of her. What say you, Hermia? Demetrius is a worthy gentleman. So is Lysander. In himself he is; But in this kind, wanting your father s voice, The other must be held the worthier. I would my father look d but with my eyes. Rather your eyes must with his judgment look. I do entreat your grace to pardon me. But I beseech your grace that I may know The worst that may befall me in this case, If I refuse to wed Demetrius. Interpret the above excerpt from Midsummer. If time allows, these can be performed for the class. Rewrite each character s lines in modern language. What is happening to each character and how does he or she feel about it? How can you tell? Have you had a similar conversation? Who does Egeus represent to you, in your world? Who does Theseus represent? Where would this conversation take place in 2014? Pick a song that you would play in connection with your version of this scene.
CHARACTERS: WELCOME TO ATHENS ACADEMY! 6 CHARACTERS: WELCOME TO ATHENS ACADEMY! 7 Meet the Administration & Faculty... Theseus, the Principal, and Hippolyta, the Dean, are engaged. Egeus, a teacher at Athens Academy, is frustrated with his daughter, Hermia. Egeus disapproves of Hermia s boyfriend, Lysander, and instead wants her to date Demetrius. Egeus seeks help from Theseus to put Hermia in line. Meet the OUTSIDERS... Some students have dropped out of Athens Academy, rather than tolerate a strict, rule-ridden environment. They hang out in the woods where they feel more comfortable being themselves. Oberon & Titania are the leaders.they are in love, but they also have passionate fights. The Outsiders, who call themselves fairies, are very in touch with nature, and practice magical powers. Oberon asks Puck, his faithful friend, to use magic to help the Lovers fix their relationship turmoil. In Act V, Scene 1, Puck says: Now it is the time of night That the graves all gaping wide, Every one lets forth his sprite, In the church-way paths to glide: And we fairies, that do run By the triple Hecate s team, From the presence of the sun, Following darkness like a dream, Now are frolic: not a mouse Shall disturb this hallow d house. I am sent with broom before, To sweep the dust behind the door. DID YOU KNOW? Directors often use images to communicate their vision with the creative team and actors. Designers are not usually asked to replicate what they see in the images, but simply to use them as inspiration. The photos included on these pages inspired our director, Jen Wineman. For example, the costume designer might be given the photo of the man with horns (page 7) and ask Wineman; Is it the idea of the horns specifically, the animal quality, or the mix of hard and soft natural material that interests you for this character? As you watch the play, see if you can infer Wineman s answer. Meet the School Staff... INTERPRET Shakespeare uses the motif of darkness versus light throughout this play. What do you think he is trying to say about these seemingly opposing forces? What role do dreams play in our lives? Do you think more truth is uncovered in the darkness and illusions of dreams? Do you think dreams are just a distraction that should be swept behind the door, as Puck refers? ANALYZE Meet the Students & Lovers... Hermia & Lysander plan to flee to Lysander s Aunt s house to escape Theseus and Egeus who threaten their relationship. Helena is still in love with her ex, Demetrius, who is now in love with Hermia. Helena decides to tell Demetrius that Hermia & Lysander are fleeing into the woods. According to Helena s monologue: Why did Demetrius leave her? Why does she decide to tell Demetrius that Hermia is fleeing to the woods? What is the benefit? What is the cost? Do you think Helena is acting reasonably? If you were Helena, what would you do about your feelings for Demetrius? If you were Helena s close friend, what advice would you give her about her relationship with Demetrius? Jen Wineman proposes, Helena might be a little emo now. What do you think she means by that? In Act I, Scene 1, Helena says: How happy some o er other some can be! Through Athens I am thought as fair as she. But what of that? Demetrius thinks not so; He will not know what all but he do know: Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind; And therefore is wing d Cupid painted blind: For ere Demetrius look d on Hermia s eyne, He hail d down oaths that he was only mine; And when this hail some heat from Hermia felt, So he dissolved, and showers of oaths did melt. I will go tell him of fair Hermia s flight: Then to the wood will he to-morrow night Pursue her; and for this intelligence If I have thanks, it is a dear expense: But herein mean I to enrich my pain, To have his sight thither and back again. COMPARE The Rude Mechanicals are the blue collar staff, such as groundskeepers, cafeteria crew, and custodians at Athens Academy. Quince, Snout, Starveling, Flute, Snug, and Bottom plan to perform a play called Pyramus & Thisbe for Theseus & Hippolyta s wedding. Excited to be creative and express themselves, they venture into the woods behind the school to rehearse obscenely and courageously. Bottom is, by far, the most over-confident actor in the group and tends to make a fool of himself. In Act IV, Scene 1, Bottom says: The eye of man hath not heard, the ear of man hath not seen, man s hand is not able to taste, his tongue to conceive, nor his heart to report, what my dream was. I will get Peter Quince to write a ballad of this dream: it shall be called Bottom s Dream, because it hath no bottom... Read this excerpt from Bottom aloud to a partner, then have your partner read the excerpt from Helena to you (page 6). What sounds different? Note: All of the Mechanicals speak in prose, instead of poetry. Prose is the most ordinary form of written or spoken language, without metrical structure. The rest of the characters in the play speak metered rhythm and sometimes in rhyming couplets. Going Further: Compare the two examples of the verse on these pages from Helena and Puck. How are they similar? How different? What do you hear when they are spoken aloud? Why do you think Shakespeare wrote this way? RELATE Wineman says, Midsummer is first and foremost a comedy. And part of why we laugh is because these characters are familiar, especially for young audiences. If you were a character in this play, who would you be? Are you one of the Lovers who lives in the world of daylight and order, but follows love to the woods? Are you a Mechanical with a hidden talent? Are you a Fairy who thrives in your own environment? See how the actors answer this question by following the cast. AsoloRepEdu @MidsummerAsolo
Check online for other resources, including photo and video updates starting in September. Asolorep.org/Education/Resources @MidsummerAsolo Facebook.com/AsoloRepEdu After the Show: Send us your review of the performance! Post your thoughts at facebook.com/asolorepedu, or email us at education@asolo.org. Not sure how to start? We d love to hear your perspective on How would you describe this performance to someone who hasn t seen it? Which characters reminded you of people you know in real life? Why? What surprised you? What type of theatre would you like to see from Asolo Rep next? What would it have in common with this performance? What would be different? Asolo Rep s 2014-15 Student Matinee Season South Pacific, November 25 at 10:30am The Matchmaker, February 3 & 10 at 10:30am As You Like It, January 14 what 10:30am Both Your Houses, February 24 at 10:30am For more information, contact us at: education@asolo.org 941-351-9010 ext 3307 Asolorep.org/education/school _programs