Come see Masque's production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream
By Lorenza Fechter
Do you like acting, magic, art and love? Do you like supporting a good cause? If you're reading this then your in luck! You and everyone you know is officially invited to MHS’s production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. The play will take place in the MHS auditorium, Friday November 1st at 7pm, followed by Saturday, November 2nd, at 7pm. It’s a comedy and romance by none other than the renowned William Shakespeare. The acting will be made up of a cast of MHS students who have been working very hard rehearsing for more than a month. To find out a little bit more about this production, I interviewed Kianna Bromely, the director of MHS Masque whose been working in theater for over twenty-five years, four and counting of which have been spent at MHS.
Lorenza Fechter: What should the audience be prepared for the night of the play?
Kianna Bromely: “This is an abridged version of the show, it’s an hour long” version of the original 2-3 hour shakespear play “so it’s really compact”, and “the story line moves really quickly”. “What we focused on for our production was focusing on the meaning” and “Really trying to get every actor to the point where they feel like they understand every single line and their choosing delivery methods of interpretation that’s at the grandest version of it, which is what Shakespeare was designed for, all of his work is as if all of his characters were fully alive.”
The way Kianna says she teaches acting Shakespeare “Is like you are fully alive your emotions, you're not living in this dull monotone zone were we kind of like to sit so that we don’t draw attention to ourselves, there at the full capacity of their emotions all the time.” So no matter the role, each character has the chance to really shine on stage each night of the play.
As an audience member you “Should be ready for very big emotions, a plot that’s moving really quickly” and very quick scene transitions, with “Barely any time between scenes.”
LF: If people can’t understand all the dialogue, is the acting going to come into play more, and the scenes?
KB: “Yes, hopefully the action, the way their relating to each other, and their body language should help move it along and the abridged version helps a lot, because it cuts out a lot of long, speeches where people get lost.”
LF: What will the audiences main take-away be when they leave the play?
Jules Caserta and Cody Smith work on set as Masque crew members.
Jules Caserta staple-guns some cardboard onto a stair-like prop.
KB: “I hope that they walk away being refreshed in that you don’t always have to understand exactly what the words mean in order to understand a story.”
The audience may find themselves laughing throughout the show as well. “The story line and plots are actually written with every class in mind,-and there is humor.” Snuck in between the old english, you may catch a dirty joke or two.
LF: Why Shakespeare's play? What inspired you to choose such a famous play like this one?
KB: “I chose it because they’re hard, or people perceive them as hard. They’re not necessarily hard, there’s just a perception that their harder, and it’s because it’s in a different language.” “It’s almost like the audiences now feel like they need to be educated in order to understand Shakespeare, but that’s the task, that’s why it’s challenging to take on Shakespeare because their perception is that you need to be really smart to understand it, that’s not true”
Kianna went into greater depth around the common misconception that Shakespeare is geared towards only educated individuals.
”What’s interesting is that back then, the play was made for people of all classes, and education levels. Back than: “It was actually written in common english”, but because of the vocabulary change since the 1600’s there’s this idea Shakespeare's work is geared towards the more educated because of the more complicated old english aspects of it, compared to our everyday vocabulary, when really it was originally designed for people of all backgrounds and levels of education.
Not only will the production be beautifully acted and executed, but the backdrop and props will be an exceptional experience within itself. The woods in the play will create a very “Mystical environment” as Kianna put it.
An interview with crew member Jules Casserta informed me just how breathtaking the set will be:
LF: What are you going for in the set itself?
JC: An “Earthy, and kind of a creepier vibe- so people are going to think Earth and they’re going to think: Flowers, fun nice. We kind of twist that around to make it darker.”
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Kianna says: The new technical director, Joe Sanguinetti, “Is working really hard with the tech crew” to create a scene environment. “When you walk in, you're going to see our mystical woods”, including “A fog machine, [and] the use of the new LED lights from the renovation.”
“Using the full depth [of the stage] on purpose, we’re creating a set that has layers when you look back into it, and people come from the depths of the wood and find their way to the front”.
LF: How does coming to the play support Masque and support the production?
KB: “Coming to see our productions really supports the work that’s being done, and it also lets the cast members and the crew members have a chance to show their work and showcase it and have people come to see it, it’s super impactful. It’s also a really great cultural event, I highly suggest communities, families, students and people to see theater. Theater is a representation of society and it sparks discussion, it has people relating to each other and experiencing something. It’s a great shared experience to go see a production and then talk about it. As well as supporting the program, we use the money to continually fund other shows.”
But if great acting, a twisted natural environment, comfortable seats, community gathering, and supporting a good cause is not for you, then keep walking and don’t look back. But know that people will be talking about this production long after opening night. Hope to see you there!
Far left: Coyah Mosher-Camera, middle Zach Henningsen, right Jojo Michaelson are illuminated by the dazzling set while rehearsing A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Photo by Kianna Bromley.
The pillars are covered in paper mache, towering over everyone who walks by. Come to the show to see the finished product!