Denison brings Midsummer’s Night Dream to the stage

Date of Event: April 20, 2012

Posted: April 6, 2012

GRANVILLE, Ohio—Denison University Theatre will close its 81st subscription season with Shakespeare’s delightful fantasy, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” directed by Cheryl McFarren, assistant professor of theatre. Performance dates are Friday and Saturday, April 20 and 21, and Wednesday through Saturday, April 25 to 28, at 8 p.m. and Sundays, April 22 and 29, at 3 p.m. in Burke Black Box Theatre (240 W. Broadway). Tickets are $8 for general admission, $5 for senior citizens, and $4 for students. For reservations, contact the box office at 740-587-6527. For more information, visit www.denison.edu.

Shakespeare’s energetic comedy takes the problems of young love and amateur play production away from the strictures of early Athens and into the woods, where the dreamscape is ruled by capricious fairies who entertain themselves by messing with mortals. Ruling the mad festivities, while privately quarreling, are Oberon, Titania and Oberon’s mischievous servant Puck, played by sophomore Christopher Morriss (Allendale, N.J.), senior Elizabeth Ammon Hollister (New Richmond, Ohio) and first-year student Matthew DeMotts (St. Cloud, Minn.), respectively.

The mortal lovers caught up in the midnight madness are Hermia and Helena, played by juniors Caroline Swaller (Austin, Texas) and Ellen Rosebrough (Wildwood, Mo.), and their would-be swains, Lysander and Demetrius, played by sophomore Ben Chiewphasa (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) and first-year student Jacob Betts (Bryan, Ohio).

The amateur actors are Shakespeare’s clueless “rude mechanicals,” workmen who hope to dazzle their rulers with an original production at the royal nuptials. While rehearsing in that enchanted wood, their star, Nick Bottom, is led astray and given the head of an ass, as well as a most memorable dream. Sophomore Michael Herman (Woodridge, Ill.) plays Bottom; sophomore Julianne Hyer (Brentwood, Tenn.) plays the reluctant participant Snug the Joiner; and senior Kale Hills (Parkville, Mo.) plays Peter Quince, the troupe’s director.

Others in the cast are sophomore John Hewson (Upper Saddle River, N.J.) as Duke Theseus and first-year students Margaret Mugel (Amherst, N.Y.) as his betrothed Hippolyta, and Will Brackenbury (Cincinnati, Ohio) as Hermia’s father Egeus. Sophomore Jennifer Salkin (Solon, Ohio) plays Titania’s principal fairy, Peaseblossom. Doubling as workmen and Titania’s fairies are first-year students Merlin Bell (St. Louis, Mo.) and Emma Skorepa (Medina, Ohio), and Granville fifth-grader, Tobias McFarren.

The stage manager is junior Laura Hoffman (Charlotte, N.C.) and the scenic designer is senior Kaitlyn Grissom (Newark, Ohio). Associate Professor Cynthia Turnbull is the costume designer, and Graham Campbell of Newark, Ohio is the lighting designer. Music for the production has been composed by Neska Laflamme of Luray, Va.

Calendar Listing:

CALENDAR LISTING, Denison University Theatre, Granville—“A Midsummer Night’s Dream” at 8 p.m., on Friday and Saturday, April 20 and 21, and Wednesday through Saturday, April 25 to 28; and at 3 p.m., on Sundays, April 22 and 29, in Burke Black Box Theatre (240 W. Broadway). Tickets are $8 for general admission, $5 for senior citizens, and $4 for students. For reservations, contact the box office at 740-587-6527. For more information, visit www.denison.edu.

About Denison:

Denison University, founded in 1831, is an independent, residential liberal arts institution located in Granville, Ohio. A highly selective college enrolling 2,100 full-time undergraduate students from all 50 states and dozens of foreign countries, Denison is a place where innovative faculty and motivated students collaborate in rigorous scholarship, civic engagement and the cultivation of independent thinking.

For press inquiries:

Name: Ginny Sharkey
Position Title: Media Relations
Primary Email: sharkeyv@denison.edu
Business Phone: (740) 587-6266

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