Campus arts groups collaborate on Shakespeare's 'Midsummer Night's Dream'

It is rare in Princeton's shockingly compartmentalized arts community to find the major performing groups on campus working together. Yet if you walk into rehearsal for the Princeton Shakespeare Company's upcoming production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream," this is exactly what you will see.

The show, which goes up this weekend in Richardson Auditorium, not only combines Shakespeare's text with the complete incidental music by Felix Mendelssohn, but it combines the talents of the Princeton University Orchestra with those of performers and tech people from organizations such as the Triangle Club, Theatre-Intime, BodyHype, the Katzenjammers, the Nassoons, Quipfire!, the Program in Theater and Dance, the Department of English and, of course, the Princeton Shakespeare Company.

PSC was founded by Davis McCallum '95 and is known for its unconventional performances of Shakespeare's works, often staging them outside in the various courtyards and archways around campus. Recent productions by the company include last spring's "Henry IV, Part I," set in the East Pyne courtyard, and "Othello," which was performed in the Wilson School fountain this fall.

It was orchestra conductor Michael Pratt who originated the idea for the current production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream." When Pratt saw "Henry IV, Part I" (directed by Nick Merritt '99), he was impressed by the quality of the production and decided to e-mail Professor Thomas P. Roche of the Department of English, who was listed as the faculty advisor for PSC, with a proposal.

In the e-mail, Pratt offered to let PSC use one of the orchestra's regular performance slots at Richardson if they or Roche would be interested in using it to stage a production of "Midsummer" that would use both Shakespeare's text and Mendelssohn's music. "This has been a dream of mine for a long time . . . and [Roche] got back to me in about two seconds," Pratt said. Roche's answer was "Yes," and this unusual collaboration was born.

Roche decided to direct the production himself. Though he is a veteran performer on the Princeton campus — audiences may remember his performances in "Henry IV" and "Arcadia" last spring — he had never directed before. He "had some ideas" for the show, but he realized he would need some experienced help on the technical aspects of the production. So he called on Katie Oman '00 (then president of the Triangle Club) and Marion Friedman '00 to serve as production manager and stage manager (and now assistant director), respectively. As Roche himself said of his support staff, "You can't get any better than that. [They have been] absolutely superb."

According to Roche, this fall, he saw over seventy-five auditions before deciding on a final cast of twenty-two. When it was all over, Roche had assembled what many have been calling an "all-star cast," drawing on performers from greatly varying backgrounds: Adam Friedman '01, in the double role of Theseus and Oberon; Mary Bonner Baker '00 in the double role of Hippolyta and Titania; Majel Connery '01 as Hermia; Kate MacKenzie '00 as Helena; Tommy Dewey '01 as Demetrius; Doug Schachtel '01 as Lysander; and Todd Barry '00 as Puck, the mischievous fairy who is responsible for all the commotion and confusion so essential to the comedy.

Add to this the supporting cast members — nearly all of whom are often cast in lead roles in campus productions — and it is clear that this production has generated an extraordinary amount of interest in the campus arts community.

However, Roche and Pratt did not stop there. Mendelssohn's score for "Midsummer" contains vocal parts for a fairy chorus as well as soloists. To fill these parts, Pratt turned to his wife, Marty Elliot, who is a vocal teacher on campus, for advice.

At the time, several of Elliot's students were members of the Katzenjammers, the a cappella group known for its classically trained singers. So Pratt approached Nicole Pantos '00, former Katzenjammer president, and asked if she and the other Katzenjammer women would be interested in performing as part of the production. The Katzenjammers agreed.

In a collaboration of such a diverse group of artists, the potential for disaster seems overwhelming, yet according to everyone involved, there have been few problems as the production has been taking shape. "It's been going pretty smoothly," said production manager Oman, explaining that the various parts of the program — orchestra, actors and singers — have been able to "take care of themselves." In fact, it has only been in the last two weeks of rehearsal that the orchestra and the actors have been able to actually work together.

All sides have been well prepared separately, and at the first rehearsal with orchestra and actors, there was an ongoing dialogue between Pratt, Roche and the students in charge of coordinating aspects of the production to fit with the orchestra's music. Jared Ramos '01 is in charge of fairy choreography and Jacqueline Schaeffer '00 takes responsibility for the blocking of the famous "play within a play."

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Despite the elaborate collaborations involved in the production, Roche's vision of the production is a simple one. "There's no attempt at realism," said Roche, explaining that the set consists of only a few oversized cushions and the preexisting "Tiffany splendors" of Richardson Auditorium. Roche also made the decision to put the orchestra on stage with the actors and to allow each to watch the other while they are performing. The costumes, too, resist realism. Classy is the theme for the men, who will be dressed mainly in tuxedos, while shiny and glittery seem to be appropriate words to describe the women's gowns and the fairies' attire.

Pratt sees an artistic as well as a logistical advantage to the simplicity of the production, since it allows the audience's full attention to be on the actors and the orchestra, rather than on technical, special effects. "The thrill of hearing that text with this music is just extraordinary," said Pratt, who believes that Mendelssohn, who lived more than 200 years after Shakespeare wrote "A Midsummer Night's Dream," had a "profound understanding" of the text.

"It brings tears to the eyes," Pratt said of hearing the music in the context of the play. "This is quite a rare, rare treat," he continued, pointing out that cost is often prohibitive to professional orchestras and Shakespeare companies that might consider a production of this sort, since one would generally have to hire the other. On the other hand, the resources for this sort of production have always been here, they just have not been utilized until now. As Pratt puts it, "This is what a University ought to be doing."

So, come see it all come together this weekend: the geniuses of the greatest playwright of all time and of a brilliant young composer, combined with the talents and visions of students and faculty from all parts of the Princeton arts community. As Roche himself said, "You can't get any better than that."

"A Midsummer Night's Dream" will be performed Thurs. March 2 - Sat. March 4 at 8 p.m., and Sat. March 4 at 2 p.m. Call (609) 258-5000 for reservations.