Submitted by Dic Wheeler.
The Oddfellows Playhouse Teen Repertory Company is staging Shakespeare’s classic comedy A Midsummer Night’s Dream November 11 – 20, 2021 in Middletown.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream will be performed at Oddfellows Playhouse Youth Theater in Middletown. Performances will be at 7:00 p.m. on November 11 -13 and 19 – 20, as well as a matinee at 1:00 p.m. on November 20. Seating is limited and reservations are strongly encouraged.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream is one of the greatest comedies ever written, featuring a royal wedding, misguided lovers, mischievous fairies, and a clumsy group of manual laborers attempting to stage a play. The intersecting humors of love, magic, attachment, loyalty and free will make this a family friendly comedy that evokes as much laughter today as it did over 400 years ago. The 17 members of the Teen Repertory Company, all between the ages of 13 and 20, bring this spectacle to life with enthusiasm, acrobaticism and broad physicality.
The play is directed by ARTFARM Artistic Director Marcella Trowbridge, who has performed and directed many Shakespeare plays at Oddfellows, ARTFARM and around the country. Set Designer is Tony Palmieri; Lighting Designer is Jon-Paul LaRocco; Costumer Designer is Christian Milik; Sound Designer is Joseph Getter; Properties Designer is Caleb Warner. Circus and Contortion Choreography is by Allison McDermott and Naja Muller.
Tickets for A Midsummer Night’s Dream are $15 for adults and $8 for students. “Big Heart” tickets for $25 are available for anyone wanting to support Oddfellows’ work with young people, the arts and social justice. Tickets may be purchased at www.oddfellows.org, or by calling (860) 347-6143. Due to COVID restrictions, there will only be 50 seats sold for each performance, so pre-purchase is strongly recommended to avoid disappointment. Masking is requested of all audience members and staff, and non-vaccinated attendees are asked to get a negative test result within 3 days of the performance which you are attending (honor system).
Oddfellows Playhouse Youth Theater, founded in 1975, is located at 128 Washington Street in Middletown. The Playhouse offers classes, performance opportunities and events for young people ages 3 – 20, with an ongoing commitment to Equity and Accessibility. Winter session of classes and productions starts January 10, and will include a Teen Rep New Plays Festival, a Junior Repertory Company production of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, an original Circus-Theater piece by Circophony Teen Circus, and much, much more.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream is made possible thanks to support from the Middletown Commission on the Arts; Connecticut Office of the Arts/DECD; The Fund for Greater Hartford; City of Middletown; American Savings Foundation; State of Connecticut Judicial Branch (Youth Violence Prevention); Middletown Youth Services Bureau; Community Foundation of Middlesex County; Maximilian E. & Marion O. Hoffman Foundation; Thomas J. Atkins Memorial Trust Fund; Middlesex United Way; CHEFA Cultural Relief Grant; New England Foundation for the Arts/New England Arts Resilience Fund; George & Grace Long Foundation; and many generous individual donors.
Photos by Tony Palmieri.
