Carnegie Mellon Students Perform Creative Outdoor Production of A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM

Carnegie Mellon University seniors got creative with their own production of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream after their performances were cancelled due tot he health crisis, Trib Live reports.

Adira Rosen, a 21-year-old senior directing major, got together with a few fellow CMU drama students to mount the production.

"We were trying to figure out how to perform 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' with a tiny little cast in a parking lot somewhere and have people come and sit around in a socially distanced manner," said Rosen. "But no one would lend us their parking lot."

Instead, they performed from the front porches, balconies, fire escapes and in the windows of three separate apartment houses. Performances took place from Aug. 28-31.

There were 13 actors total, three of whom also served as directors, and one stage manager.

"One thing we've definitely been taught in the School of Drama is using your space. Usually that's in the context of a traditional theater, but obviously this is not the case. So, this time using the space meant, in my house, performing inside our home," Rosen said. "We have these windows that face an alley and so we were kind of like (the 1960s TV show) 'Laugh-In,' popping in and out of these windows and doors and engaging with the audience in that way."

Unfortunately, the play was shut down after just four performances because of complaints about the noise from some neighborhood residents.

"We are just artists trying to perform," Rosen said. "We were really hoping to share with people that we're struggling too and this is bigger than just a couple of teenagers wanting to scream Shakespeare from their balconies. It's about losing our community and losing our outlet and everything that comes with that and asking our community to support us and see us as essential and theater and storytelling as important in bringing a community together."

Read more on Trib Live.