Hedgerow Theatre Partners With Mauckingbird Theatre Company On Reimagined A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM

Shakespeare's whimsical tale of young love and mischievous fairies will get a reimagined look this summer in Delaware County. Hedgerow Theatre Company partners with Mauckingbird Theatre, the Philadelphia company known for innovative, affordable, gay‐themed productions, and inviting audiences to leap into the magical world of A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Mauckingbird Artistic Director Peter Reynolds -who returns to Hedgerow after directing Tartuffe and The World According to Snoopy -reconceives Athens as an elite boarding school adjacent to a forest full of enchanted flowers, fluid identities, and expansive possibilities. A Midsummer Night's Dream runs July 24-August 11. Opening Night is Friday, , July 26 at 7 p.m. 

In partnership with Hedgerow Theatre, Mauckingbird Theatre Company makes its return to production since pausing operations  during the pandemic with Shakespeare's classic tale of young love, magic, mayhem, hilarity, and discovery. Celebrating our LGBTQIA+ community, Director Peter Reynolds offers a joyful 90-minute version of A Midsummer Night's Dream as a modern tale set in an elite boarding school, where four students find themselves in a supernaturally heightened love tangle. Hermia is being forced by her father to marry Demetrius, a young man in her school. But she is already in love with Lysander, a young woman in her class. Meanwhile, her best friend -a young man named Helena- is smitten with Demetrius. When the four schoolmates run off into the forest, full of mischievous fairies and beguiling visions, mayhem and surprising discoveries meet them at every turn.

“Any story that involves people coming together in love and understanding is welcome at this time,” said Reynolds, Artistic Director of Mauckingbird and the head of Temple University's Musical Theater Department. “I am excited to revisit this play at beautiful, historical Hedgerow.”

“We could  not be more fortunate to team up with our colleagues of the intrepid and magical Mauckingbird Theatre Company for this joy-filled, beautiful, and celebratory summer Shakespeare romp,” said Hedgerow Executive Artistic Director Marcie Brammucci. “Peter infuses his work with joy, humor, and love. He elevates each artist and process that he is a part of. Even just after auditions, our cheeks hurt from laughing so much. This production of Midsummer brings the pangs, thrill, and madness of love - not to mention abounding delight - to DelCo this summer.”

Reynolds will be joined by a cast of 20 and design team, many of whom identify within the LGBTQIA+ community. The Athenian students are performed by Brandon Tyler (as Demetrius), James Maloney (as Helena), Katy Robinson (as Lysander), and Nicole Lawrie (Hermia), returning to Hedgerow last seen as Sandy in Beginners. Those in power in the Athenian worlds are Craig Storrod (as Theseus), Juliette Kaitlyn Cheng (as Hippolyta), and Matt Tallman (as Egeus). The Fairy world is commanded by Niambi Fetlow (as Titania) and Vanessa Sterling (as Oberon), served by Alisia Alvarez (as Moth), Lane LaVonne (as Mustardseed), Mersha Wambua (as Cobweb), and Yana Vilchynskaya (as Peaseblossom). Mischievously bridging the Fairy and human world is Nero Eddings (as Puck). The infamously comical “rude mechanicals” are played by August Hakvaag (as Bottom), Elliot Colohan (as Flute), Jia Weingard (as Snout), Kevin Lara (as Snug the Joiner), Madelin Madamba (as Quince), and Michael Kozloski (as Starveling).

The design team includes Barrymore Award-winning Costume Designer, Rebecca Kanach; Joe Barsanti as Composer/Sound designer; Hedgerow's Resident Lighting Designer, Lily Fossner; Mauckingbird's Resident Scene Designer, Andrew Laine. Kate Fossner is Production Manager and Sophie Koester is Stage Manager. 

The production will celebrate our diverse community with a full slate of events before and after performances. Hedgerow will have post-performance gatherings open to all audience members to mix and mingle among members of the cast and creative team on Friday evenings during the run. There will also be a special Pride Happy Hour Reception before the August 1 performance at 6 p.m. Expanding Hedgerow's wide welcome, Hedgerow will offer a Relaxed Performance on Sunday, August 10 with a pre-show sensory tour at 1:15 p.m. On that day, audio description by Beth Feldman Brandt will also be available and Hands UP Productions will be providing ASL interpretation. Patrons with accessibility needs or questions are encouraged to contact the box office at 610-565-4211 or boxoffice@hedgerowtheatre.org. 

Tickets cost $35 for adult tickets and $20 for students and youth (under 18 years old), plus fees, and are available online at www.hedgerowtheatre.org.  Hedgerow Theatre Company is located at 64 Rose Valley Rd. Information on Mauckingbird Theatre Company can be found here: www.mauckingbird.org.

About Mauckingbird Theatre Company

Founded in 2008, Mauckingbird Theatre Company produces innovative, affordable, gay‐themed theater. Past productions include critically acclaimed all male versions of The Misanthrope and Shakespeare's R & J; Caroline Kava's lesbian adaptation of Hedda Gabler and Jane Chambers' seminal lesbian play Last Summer at Bluefish Cove; the dark crime drama Never the Sinner: The Leopold and Loeb Story; TRU and The Threshing Floor, a repertory of one‐man shows about influential gay writers Truman Capote and James Baldwin; original modern interpretations of A Midsummer Night's Dream, Much Ado About Nothing, The Importance of Being Earnest, The Pirates of Penzance, The Sisterhood and Tartuffe; the regional premiere of Jeff Bowen and Hunter Bell's musical [title of show] and Hot ‘n' Cole: A Cole Porter Celebration; the Philadelphia premiere of Jon Marans' The Temperamentals; Jonathan Harvey's Beautiful Thing, Joshua Harmon's Significant Other, and staged readings of Bad Seed, The Children's Hour, The Boys in the Band, The Normal Heart, Othello, and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.

About Hedgerow Theatre Company:

A professional not-for-profit theatre situated in pastoral Rose Valley just outside Philadelphia, Hedgerow celebrates a century of rich and storied programming. Long recognized for its unique repertory theatre, Hedgerow has proudly produced and elevated the works of playwrights such as George Bernard Shaw, Lynn Riggs, Eugene O'Neill, Susan Glaspell, and Seán O'Casey. Hedgerow produced the professional premiere of The Caucasian Chalk Circle by Bertolt Brecht and was awarded the Barrymore Award for Best New Play in 2005 for The Lives of Bosie by John Wolfson. Renowned artists who have performed at Hedgerow Theatre include Richard Basehart, Ann Harding, Keanu Reeves, Stephen Lang, David Shiner, Janis Dardaris, and Austin Pendleton. Hedgerow Theatre is on the National Register of Historic Places and is proud to be part of Rose Valley's Historic District. Hedgerow connects with the surrounding community through summer children's programming, and off-site residencies, and annual holiday programming. Hedgerow Theatre is dedicated to providing cultural enrichment, engaging entertainment, and training in theatre arts and management since 1923. Hedgerow produces powerful and intimate works in its atmospheric nineteenth-century grist mill-turned-theatre of 100 seats. The company offers extensive educational programs through theatre school and touring programs, and provides performance, technical training, and theatre management opportunities for early-career Fellows in a close-knit and mutually supportive environment. For more information, please visit www.hedgerowtheatre.org.

About the Artists

Peter Reynolds (Director) currently serves as Artistic Director of Philadelphia's Mauckingbird Theatre Company and Head of Musical Theater for the Department of Theater at Temple University. In the Philadelphia area, he has worked with Act II Playhouse, Media Theatre, Hedgerow Theatre, Candlelight Theatre, Philadelphia Theatre Company, Philadelphia Young Playwrights, Walnut Street Theatre, Curio Theatre; Cape May Stage and the Lenape Regional Performing Arts Center in New Jersey. Peter hails from the Midwest and for 6 years served as Artistic Director of HealthWorks Theatre-Chicago, winner of the 2000 Award of Excellence in Prevention Education presented by Mayor Daley and the Chicago Dept. of Public Health as well as the 2001 Hall of Fame After Dark Award.  Regionally he has worked at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, HotCity Theatre-St. Louis, Chicago Dramatists, Theatre Building Chicago, Apollo Theatre-Chicago, Arrow Rock Lyceum Theatre, Maples Repertory, Face to Face Productions, Lillian Russell Theatre, and on the stages of the University of Illinois-Urbana/Champaign, Drexel University, Arcadia University,  Villanova Theatre, and Southern Illinois University.

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