Boston College's Bollywood A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM Runs Now thru 4/29

The Boston College Theatre Department concludes its year-long celebration of the 30th anniversary of the Robsham Theater Arts Center with an exciting new production of William Shakespeare's classic comedy, A Midsummer Night's Dream. Directed by BC Adjunct Associate Professor of Theatre Luke Jorgensen, the production takes inspiration from the romance and spectacle of Bollywood movies, and shifts the action from Shakespeare's mythical Athens to an equally mythical colonial India--complete with fairies inspired by Indian deities, elaborate costumes, and big Bollywood dance sequences. Performances will take place on Robsham's Mainstage tonight, April 26 through April 29, 2012 as part of the 14th annual Boston College Arts Festival.

The cast features Theatre majors Shannon DeBari '13, Evan Murphy '12, Timothy Kopacz '13 and Sarah Winglass '14 as the pair of lovesick couples. Emily Banks '12 plays fairy queen Titania to fairy king Oberon played by graduate student and BC offensive lineman Nate Richman '13. Richman is joined onstage by two other members of the football team, Emmett Cleary '12 and Michael Stone '12, who play Oberon's royal henchmen, and by Zachary Desmond '12, who plays the mischievous fairy Puck.

Cam Cronin '12, plays Nick Bottom, leader of the amateur theatre troupe, which includes characters played by Juliana Forsberg-Lary '12, Deirdre McCourt '12, Marc Franklin '12, Greg Losco '14, and Eliott Purcell '14. Rounding out the cast is Ariel Durgana '12 (who also is the production's choreographer), Jilliene Jaeger '13, Nadezhda Karpova '15, Diane Kim '12, Steven Kreager '12, Phoebe Kuhlman '13, Katharine LaMantia '15, Maggie Maguire '13, Adriana Mariella '14, Joe Meade '15, Christine Movius '13, Priya Patel '12, Yuriy Pavlish '12, Allison Russell '12, Noel Simon '13, Nicole Trauffer '13, Paul Veiga '12, Cole Makana Jorgensen and Eamon Jorgensen.

Joining Jorgensen on the production team is Scenic Designer Larry Sousa, Theatre Department Assistant Professor and Costume Designer Jacqueline Dalley and Lighting Designer John Delfino '12.

One of Shakespeare's best-loved works, Midsummer has an intricate, multi-layered plot that revolves around three groups: four impetuous young lovers who run off to a moonlit forest to avoid a forced marriage; a ragtag group of working-class amateur actors rehearsing a play for a royal wedding; and the feuding King and Queen of the Fairies and their retinues, whose mischief and magic lead to mayhem and hilarious confusions.

"Midsummer has always been a favorite of mine. I teach it in class every semester," says Jorgensen. "Last year a friend invited my family to a party to celebrate the Hindu festival of Diwali. It was a beautiful occasion with lights, great music, vivid colors and wonderful foods. The next time I taught the play, a line jumped out at me. Titania, Queen of the Faeries, asks Oberon, 'Why art thou here, Come from the farthest Steppe of India?' I began to imagine a Midsummer set in India, but not real India, a dream India, the exotic, fantasy India of Bollywood movies."

"Midsummer is the perfect play to conclude our Robsham 30th anniversary season," says Scott T. Cummings, Chair of the Theatre Department. "It's a play that celebrates theater and the power of the imagination -- through dream or romance or art -- to change the very shape of things. We started the season by going 'into the woods' with Sondheim and Lapine, and we're happy to end the season in the woods as well. It's been a great year."

The production runs Thursday, April 26 through Saturday, April 28, 2012 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, April 29 at 2 p.m. Performances are on the Mainstage Theater in the Robsham Theater Arts Center. Tickets are $15, $10 for students, seniors, and BC faculty and staff. All tickets are available online at www.bc.edu/theatre, through the RTAC Box Office, or by calling 617?552?4002. For more information, please visit www.bc.edu/theatre.

Photo Credit: Marc Franklin.

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