BWW Reviews: The New American Theatre Presents A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM in 1930's Greece, Complete with Gypsies!

The summer theater season wouldn't be complete without multiple interpretations of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream to quench our appetite for the Bard's most beloved comedy. Like many theatre patrons, I have seen as well as been in several productions of this beloved comedy, both indoors and outdoors, which lends itself to several interpretations in both time and space. But I can honestly say I have never seen a production more understandable or better staged than the current one at the Odyssey Theatre Ensemble presented by the New American Theatre, directed by Jack Stehlin, produced by Jeannine Wisnosky Stehlin, with dramaturg Alfred Molina.

Molina and Stehlin have reworked the concept of A Midsummer Night's Dream in an attempt to mirror the strife between the classes of society in 1930s Athens, Greece. The pace propels the show along at a clip that engages the audience to follow the action of the 3 intertwining stories from the upper class Athenians and their problems with mistaken love, to the mischief making gypsies, and the rude mechanicals who merely want to present a play to allow them to be thought of as gentlemen..

Sure the language is often difficult to understand, but all 21 actors have not only learned their lines well but also mastered movement and facial expressions so their meaning is clear, even if the phrases are not. And kudos to costume designer Barbara Little, lighting designer Derrick McDaniel, composer Roger Bellow, and dance choreographer John Farmanesh-Bocca for their extraordinary attention to detail that makes the entire production a vision of wonderment.

With Stehlin's visionary direction, the fairies capture "a Gypsy element that was prevalent in 1930s Greece," he says in an interview for LA Stage Times. "They represent a flamboyance and flair that eliminates the darker tones, and blends out of the darker aspects of 1930s Greece. They provide us with room for possibility that there is mysticism and something magical in the world," he says.

And magical they certainly are, flitting about the stage as if flying through the air and dancing in the forest moonlight to wild and exotic music. The relationships are so organic you will believe these gypsies have been together for years, especially Oberon (Robert Cicchini) and Puck (John Kassier) who goad each other to new heights of mischief, and Titania (Vanessa Waters) and her four fairy servants (Chelsea Povall, Nadia Benavides, Paulina Gamiz, and Carly Waldman) who all to the bidding of their Mistress with such wonder and glee. And the real-life Cicchini and Waters partnership shines through their physical connection as Oberon and Titania.

The gypsies free-spirited natures offer a sharp contract to the uptight Athenians Duke Theseus (Bart Myer) and Egeus (Steve Gustafson) who speak of women as property, owned by the men in their lives. The four young lovers played by Lily Marks, Josh Heine, Noah James, and Kate Parkin, distracted by a midsummer night's dream via their forest encounter with the gypsies, speak of love and rejection in terms that will ring true with us forever.

Stehlin also embraces the play's humorous elements while also exploring its social aspects of community connection, human reception of joy, as well as the experience of love. The mechanicals, made up of Quince, the carpenter (Jordan Lund), Bottom, the weaver (director Jack Stehlin who is a revelation in the role), Flute, the bellows-mender (Brendan Brandt, a riot as Thisbe), Starveling, the tailor (Joseph Gilbert), Snout, the tinker (Floyd Lewis, a most excellent Wall), and Snug, the joiner (Adam Gentzler), are everyday workers who transform themselves into an idyllic group of actors who find true joy in what they do without competition, envy, self-interest, or resentment. Sure Bottom is a ham and demands the best role, but the others know they would be lost without him. Their pure joy at the moment he returns to them (after being bewitched into a donkey by Puck) will pull at your heartstrings.

Ultimately the play is about love and "what fools these mortals be" when possessed by its power. For what greater magic is there in the world than the power of love? Whether it is romantic love, parental love, true friendship, or obsessive love, we are all human and can certainly identify with the joys and hardships each can bring.

A Midsummer Night's Dream, Odyssey Theatre, 2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd., LA 90025. June 1-30, 2013 on Fri-Sat 8 pm, Sundays at 7pm June 16 and June 23. Tickets: $25, reservations 310-477-2055. www.newamericantheatre.com .

Photos by Jeannine Wisnosky Stehlin

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