Richard Ericson

Born in Tokyo and raised globally, Shakespeare has always been at Richard Ericson’s core. At age seven—in Seoul, Korea—he congratulated legendary actor Helen Hayes on her performance there of her one-woman show, Shakespeare’s Women. She replied, “If you love something, you must do it.” Ericson has directed, produced, and coached in Hollywood, New York, Japan, and Australia, including Broadway and off-Broadway as well as regionally. He is thrilled to be reimagining and directing Midsummer. Thanks, Helen!


Notes on My Production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”


“He is not of an age, but for all time,” the inscription read. I was in my early twenties, wandering London’s Cheapside on a rainy winter day, and had chanced upon the bust of Shakespeare dedicated to his publishers Heminges and Condell, who published the First Folios. Unexpectedly wet-eyed, I wondered how any writer could have earned that encomium—“…not of an age, but for all time”—and so far in advance of the future it predicted.

Almost a decade later, at Washington D.C.’s Folger Theatre, where I was trying out a new musical, the director of the library put a First Folio in my gloved hands. This time I began to shake a little as, unbidden, tiny electric shocks raced over my body.

Working on Will’s 16th Century comedy has been fun, and it’s given me huge hope that we’ll not only survive our collective hurdles but also find a little enchantment and self-knowledge along the way. When Steve Kitsakos and I first chatted about “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” I hadn’t read the play in years. I was thrilled to rediscover, among other things, Titania’s concerns for our planet: The fairy queen actually talks of “rheumatic diseases” that “abound,” and that the seasons have become so indistinguishable that we “know(s) not which is which.” It’s 1595 and Fairyland’s rivers have overflown their banks and the “green corn hath rotted ‘ere his youth attained a beard.”

Even so, Shakespeare’s play is a comedy, as if to reassure us that, even 500 years later, we also will live through our current angst to tell the tale again.

And the rest of the play? Well, there’s the marvelous, timeless human comedy of Bottom and his aspirational theatre friends, plus the over-the-top lust and crazy passions of the highborn lovers. And all bound together by sorcery, magic, and learning—with Will’s gorgeous, inimitable language to encapsulate and deliver it straight up to our living theatre audience. I’m so pleased to have the opportunity to direct this marvelous play in my new hometown with this wonderful team.

We’ve added the magical puppet-creatures of Jeff Goltz (“What fools these mortals be.”) and the equally bewitching sunset on Hugh’s View to an already color-drenched play in an already color-drenched Key West. So enjoy! Please laugh, please cry—and please discuss the show over good food and drink in the days to come. After all, it is for all time.


Richard Ericson
Key West; January, 2022