Theater of Others Takes New Look at A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM

Arguably Shakespeare's most popular work, A Midsummer Night's Dream, is in performance somewhere in the world every day of the year. A half-dozen productions have graced Bay Area stages in the past year alone. But leave it to Theater of Others to come up with a fresh and wildly entertaining look at this classic comedy. Director Alison Sacha Ross takes a multi-genre approach, where each group of characters - lovers, magical kingdom, rude mechanicals - play their scenes in a different theatrical style to advance the age-old story.

A Midsummer Night's Dream wafts into the Theater of Others' home, the Kelly Cullen Community Auditorium, 220 Golden Gate Avenue in San Francisco. The play runs Thursdays through Sundays, October 6-22. As with all Theater of Others productions, admission is Pay-What-You-Will. More information at to-sf.org.

CAST:

Amy Boulanger: Hermia
Sheila Cress: Flute/Peaseblossom
Arden Kilzer: Hippolyta/Fairy
Beebe Reisman: Snug/Cobweb
Irina Dianova: Starveling/Mustardseed
Federico Edwards: Oberon
John Frediani: Snout/Moth/Egeus
Greg Gutting: Quince
Glenn Havlan: Bottom
Lijesh Krishnan: Lysander
Yasmine Love: Titania
Emily Ludlow: Queen Theseus/1st Fairy
Gaby Schneider: Helena
Laurel Scotland-Steward: Puck
Krista White: Demetrius
Christina Lewis & Laura Natkins : magical creatures

Director/Theatrical Design: Alison Sacha Ross
Theater of Others Managing Director: Glenn Havlan

Above: Clockwise from left - Lijesh Krishnan (Lysander), Gaby Schneider
(Helena), Amy Boulanger (Hermia), Krista White (Demetrius) Photo by Glenn
Havlan

Background of the Play
A Midsummer Night's Dream, one of Shakespeare's most enduring comedies, was written 1n 1595, immediately after Romeo and Juliet and immediately before King John and The Merchant of Venice. These latter two plays were recently staged by Theater of Others. MND portrays the events surrounding the marriage of Theseus, the Duke of Athens, to Hippolyta, the former queen of the Amazons. These include the adventures of four young Athenian lovers and a group of six actors (the mechanicals) who are controlled and manipulated by the fairies who inhabit the forest in which most of the play is set. The central figure, Puck, is one of the best known characters in Western literature.

A Word from the Director, Alison Sacha Ross
A Midsummer Night's Dream is set in an imaginary iteration of ancient Athens, ruled by Queen Theseus and her lover Queen of the Amazons, where anyone can fall in love with everyone, and love spells dissolve the world's strife.

In our production, three young ladies and one young man find themselves intoxicated by the powers of the forest and are changed forever. Director Ross chooses to portray Shakespeare's "rude mechanicals" as highly experienced performers in grand theatrical traditions. Down on their luck, they are transformed into magical beings and realize their dream of performing spectacularly once again for royalty. Dwelling in the forest are creatures led by a shadowy sprite, a spectral queen, and a fairy king whose dulcet harmonies set the world aright.

DATES, TIMES, TICKETS

WHAT: Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream
WHEN: October 6-22. Opens October 6. Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays 8:00 pm;
Sundays 2:00 pm
WHERE: Kelly Cullen Community Auditorium, 220 Golden Gate Avenue, San
Francisco

RUNNING TIME: Two hours with one Intermission
TICKETS: Pay-What-You-Will. For reservations, click on
http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/3083585
WEB SITE: to-sf.org
Who are Theater of Others, Theatre Residencies?

Theater of Others to-sf.org is a San Francisco theater company with a special mission: To add a fresh cultural resource in the City's Tenderloin district, offering classical theater with a pay-what-you-will admission. All performances are open to the public in the beautifully refurbished Auditorium at the Kelly Cullen Community, 220 Golden Gate Avenue in San Francisco. Theater of Others is a project of the local Theater Residences,
Incorporated, an umbrella organization for small theater companies. Theater of Others is managed by Glenn Havlan, founder of the San Francisco Free Civic Theater in 2000 as a Rec/Park adult program to utilize City facilities and resources to create a producing repertory company. In ten years with SFFCT, Glenn produced twenty-five full-scale mainstage productions and a dozen showcases, directing most of them. SFFCT presented professional-level theater as a free public resource. Theater of Others is dedicated to producing the less familiar plays of Shakespeare and other Elizabethan and Jacobian playwrights, or staging well-known Shakespeare plays - but with a new approach. Theater of Others is fortunate to have the venue, talent, and community support to put timelessness on stage.

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