A Midsummer Night`s Dream

the
STUDYGUIDE
By William Shakespeare
Who’s
WHO...
rty
Directed by Kevin Moria
October 24 - November 22, 2009
Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre
AT&T Performing Arts Center
1 Angry mom
Egeus, mother to Hermia 4 Rulers
Synopsis
Act I: The Duke’s Court
The Lovers plead their case… Denied,
they escape to the woods, but not
alone… A band of workers rehearse a
Theseus Duke of Athens Hyppolita Queen of the Amazons/
Theseus' fiancee Oberon & Titania King & Queen of the Fairies
play…In the woods the ruling Fairies
4 Lovers
idleness, Puck spins his magic…
meet & exchange words… Love-in-
Everyone is looking through rose-colored
glasses and the Queen’s in love with an
ass…Love is a battlefield.
Demetrius chosen as the husband of… Hermia who is in love with…Lysander
who loves Hermia in return, but (tricked by Puck) falls in love with… Helena
who is in love with Demetrius
5 Mechanicals
Act II: The Morning After
The fairies duke it out and make peace…
Time to get out of the woods… The show
must go on… There’s a wedding, a play, a
blessing and it all ends with a party.
Peter Quince, Nick Bottom, Snug, Tom Snout and Francis Flute
6 Fairies
Puck, First Fairy, Moth, Cobweb, Mustardseed and Peaseblossom
2,165 lines in A Midsummer Night’s Dream
81% of the lines are written in verse 20 actors,
all from Dallas 5 actors are students at Booker T.
Washington High School for the Performing and Visual
5 actors are students at SMU’s Meadows School
of the Arts 165 hours of rehearsal 80 hours of
Shakespearean voice/speech coaching 66 hours of
technical rehearsal 1100 pieces of chalk
6400 balloons 10 Nerf guns 35 costumes
3 wedding dresses 20 silk screens 4 gallons of silk
screening ink 80 hours to silk screen
22 graFFiti images painted over 3190 feet
1152 AA batteries 108 speakers
20 wireless microphones 455 lighting instruments
200 feet of FLexible neon 3 mirror balls
8 deck crew members to clean and
Arts
restore the set each night
PRODUCTION
BY THE N UMBERS
“ Falling in love with Puck
is rather like turning life into a game of hockey.” –
harold bloom
In A Midsummer Night’s Dream the characters wildly pursue love not in the ordered world of Athens, but rather in the woods, where
dreams prevail. Here the laws are orchestrated by the King and Queen of Fairies—not the human Duke of Athens. In these woods,
youthful exuberance, creativity and naughtiness bloom, embodied in the mischievous spirit of Puck, the cupid-like fairy at the heart of
Shakespeare’s play.
Puck is a spirit “cheerfully amoral,” says literary scholar Harold Bloom in his book Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human. “He
becomes an agent for the irrational element in love.” Puck is the driving force that causes his victims to immediately express the
fury of emotions they feel. These expressions manifest themselves in declarations, songs, dance, and art. This is the same driving
force of poetry on bathroom stalls, initials in trees, words in sand, and graffiti found on walls, trains, and sidewalks in every
urban setting. For as long as humans have been writing, they have been scrawling on walls—from cave drawings to billboards to
graffiti. This need to express an emotion bursts forth through powerful lines, lines that leave a mark, a tag, an iconic symbol
used to describe a universal feeling. It is the childlike innocence of Harold and the Purple Crayon, the journey that comes with
drawing your dreams. It is the whimsical joy of bright, vibrant hearts found in the pop art of Keith Haring, Jim Dine and Peter Max.
These tags—whimsical, erotic and often heartshaped—embody the creative essence of Puck. In our production, these lines, iconic
images and signature markings are what Puck and the fairies use to create a dream world—a magical place that transforms its inhabitants
through the radiant, creative, life-giving power of making art. When the lovers enter the woods, they play by his rules. They are caught
up in joyful, celebratory, youthful energy—irrational love. “This Puckish freedom is overwhelmingly attractive—but falling in love with a
Puck is rather like turning life into a game of hockey,” Bloom warns. And so, when they leave Puck’s influence, some measure of order
returns—their lives become the fully realized world of their dreams. But Puck remains with the fairies, waiting for the next dream—
dancing in and out of the world he orchestrates. ❤
“And we fairies, that do run
By the triple Hecate's team,
From the presence of the sun,
Following darkness like a dream,
Now are frolic.” (V.i)
A sampling of love graffiti from around the world.
PLAYLIST
Ah, Shakespeare!
...performed for
centuries and constantly
reinterpreted. But
when you were there,
in the beginning, when
William presented his
new work, there wasn’t
anything “classic”
about it. His characters,
costumes and emotions
were of “the now”—urgent and immediate
to his audience, as well as his actors. His
music was the music of the day—superstar
songs thrown into the midst of his characters’
quandaries, expressing in music what they
could not otherwise. The same is true today. Contemporary pop music is immediate and
urgent. It instantly aligns the audience with an
artist's emotions. Here's a little of what inspired our artists to
tap into their urgent love, mischief and grief .
Check out what’s been playing on some of our
character’s iPods...
Puck’s Top 5 Good Girls Go Bad
cobra starship feat. leighton meester
Don’t Trust Me 3oh!3
Down jay sean feat. lil wayne
Hot Mess cobra starship
Love Game lady gaga
Titania’s Top 5
Never Say Never the fray
Battlefield jordin sparks
Goodbye kristina debarge
Forever chris brown
My Life Would Suck Without You
kelly clarkson
Dallas Theater Center would like
to recognize the generosity of our
major corporate partners.
Pier 1 Imports
Southwest Securities
t. howard + associates
Target
Associate Producing Partners
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP
Dallas Theater Center’s
production of A Midsummer
Night’s Dream is part of
Shakespeare for a New
Generation, a national
initiative sponsored by the
National Endowment for the
Arts in cooperation with
Arts Midwest.
Helena’s Top 5
Love Drunk boys like girls
How Do You Sleep jesse mccartney
Before the Storm
FOLLOW US ON
jonas brothers feat. miley cyrus
You Belong with Me taylor swift
Knock You Down keri hilson
DallasTheaterCenter.org