A Midsummer Night's Dream on Stage this Weekend
You can't go wrong with a play by William Shakespeare. Especially not when the Huntington High School drama club and its talented actors and stage crew is involved in the production.
A Midsummer Night's Dream will take to the Huntington High School stage this Friday and Saturday night (Nov. 4-5). The curtain goes up at 7:30 p.m. Tickets will be sold at the door for $5 for senior citizens, students with an ID card and faculty and staff members and $10 for the general public.
The play features actors Josh Stickell, Jackie Contino, Matt Chadwick, Patrick Lombardi, Emily McGoldrick Monica Owen, Marc Widerman, Brendan Higgins, Bobby Marcus, Chelsea Holmes, Kat Gerdes, Julie Gray, Alex Reinertsen, Hannah Rice, Sarah Mosden, Stephanie Shea, Anna Wertheim, Zach Burden, Katelyn Postiglione, Liz Roman, Jaime Moskowitz, Mary Pulizzotto, Nicole Tavares and Julia Zinn.
The play will be directed by Huntington English teacher and drama club director Michael Schwendemann along with student directors Laura Ironman and Emma Hughes. Ken Gilbert is serving as the technical director. Dana Freed is handling set dressing and costumes, along with Norcostco Costume Co. and Melinda Sarabia heads the makeup unit. Anna Wertheim designed the logo and Ellen Fleury created the program. Grosh Backdrops & Drappery is responsible for the dramatic backdrops.
"'The course of true love never did run smooth . . . .,'" Mr. Schwendemann said in a director's note in this weekend's playbill that will be given to theater-goers. "As Lysander speaks these words little does he know what he is in for. Shakespeare not only knew what Lysander was in for but he showed us what we might come up against when faced with the fact that as long as there has been true love, there have been seemingly insurmountable difficulties to challenge it. Lovers are forced to deal with differences in background or age and difficulties caused by friends or unexpected outside forces they cannot control. Puck reminds us that love makes fools of us all; whether blinded by beauty, power or talent, we will survive and be the better for it. Lovers must persevere, overcoming every obstacle that fate throws in their path—the reward, a passionate paradise."
The actors have been rehearsing at night for much of the past two months and stage crew members have been working behind the scenes to create the scenery, lighting and sound that drama club aficionados have come to expect.
The Huntington High School auditorium is handicapped accessible. Snacks and refreshments will be on sale in the lobby. The actors hope the production draws a big crowd. The play was written by Shakespeare in the late 16th century. Much of it is set in the forest outside of Athens.
"So let us journey out of Athens and into the magic of the forest, where anything is possible, a place where love can bloom as well as the flowers," Mr. Schwendemann said. "Enjoy a little magic in the night."