PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Wednesday, February 27, 2013 CONTACT: Patrick Finlon, Marketing Director 315-443-2636 or pjfinlon@syr.edu
Magical Mishaps and True Love Collide in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Running March 6-31 (Syracuse, NY)—In Shakespeare's hands, magic and romance and the very midsummer madness make for intoxication, enchantment, and rollicking, frolicking comedy. Get on your mud boots and your donkey ears, ’cause it's off to the woods with four eager, young lovers, a band of hapless rustics, and rival camps of puckish sprites. Co-presented by Syracuse Stage and Syracuse University’s Department of Drama in the College of Visual and Performing Arts (SU Drama), William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream will perform March 6—31 in the Archbold Theatre at Syracuse Stage, 820 East Genesee Street. Tickets are available in person at the Syracuse Stage Box Office, by phone at 315-443-3275 or online at www.SyracuseStage.org. Sponsors for Midsummer are M&T Bank; Bond, Schoeneck & King; and Carrier. Media sponsors are the CNY Business Journal and Syracuse.com. Syracuse Stage season sponsors are The Post-Standard and Time Warner Cable. Love, in three intertwined stories, is the heart of Midsummer. The impending marriage of the Athenian Duke Theseus and Hipployta, Queen of the Amazons, is the through-line, drawing all of the characters to gather near Athens. Mirroring their relationship in the supernatural world are Oberon and Titania, king and queen of the fairies, whose bickering escalates to impassioned displays of their magical powers. Unknowing targets of the fairies’ magic are four young Athenian lovers—Lysander, Helena, Demetrius and Hermia—whose affections are manipulated upon entering the enchanted forest. In addition to the Athenians and the Fairies, the world of Midsummer is inhabited by the Mechanicals, a group of craftsman turned amateur actors who, while trying to produce a show, also fall prey to the fairies’ magic. “This play is about love in many forms: young love—new love, fireworks, tidal waves and roller coasters of emotions, love songs; and mature love—love that has been forged and made stronger by time and trial, a love that has seen the best and worst of its players,” said Director Bill Fennelly. Fennelly’s credits include Jersey Boys (Original Assistant Director), The Lion King (Resident Director), Frankenstein the musical (Director), and four seasons as a staff director with New York City Opera at Lincoln Center.
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