Sixteen years ago, Adena Moree directed William Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” at Troy State University.
Tonight, Moree will once again bring one of Shakespeare’s most popular plays to the stage.
“A Midsummer Night’s Dream” will open at 7:30 tonight at the Trojan Center Theater on the campus of Troy University and continue with performances at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2:30 p.m. on Sunday. General admission tickets are $10 and student tickets are $5 an ID. Tickets are available at the university box office.
Moree said directing “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” in 2014 is completely different from 16 years ago, especially technology and design wise.
“But, then and now, Shakespeare’s plays are the best training there is for student actors, she said. “And, they have been begging to do Shakespeare but we didn’t select this play until January.”
Moree said a lot of hard work and dedication goes into making what the cast and crew do look easy.
“We want the audience to come and enjoy the play,” she said. “When we take the stage, it’s about the audience, not us. We want the play to look like anybody could do it but doing so takes finesse and the technical aspect is hard. If it were easy, everybody would be doing it. Making it look easy takes a lot of hard work and a lot of time.”
When the curtain comes up tonight, all of the hard work and endless hours will be worthwhile.
“‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ is a lot of fun,” Moree said. “It follows the story of four young Athenian lovers through hi-jinks and separation. They fall comically in and out of love in one enchanted midsummer night.”
The story of girl meets boy and falls in love and then loses the boy is a rather common theme. However, Shakespeare put a twist on the romantic comedy. The young lovers and a group of amateur actors are controlled and manipulated by the fairies that inhabit the forest in which most of the play is set.
Fairy magic makes the play a delightful theatrical experience for the audience and the “endless” costumes and scenery have a magic of their own.
“The forest includes a giant-size tree, hilly mountains and a bubbling brook,” Moree said. “Everything about ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ is magical.”
Moree said everyone is invited to be a part of this midsummer night’s dream. Even those who have an aversion to Shakespeare.  To those, she said, “Come and see it anyway and you’ll change your mind.”
But don’t take a chance on coming without a ticket because all performances are expected to sell out.