A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Stage2 2024
March 15 at 7:30 PM and March 16th at 2 PM
The Strand Theatre, Dorchester
By William Shakespeare
Directed by Victoria Townsend
We have all been told those famous bedtime stories of young heroes who adventure into the forest, encountering magic and mystery on the way to their happily ever after. But in real life, our own stories are much more complicated. Magic comes with a cost, and not every mystery has a perfect solution. What power do we have when what makes us happy is not quite what we thought it would be? This year’s Midsummer will take audiences to a darker wood where powerful fairies turn our familiar narratives of love, competition, camaraderie, and fantasy upside down. Lullabies are more lit, some trees have thorns, and sweet dreams will never be quite the same.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream is one of Shakespeare’s most fanciful and enchanting comedies telling the tale of four bewitched lovers as they reckon with jealousy, desperation, and the complications of true love. This year, Stage2 returns to the Strand Theatre, one of Boston’s hidden jewels, which serves as a cultural and educational resource for all.
March 15 at 7:30 PM
March 16th at 2 PM
Tickets are $20 for Adults, $15 tickets are available for Students/Seniors, and $50 Family Four Packs are perfect for groups!
All tickets are General Admission.
Free Card2Culture Tickets are also available to EBT, WIC, and ConnectorCare cardholders
SEE THY WORDS: All performances are Open Captioned. Captions powered by CCTheater™, from AccessTech, LLC (www.getaccesstech.com)
Stage2 is Supported by Paul Kastner & Katherine MacLeod
This project is funded in part by Shakespeare in American Communities, a program of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest. CSC is one of 40 professional theater companies across the nation that produce Shakespearean plays with a professional team of actors for middle- and high-schools and conduct related educational activities for students. Additional funding for Stage2 is provided by The Paul and Edith Babson Foundation, The Boston Cultural Council, the Boston Arts Summer Institute, and The Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream will be presented without an intermission and runs approximately 100 minutes.
About Accessibility
Open Captioning will be provided at every performance, as part of our Access Infrastructure Initiative, made possible through the generous support of the Richard and Susan Smith Family Foundation.
For questions or more information, please email audienceservices@commshakes.org.
We are proud to participate in the Card to Culture program, a collaboration between Mass Cultural Council and the Department of Transitional Assistance, Massachusetts Health Connector, and Women, Infants & Children (WIC) Nutrition Program, by breaking down financial barriers to cultural programming.
Cast
Daniel Fenton Anderson – Commonwealth Shakespeare Debut. Santa Cruz Shakespeare: Hamlet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Orlando. Hale Centre Theatre: Addams Family, Bright Star, The Heart of Robin Hood, To Kill a Mockingbird, A Christmas Carol, Big Fish, The Drowsy Chaperone. The Grassroots Shakespeare Company: Romeo & Juliet, Two Noble Kinsmen, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Merry Wives of Windsor, The Tempest, Richard III, The Revenger’s Tragedy, Much Ado About Nothing, Henry IV Part 2. Film: “The Wolf of Snow Hollow”. Daniel has also worked both on and offstage for several seasons of Sundance Summer Theatre.
John Blair – Commonwealth Shakespeare Company: Second Witch in Macbeth, A Midsummer Nights Dream and Romeo and Juliet (Stage2). Hub Theater Company: The Book Of Will. The Tank (NYC): On How To Be A Monster. He studied theater at New York University.
Anne Borzner – Commonwealth Shakespeare Company: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Stage2), Julius Caesar (Apprentice Repertory Company 2023). Chatham Community Players: Nevermore Lenore. College of the Holy Cross: She Kills Monsters: Virtual Realms, Once in a Lifetime, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. Education: College of the Holy Cross.
Chloe Boyan – Commonwealth Shakespeare Company: Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Stage2 and ARC); Oregon Shakespeare Festival: Leader of the Women in Lysistrata at The Green Show; Oregon Cabaret Theatre: Christmas Past in A Christmas Carol, U/S in The Play that Goes Wrong and The Full Monty; Chloe has also appeared in new plays at In Confidence Club, New York Theatre Festival, and Catalyst Theatre Festival at UC Davis. Chloe received a BFA in Acting from Southern Oregon University and was an Apprentice with Commonwealth Shakespeare Company in 2023. www.chloeboyan.com
Ryan Richard Doyle – Commonwealth Shakespeare Company: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Stage2). Salem State University: Enter Laughing, Ragtime: The Musical, Bedroom Farce, The Laramie Project. Ryan can also be seen in the Oscar-winning film, “American Fiction”, as the bookstore employee, Ned! He is thrilled to make a return to the stage after receiving his BFA in Theater from Salem State University in 2021. Instagram: @dole_47
Rilyn Gardner – Commonwealth Shakespeare Company: A Midsummer Nights Dream (Stage2). Marblehead Little Theatre: Gypsy. West Valley Arts: Footloose. Sundance Mountain Resort: Mamma Mia. Renaissance Now: A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Noorda Center for the Performing Arts: Cabaret, She Loves Me, Much Ado About Nothing. UVU Black Box Series: The Merchant of Venice, The Yellow Boat.
EJ Hanson – Commonwealth Shakespeare Debut. Recent credits there include F…ing A, Uncle Vanya, Dead Man’s Cellphone, and Delinquents Never Stay for Long. EJ is a current senior at Boston University’s School of Theatre. @ejyay
Bella Grace Harris – Commonwealth Shakespeare Company: Macbeth (Gentlewoman), Romeo & Juliet (Stage 2), Much Ado About Nothing (u/s), Romeo & Juliet (Apprentice Repertory Company 2022). Wheelock Family Theater: A Wrinkle in Time (u/s Mrs. Whatsit). Training: BFA (Honors) from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. bellagraceharris.com
Clara Hevia – Commonwealth Shakespeare Company: Hermia in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Stage2), Suffolk in Henry VI Part 2 (Apprentice Repertory Company 2018). National Tour: Cats. Saratoga Shakespeare Company: King Lear. NYU Steinhardt ’21. Love and thanks to Mom, Dad, and my partner Cameron. clarahevia.com @clara.hevia
Cleveland Nicoll– Commonwealth Shakespeare Company: Lennox in Macbeth, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Romeo & Juliet (Stage2). Hub Theatre Company of Boston: The Book of Will. Sundance: Wizard of Oz. Hale Centre Theatre: Baz Lurman’s Strictly Ballroom (U.S. Premiere), Phantom. An Other Theatre Co.: Hedwig and the Angry Inch. Renaissance Now Theatre & Film: Twelfth Night, The Tempest. Mac is also a member of the SDC and has directed for Hale Center Theatre Orem, The Noorda Center for Performing Arts, Renaissance Now Theatre & Film, Utah Valley University, and Bentley University. He is the founding artistic director of Klouns Theatre Co. @klounstheatreco @cleveland_nicoll
Sadiyah Dyce Stephens – Commonwealth Shakespeare Company: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Stage2). The Flea Theatre: StepKids (DLo). Gloucester Stage Company: Tall Tales From Blackburn Tavern (Actor 3), Stew (Lil Mama). Boston Theatre Company: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Hermia). The Boston Conservatory: Bright Half Life (Vicky), Everybody (Usher/God/Understanding), M*cbeth (Witch 1/Seyton). SpeakEasy Stage Company: TJ Loves Sally 4Ever (Annette). The Whitman Theatre: The Wiz (Dorothy). Stephens holds a BFA in Contemporary Theatre at The Boston Conservatory at Berklee as of 2023. Check her out @dycejstephens and DyceStephens.com
Ednilson Tavares – Commonwealth Shakespeare Company: Lysander in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Stage2). Trinity Rep: La Mancha; 2022-2023 Gamm Fellow at The Gamm Theatre, RI. Will be attending The Juilliard School this upcoming fall for Drama.
Jaime José Hernández (he/him) is thrilled to be a part of CSC2! He was most recently seen in Romeo & Juliet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Apollinaire Theatre Company). Other credits include: The Arboretum Experience (American Repertory Theatre); Much Ado About Nothing, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot (Hub Theatre Company of Boston); Vicuña (Zeitgeist Stage Company); SLAM BOSTON (Open Theatre Project). Jaime is a company member of Teatro Chelsea. jaimejosehernandez.com
Creative Team
William Shakespeare was a renowned English poet, playwright, and actor born in 1564, in Stratford-upon-Avon. His birthday is most commonly celebrated on 23 April, which is also believed to be the date on which he died in 1616. Shakespeare was a prolific writer during the Elizabethan and Jacobean ages of British theatre (sometimes referred to as the English Renaissance or the Early Modern Period). Shakespeare’s plays are perhaps his most enduring legacy, but they are not the only things he wrote. Shakespeare’s poetry has also remained popular to this day.
Shakespeare’s work includes 38 plays, 2 narrative poems, a collection of 154 sonnets, and other poems as well. No original manuscripts of Shakespeare’s plays are known to exist today, and about half of Shakespeare’s plays are only available to us because a group of actors in his company collected them for publication after his death. These writings were brought together in what is known as the First Folio (‘Folio’ refers to the size of the paper used). It contained 36 of his plays, and none of his poetry. Shakespeare’s legacy is as rich and diverse as his work; his plays have spawned countless adaptations across multiple genres and cultures, and his plays have had an enduring presence on stage and film.
His writings have been compiled in various iterations of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by different entities, which usually include all of his plays, his sonnets, and his other poems. From Stratford to London and beyond, William Shakespeare was and is one of the most important literary figures of the English language.
Victoria Townsend is a Boston-based director, teaching-artist and occasional performer who has been working with CSC since 2011. Directing Credits: For CSC: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2023), As You Like It (2022) and several Boston Theater Marathon pieces; Emerging Playwright’s Festival (Wheelock Family Theater), Cosi Fan Tutte (New England Conservatory’s UGOS Program), The Memorandum (Flat Earth Theater). Assistant Directing Credits: Fear and Misery in the Third Reich, Kiss me Kate, Romeo and Juliet and Shakespeare and Leadership (CSC) and L’Egisto (NEC/UGOS). She has also served as a teaching-artist for Watertown Children’s Theater and Live Arts Education. A Massachusetts native, Victoria currently resides in Woburn and is a graduate of Saint Michael’s College in Vermont with degrees in Theatre and English Literature and holds a certificate in Social Impact Management and Leadership from the Institute for Nonprofit Practice & Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life at Tufts University.
Jess Meyer – Jess is a nonbinary multi-hyphenate theatre artist. Commonwealth Shakespeare Company: Apprentice Program Administrative Associate, HandShakes Program Associate, Apprentice Repertory Company (ARC) Romeo and Juliet, CSC2 Romeo and Juliet, ARC Julius Caesar, and ARC A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Plays in Place: Revolution’s Edge, Nothing But Victory!. Lyric Stage: Preludes, On Paying Attention, Monster in the Sky, Kill the Dogs Knock Them Over, Unpacking. Fresh Ink: Orpheus in the Overworld, Revolutionary Spirits. Boston Playwrights’ Theater: Silvertone. Providence Fringe Festival: Silvertone. CentaStage: Noir Hamlet. Edinburgh Fringe Festival: Noir Hamlet. They have a BFA in Theatre and Performance from Emerson College and an American Sign Language Interpreter Certificate from Northern Essex. For more information about Jess, check out their website: jess-of-all-trades.com (they/them)
Lisette Van Den Boogaard is a freelance Stage Manager around the Boston area and is very excited about returning to Stage2 at CSC for A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Recent credits include: Machine Learning (ASM, Central Square Theatre), How I Learned to Drive (ASM, Actor Shakespeare Project), Taming of the Shrew (SM, Actors’ Shakespeare Project), Romeo and Juliet (SM, Commonwealth Shakespeare Company) Metamorphoses (PSM, Suffolk University), Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus and Marry Me A Little (ASM PA, Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theatre).
Kendra Elizabeth Waugh – Commonwealth Shakespeare Company: Apprentice Program & Stage2 productions of Romeo & Juliet. Hub Theatre Company: Slow Food, Into the Breeches!, Love, Loss & What I Wore, and The Book of Will. @stagemanagement101 (She/her)
Kelsey Whipple – PM roles: CSC Apprentice Program 2022 PSM roles: Wheelock Family Theater: Bud, Not Buddy; Commonwealth Shakespeare Company: A Midsummer Night’s Dream; Hub Theatre Company: The Book of Will, Into the Breeches!, and Love’s Labour’s Lost; Boston Opera Collaborative: Marriage of Figaro. ASM roles: Actors’ Shakespeare Project: Seven Guitars, Merchant of Venice, Complete Works… (Abridged), Pride and Prejudice, Much Ado About Nothing; Hub Theatre Company: Peter and the Starcatcher, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot. Other work: Production business administrator at Emerson College, Choreographer for Suffolk University’s Show Choir, Rampage.
Mackenzie Adamick is a Boston-based Sound Designer and Composer. Her previous Sound Design credits include Macbeth [Composer] (Commonwealth Shakespeare Company), How I Learned to Drive, As You Like It, Coriolanus, Let the Right One In (Actors’ Shakespeare Project), The Normal Heart, Aurora, Organic, By Any Other Name (New Repertory Theatre). Mackenzie is an aural storyteller and bases her theatrical soundscapes on a musical foundation. A couple of her upcoming projects include Romeo and Juliet (Actors’ Shakespeare Project) and composing music for CSC’s The Winter’s Tale this summer. She is currently pursuing her MFA in Sound Design at Boston University. Take a listen to her soundscapes and original compositions on her website: www.mackenzieadamick.com
Devon Drohan – BroadwayWorld Berkshires 2021 Award for best Scenic Design of a Play/Musical for her design of Shakespeare & Company’s production of Becoming Othello: A Black Girls Journey. Other professional and academic credits include scenic design for Hamlet, A Walk in the Woods, Taming of the Shrew, Love’s Labor’s Lost, and God of Carnage (S&Co), A Dream Play, Twelfth Night, The Piano Lesson (UAlbany), The Magic Flute (UNCG Opera), Antigone, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (UNCG), Machinal and Casanova (UMass Amherst); Devon has also served as Scenic Charge (S&Co), Props Master (S&Co and The Cape Playhouse), Production Designer (S&Co’s Fall Festival of Shakespeare) and teaches drafting and design at Berkshire Community College. MFA: UNC-Greensboro, BA: UMass-Amherst. Website: DevonDrohanDesigns.Weebly.com
Chelsea Kerl – Commonwealth Shakespeare Company: Beckett in Brief. The Huntington: Witch (Elliot Norton Award Winner: Outstanding Design, Large Theatre). SpeakEasy Stage Company: Cost of Living, Once on this Island, Pass Over, Grand Concourse. Lyric Stage: The Game’s Afoot: Holmes for the Holidays, Rooted, The Treasurer, Twelfth Night, Warrior Class. Wheelock Family Theatre at BU: The Wizard of Oz, Willy Wonka, James and the Giant Peach. Her work has also been seen at Gloucester Stage, Actors’ Shakespeare Company, The Kitchen Theatre, and Moonbox Productions, among others. Chelsea is the Costume Shop Manager and Costume Design professor at Wellesley College, and she has also taught at Bridgewater State University, Emerson College, Northeastern University, and Tufts University. www.chelseakerl.com
The Strand Theatre,
owned by the City of Boston and managed by the Mayor’s Office of Arts & Culture
543 Columbia Road
Boston, MA 02125
The view from the stage out across the 1,400 seats of The Strand Theatre. (Robin Lubbock/WBUR)
Driving Directions to The Strand Theatre
From South: Take I-93 North to exit 15, Columbia Road. Left at the bottom of ramp to third set of lights.There is a Kentucky Fried Chicken / Tedeschi’s on the corner. Turn left onto Columbia Road. Go through two sets of lights, the Strand is on the left, just past Bank of America.
From North: Take I-93 South to exit 15, Columbia Road. Right at the bottom of ramp to third set of lights. There is a Kentucky Fried Chicken / Tedeschi’s on the corner. Turn left onto Columbia Road. Go through two sets of lights, the Strand is on the left, just past Bank of America.
From West: Mass Pike (I-90) east into Boston, to I-93 south. Follow “From the NORTH” directions.
From Jamaica Plain/ Brookline: Take the JamaicaWay south to the Arborway. Keep straight to the rotary. Go 3/4 around the rotary and turn into Franklin Park. Go through the park, and turn left onto Blue Hill Avenue. Go about 50 yards, then make a right onto Columbia Road. The Strand is about 1 1/3 miles down on the right, just past the Strand/Walgreens Pharmacy.
Parking
On-street parking is available on Columbia Road.
Free off-street parking is available in the Ramsey Street Municipal lot. Ramsey Street is located at the intersection of Dudley Street and Columbia Road behind CVS Pharmacy and Payless Shoes.
For evening shows, free parking is also available in the Citizen’s Bank and Santander Bank parking lots. The Citizen’s Bank lot is located at the corner of Columbia Road and Cushing Avenue. The Santander Bank lot is located in the rear of the bank at 585 Columbia Rd.
Public Transit
Red Line: Get off at Andrew station. Take the #16 (Forest Hills) or #17 (Field’s Corner) bus to Upham’s Corner/Dudley Street. Get off in front of Payless Shoe Store. The Strand is up one block on the left, just past Bank of America.
Orange Line: Get off at Ruggles station. Take the #15 (Upham’s Corner) bus via Dudley Station. Get off in front of Get off in front of Payless Shoe Store. The Strand is up one block on the left, just past Bank of America.
Orange Line: Get off at Forest Hills station. Take the #16 (Forest Hills) or #17 (Field’s Corner) bus to Upham’s Corner/Dudley Street. Get off in front of Payless Shoe Store. The Strand is up one block on the left, just past Bank of America.
What is the running time of the production?
The performance runs approximately 100 minutes without intermission.
What ages is the production appropriate for?
Stage2 productions are presented using Shakespeare’s original text, cut for length to approximately 100 minutes without intermission. Our cuts focus on highlighting the themes, ideas, and language that will resonate strongly with a wide audience. Our creative team and performers make choices that serve to illuminate the storytelling for this audience without “watering down” the source material.
What safety protocols do you have in place relative to covid-19?
CSC, in coordination with the Strand Theatre and the City of Boston, continues to diligently monitor the public health situation. Health decisions are made with the safety of our audiences, artists, and staff as our top priority. As a building run by the City of Boston, the Strand and CSC will follow city-mandated health and safety guidelines for COVID-19 or any other public health concerns at the time of performances. CSC also reserves the right to add additional protective guidelines where deemed necessary for the safety of all, which will be communicated to all attendees directly if implemented. Should you have an individual concern or question about our safety protocols, please reach out to us at education@commshakes.org.
Is there accessible seating available?
Yes, there are several locations in the theater to accommodate mobility devices.
Are assisted listening devices available?
Yes, visit the box office for assisted listening devices.
What other accessibility services are available?
Open Captioning will be provided at every performance. Captioning for the talkbacks will be available by request.
For questions or more information, please email audienceservices@commshakes.org.
Doors to the theater will open approximately 15 minutes before the performance. Seating will be first come, first served. We advise you give yourself plenty of time for parking and walking to the theater.
What are parking and transportation instructions?
On-street parking is available on Columbia Road.
Free off-street parking is available in the Ramsey Street Municipal lot. Ramsey Street is located at the intersection of Dudley Street and Columbia Road behind CVS Pharmacy and Payless Shoes.
For evening shows, free parking is also available in the Citizen’s Bank and Santander Bank parking lots. The Citizen’s Bank lot is located at the corner of Columbia Road and Cushing Avenue. The Santander Bank lot is located in the rear of the bank at 585 Columbia Rd.
MBTA
Red Line: Get off at Andrew station. Take the #16 (Forest Hills) or #17 (Field’s Corner) bus to Upham’s Corner/Dudley Street. Get off in front of Payless Shoe Store. The Strand is up one block on the left, just past Bank of America.
Orange Line: Get off at Ruggles station. Take the #15 (Upham’s Corner) bus via Dudley Station. Get off in front of Get off in front of the Payless Shoe Store. The Strand is up one block on the left, just past Bank of America.
Orange Line: Get off at Forest Hills station. Take the #16 (Forest Hills) or #17 (Field’s Corner) bus to Upham’s Corner/Dudley Street. Get off in front of Payless Shoe Store. The Strand is up one block on the left, just past Bank of America.
There is no food or drink permitted in the theater.
Are shows delayed or canceled for weather?
Audience and actor safety is our main concern. In cases of heavy snow or extreme weather, we will cancel and try to re-seat patrons into an alternative performance date. Weather updates can be found on the homepage of our website, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
The taking of photos or video is strictly prohibited.
Support for Commonwealth Shakespeare Company Provided by
Commonwealth Shakespeare Company
101 Arch Street
8th floor
Boston, MA 02110
617-426-0863
CSC is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
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