A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Stage2 Student Matinees

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 upside down our familiar narratives of love, competition, camaraderie and fantasy. Lullabies are more lit, some trees have thorns, and sweet dreams will never be quite the same.

This project is part of Shakespeare in American Communities, a program of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest.

About Student Matinees

Our student matinee performances will be held the following days/times:

• Thursday, March 14th at 10AM
• Friday, March 15th 11AM
• Monday, March 18th 11AM
• Tuesday, March 19th 10AM
• Wednesday , March 20th 10AM
• Thursday, March 21st 10AM

The National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest presents Shakespeare in American Communities. CSC is one of 40 professional theater companies across the nation selected to perform a Shakespeare play with a professional team of actors for middle- and high-schools and conduct related educational activities for students.

Additional funding for Stage2 provided by Paul Kastner, The Boston Cultural Council and The Commonwealth of Massachusetts. 

Who is A Midsummer Night’s Dream appropriate for?

Stage2 productions are presented using Shakespeare’s original text, cut for length to under 2 hours without intermission. Our cuts focus on highlighting the themes, ideas and language that will resonate strongly for a student audience. Our creative team and performers make choices that serve to illuminate the storytelling for this audience without “watering down” the source material. School groups have the option of staying for a short post-show talk-back with the actors.

This year’s Stage2 production is created with a 6th through 12th grade curriculum/audience in mind. A Midsummer Night’s Dream is one of Shakespeare’s most accessible comedies, touching on themes of jealousy, unrequited (or mistaken!) love, grand interference by the fairy kingdom, and finding confidence, maturity and personal agency. We do encourage educators and/or parents to read the play being presented and make the best choice for their students of any age. We recommend discussing the play with your students before and after you view our production. Please use the information and graphic below to gain a better idea of what to expect from this year’s play and let us know if you have specific questions about content.

About Accessibility

Open Captioning will be provided at every performance.

In addition, ASL interpretation or Audio Description may be available upon request.

For questions or more information, please email education@commshakes.org.

About School Workshops

Alongside this production, CSC will also be offering a number of in-school A Midsummer Night’s Dream enrichment workshops which can be delivered either virtually or in person.  Click the button below to learn more!

About Covid-19 Safety

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.

About CSC2

John Hardin (Mercutio) in Romeo & Juliet, CSC2, 2019-Photo by Nile Hawver

Commonwealth Shakespeare Company’s Stage2 Performance Series provides the opportunity for students and their teachers to attend high-quality live theater created with them in mind. These abridged productions use Shakespeare’s original text, and focus on the themes and stories that will resonate most with young audiences. Performed by our young professional CSC2 Acting Company, these performances bring together the next generation of actors with the next generation theater goers.

CSC2 is a company of early-career professional actors that works with Commonwealth Shakespeare Company to further develop skills in classical acting through performance (including in CSC’s flagship Shakespeare on the Common production), artistic and professional development, and through different educational and coaching settings.

Creative Team

Victoria Townsend

Director

Victoria Townsend

Director

Victoria Townsend (she/her) is a Boston-based director, teaching-artist and occasional performer. In addition to her work on artistic programming for CSC, she also serves as the Academy Coordinator for the Apprentice Program and CSC2, as well as work on many other educational programs. 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.

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William Shakespeare

Playwright

William Shakespeare

Playwright

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.

 

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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/ Walgreen’s 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 and Sunday 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.

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