The American Shakespeare Center comes to the APPlause! Series with a streaming performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream from Oct. 5-11 in partnership with the Office of Arts and Cultural Programs’ Schaefer Center Presents 2020-21 season. See a Midsummer romp full of “humor and wonder” with “spellbinding storytelling…perfect for children and adults alike.” (C-Ville Weekly)

ASC’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream wades into a bayou of masked hobgoblins, enchanting nymphs, and imps who sing the blues. Directed by Nathan Winkelstein, this performance was originally presented as a part of the ASC 2019/20 National Tour and is back in action virtually via BlkFrsTV this fall. Featuring Topher Embrey as the oblivious Bottom, Mia Wurgaft as plucky Helena, and Madeline Calais as mischievous Puck, A Midsummer Night’s Dream boasts some of Shakespeare’s most beloved and iconic characters.

Infused with a supernatural New Orleans twist, the beloved Shakespeare classic features original music that draws inspiration from bluegrass to bebop to barbershop, and sets the scene of the magical bayou. ASC’s actor-musicians play music before the show and during intermission, covering modern classics that riff on the themes of Shakespeare’s play.

ASC’s comprehensive “Virtual Tour” program is designed to make it possible for people to experience the joy of Shakespeare in performance and the magic of the Blackfriars Playhouse from far away via cinema-quality recorded video. The American Shakespeare Center productions are intimate in scale, yet epic in scope. The company utilizes Shakespeare’s staging conditions (universal lighting, minimal sets, character doubling, cross-gender casting, and live music) to blend Shakespeare’s stagecraft with a modern sensibility. This engaging approach to the work of Shakespeare and his contemporaries is what led the UK Telegraph to call ASC “one of the most accomplished Shakespeare companies in the United States.” Don’t miss the groundbreaking work of the American Shakespeare Center online!

Related links: www.americanshakespearecenter.com

Thanks to the generous support of sponsors, The Schaefer Center Presents is able to offer the fall series free of charge. To help us continue our mission of meeting the needs of our university students, faculty/staff, and the community at large during this time when high-quality arts programming is more critical and essential than ever, please consider making a gift of any amount.

ABOUT AMERICAN SHAKESPEARE CENTER

 The American Shakespeare Center recovers the joys and accessibility of Shakespeare’s theatre, language, and humanity by exploring the English Renaissance stage and its practices through performance and education. Year-round in Staunton’s Blackfriars Playhouse — the world’s only re-creation of Shakespeare’s indoor theatre — ASC’s innovative programming and “shamelessly entertaining” (The Washington Post) productions have shared the delights of Shakespeare, modern classics and new plays with millions over the past 30 years. Beyond the Playhouse, ASC is a hub for Shakespeare education and scholarship and tours nationally from Texas to Maine each year with a repertory of three plays. Founded in 1988 as Shenandoah Shakespeare Express, the organization became the American Shakespeare Center in 2005 and can be found online at www.americanshakespearecenter.com and on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. ASC programming is sponsored in part by the Community Foundation of the Central Blue Ridge, the Tony Randall Theatrical Fund, The Shubert Foundation, the Virginia Commission for the Arts, and the generosity of the 2,358 donors who supported ASC during the Covid-19 closure.

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