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| A Midsummer Night's Dream
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 | Actors may either perform a 6-8 line Shakespearean monologue of their choosing or any one of the monologues found on the attached Audition Monologue sheet. (Memorization is welcome, but not required.) | ||||
| Wear clothes that are presentable, but that you are able to move comfortably in. | ||||
| In addition, actors that play an instrument or sing are welcome to prepare 8-16 bars of song. (Singers must perform acapella.) | ||||
| Bring with you
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Casting:
| Age Range 16 and up. |
| Almost all actors will be playing multiple roles in the show. It will be important that actors demonstrate an ability to make strong character choices and adapt quickly and comfortably between roles. |
Rehearsals:
| Actors can expect to have rehearsal approximately 3-4 days/evenings per week during August and September. Once we reach October, rehearsals will slowly increase in frequency leading up to the opening on October 21. When preparing the rehearsal schedule the Director, Producer, and Stage Manager for this production will make every effort to demonstrate the highest degree of respect for the time of all parties involved. In return, they ask the same in regards to scheduled attendance and tardiness. |
About the team and show:
Producer: Theresa Bender
Director: Evan Hoffmann
Movement Director: Katherine Frattini
Music Director: Evie Korovesis
Stage Manager: Don Petersen
About the Director
Evan Hoffmann is returning to direct his second production for the Elden Street Players. His previous production of “Metamorphoses” won the 2011 WATCH Award for Outstanding Play, for which he was also honored with the award for Outstanding Director. Prior to his recent work as a director with ESP, Evan worked as a professional actor with several regional theatres in the DC area. He also toured with the American Shakespeare Center and served as an International Fellow with Shakespeare’s Globe in London. Evan has also directed productions for Kensington Arts Theatre and Reston Community Players.
In the play “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”…
• Theseus, the Duke of Athens, is preparing for his wedding to Hippolyta,
Queen of the Amazons.
• Egeus appears to complain to the Duke that his daughter Hermia has fallen in
love with Lysander and refuses to marry Demetrius, whom he has chosen as her
groom.
• Hermia is instructed by the Duke to marry Demetrius or be sentenced to death
or banishment to a nunnery.
• Hermia and Lysander decide to secretly flee to the woods and get married far
away from Athens.
• After learning about this plan, Helena tells Demetrius, whom she is madly in
love with, causing him to follow them into the woods.
• Meanwhile, Nick Bottom and a group of craftsmen from Athens are commissioned
to produce a play for the Duke’s wedding day and decide to meet in the woods at
night to rehearse.
• In the woods, Oberon and Titania, the King and Queen of the fairies meet and
quarrel over who should have possession of a changeling boy.
• Oberon instructs his servant, Puck, to place a spell, using a special flower,
on Titania to make her fall in love with the first creature she sees.
• After seeing Helena chasing and being rejected by Demetrius, Oberon instructs
Puck to also place the same love spell on Demetrius.
• Puck mistakenly places the spell on Lysander, who immediately falls in love
with Helena.
• For his own amusement, Puck turns Nick Bottom into a donkey.
• Titania wakes up and instantly falls in love with Bottom, the donkey.
• After realizing his mistake, Puck places the spell on Demetrius, who also
immediately falls in love with Helena.
• Suddenly being aggressively pursued by both Lysander and Demetrius, Helena
decides that they are playing a cruel trick on her and Hermia decides that
Helena has done something to steal Lysander.
• After much swooning, name-calling, and catfights, Puck removes the spell from
Lysander, leaving the two couples appropriately matched.
• After a great deal of pampering of Bottom, Oberon removes the spell from
Titania and reconciles with her.
• The Duke finds the two couples asleep in the woods the next morning and with
the newfound coupling of Demetrius and Helena, he decides that the couples shall
be wed at the same time as he and Hippolyta.
• On the day of the wedding, all the couples are very happy and the craftsmen
present a terrible production of “Pyramus and Thisbe”.
• Oberon and Titania bless all three marriages and depart.
• Puck addresses the audience, begging the pardon for the evening’s folly and
saying goodnight!
All roles are volunteer positions.
More information/directions may be available by calling 703-481-5930.
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