Friday, October 03, 2008

A Midsummer Night's Dream

It was American Players Theater time last week. We choose to go to only one play this year. I'm so glad we chose 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'. It was absolutely fantastic! So much so that we decided to buy tickets to see it again 3 days later...:shouting: at 10:30 in the morning! (For those of you who attend these plays you'll understand that joke!) We were hoping for a night time performance but those were sold out.

It was nice seeing it twice to catch things we missed the first time. Although my husband really didn't quite understand why we would want to go again to the same play.

We arrived the second time about an hour early. My mom and dad had about a 2 hour drive from a different direction but we ended up pulling in the parking lot within a minute of each other. We took a slow stroll up the hill. About 3/4's of the way up I turned and looked down the hill. Not far behind us were two of the actors...Marcus Truschinski (Puck) and Brian Mani (Snug, the joiner). At our slow pace they overtook us in no time. I told them we enjoyed the show so much we had to come back for a second performance. I also related how my youngest daughter really liked the high energy performance and antics of Puck. Marcus was so kind to pose for a picture with her! And guess who she is going to be for Trick or Treat! Yep, her Puck costume is all ready! Fur-trimmed vest, flower, necklace, purple hair and all! I told her if she is asked who she is to tell them she is "APT's portrayal of Puck from Shakespeare's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'." :snort:
Picture of Puck and Bottom plus a review.

The "talk back" after the Friday performance was wonderful. Over 100 kids stayed for that and really asked some good questions. Steve Haggard, who plays Demetrius, seemed to still be in character as he was swatting/dodging bugs during the talk back. Too funny! And David Daniel...he is always a character!

Since Friday of last week we've got together 3 copies of the play and are in various stages of reading it (not the dumbed down versions). Some us have read it more than once since Friday. My youngest is having me read it out loud to her and she'll jump up and act out the parts. She showed me last night that she has started reading ahead but still wants me to read it aloud also. We enjoy remembering how the players had delivered their lines. If only they sold an audio version of the performance!

My pastor and his wife are on their way to the play this morning. I hope they enjoy it as much as we did! We sure wish we could have joined them today!

1 comment:

Marie N. said...

I love that Halloween costume idea!