Families and friends eagerly hurried into the craft theater and took their seats at 7:30 pm on November 21st. Backstage, CET costumes crew members applied last minute makeup onto actors, while members of the props crew ensured that everything was placed in the correct place. With everything ready to go, cast members eagerly buzzed with excitement, knowing that the opening night performance of CET’s fall play was finally here.
Demetrius loves Hermia with all her heart, and chases after his love, while Helena, who loves Demetrius but isn’t returned with love from him, chases after her love.
“A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” by William Shakespeare, is a funny, joyful and romantic play that tells the story of four Athenian youths: Hermia, Helena, Lysander and Demetrius, as they venture off from Athens into a magical forest. Hermia and Lysander are deeply in love but after Theseus — the Duke of Athens — orders Hermia to marry Demetrius, they escape into the forest. Meanwhile, Demetrius, who loves Hermia with all of his heart, pursues after his love. And Helena, who loves Demetrius but isn’t returned with love from him, chases after him. While all four Athenians are in the forest, which is ruled by fairies, the mischief-maker Puck makes both boys fall in love with Helena, creating chaos among the youths and fairies in the forest. The lovers and fairies throughout the play demonstrate how love is a powerful force that can be chaotic, transformative and puzzling.
While “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” is a play that was produced centuries ago, CET’s production infused it with many contemporary elements. While Emily Wilson-Tobin, the CET director, initially prepared to direct the play, she found herself captivated by Chappell Roan’s song, “Pink Pony Club,” and her longing and searching for a place where people can exist authentically and be accepting of one another in the song. For Wilson-Tobin, the “Pink Pony Club” illustrates the magical woods in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” — both are places of mystery and mischief where people can explore an alternate identity. Alongside the Shakespearean language and characters in this performance, many elements of Chappell Roan were brought into the production: songs of Roan and many drag elements were included in the play, as her persona is closely aligned with Drag performance.
After more than two months of late night rehearsals spent memorizing lines, staging the play and designing props, costumes and sets for the play, members of CET were finally ready to show off all their hard work and talent. For many people in CET, including freshman Jameson Grice, opening night for “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” was the very first CET performance they were a part of. Before opening night, Grice — who played a fairy in the chorus — felt very scared.
“I was really nervous because this is the first high school production I’ve done,” Grice said.
But following his first performance of what he hopes to be many CET shows, Grice felt extremely pleased with how he performed.
“I thought there would be more mess-ups, and even though there were some, I feel like that’s bound to happen whenever it’s the first show,” Grice said. “But I’m proud of how I did – it went way better than I thought it would. I felt accomplished. I feel ready and less nervous for the rest of the performances, and now that we’ve gotten the first show out of the way, we’re ready for the rest.”
Following opening night, four more performances for CET’s fall play took place: 7:30 pm on November 22nd and November 23rd and 2:00 pm on November 23rd and November 24th. Each performance was approximately 2 and a half hours long, and members of CET were beyond excited to show off all their hard work to the people who came to see them. Junior Magnus Porter, who played Theseus and who has acted in two other CET plays, thinks this has been the best CET performance he’s been in. From the drag-inspired costumes, to the storyline of the play, to the role he got, Porter loved every aspect of the play.
“It has been honestly magical to get out on the stage during this play and there’s really no other experience that compares to it out there,” Porter said. “This play has been wonderful — one of the best plays of my life.”
Sophomore Eli Feng, who played the role of Egeus, has also loved this production. Feng’s favorite part of this play was the role he got to play. Almost all of the productions Feng has been in have been musicals in which he sang as part of the ensemble, and getting to have his own named character with lots of lines has been a huge step in Feng’s theater journey.
“This has been a fantastic experience,” Feng said. “Egeus is definitely the biggest role I’ve gotten and it’s been really fun to have a character all to myself and to be able to point at the Playbill and be like, ‘that’s me.’”
Feng believes that despite a few mistakes which have occurred in every show, all the performances have gone really well. Feng thinks the performances have accurately showcased the talent that everybody in CET has, and have brought to their shows.
“I think the performances have gone really well,” Feng said. “I mean, there have always been a few hiccups, but when are there not hiccups when you’re putting on something as fantastical as this?”
CET’s five productions of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” brought three magical evenings and two magical afternoons to Community High School, which successfully blended the classics of Shakespeare with the contemporary elements of Chappell Roan. The cast and crew of CET brought Shakespeare’s enchanting world in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” to life through strong performances, vibrant costumes, creative staging and energetic energy. Despite the centuries between our time and Shakespeare, strong is an understatement of the incredible performance CET put on exploring themes of love, identity and transformation.
