“A Midsummer Night’s Dream” to be presented in Arboretum

May 13, 2002
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EDITORS: Images available on request.

ANN ARBOR—Back by popular demand, the actors and the audience will take to the woods when the University of Michigan’s Residential College and Nichols Arboretum repeat last year’s impressive and unique presentation of Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”

Presented amid nature’s splendor, each presentation of this story of flowers and young lovers and dreams and of fairies who lived in an enchanted wood will include the magical places created by trees, valleys, hillsides, and plantings with the actors, puppets, diaphanous costumes and pranks of the fairies drawing the audience into the magic of a moonlit spring evening in the Arb.

This production, under the direction of Residential College Lecturer Kate Mendeloff, will offer eight performances in June. Performances June 13-15 and 20-22 will begin at 7 p.m. Performances June 16 and 23 will begin at 3 p.m.

Tickets are available at the gate at 1610 Washington Heights and cost $10 for general admission and $5 for any student. Free parking is available on Washington Heights in lot M-28, opposite Mary Markley Hall. Early arrival is advisable as the audience number is limited.

[Central Campus map, Markley Hall upper right.See also Medical Campus portion of “North & Medical Campus” map at http://www.parking.umich.edu/parking/maps/.]

Audiences are encouraged to bring their own seating and to wear comfortable shoes as this is a moving performance with the audience as well as the players traveling from glen to hillside through the Arb. The sylvan surroundings set the natural stage for both the actors and the audience to enjoy both the freedom and imagination as depicted by Shakespeare’s young lovers through fantasy, dream, and delusion.

Theater in the Arb is not new at U-M, but has not been a regular occurrence since the 1930s, when student productions were held in the East Valley. This production will take full advantage of the Arb’s natural settings by incorporating the landscape into the play and moving the action throughout the Arboretum.

This production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” is part of the Arts in the Arb program, established in 1997, celebrating different ways people view and interact with the natural environment. This unique production is made possible with funding from U-M’s College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, U-M’s Arts at Michigan, the University’s Public Goods Council, and the continuing support of the Ford Motor Company.

Additional information is available at http://www.rc.lsa.umich.edu/midsummer or by calling (734) 615-6301.