A Midsummer Night's Dream

Director - Jon Malmed

Bungalow 25. Thursday January 17, 2008, 8:32 am

Phone Rings.

"Hi, Mr Malmed, it's Ms. Estrada calling. I wanted to talk to you about possibly teaching Drama for the second semester ..."

Though the subsequent conversation with the assistant principle continued and was extended over the course of the next couple of weeks, to me it was already a done deal. Witnessing the high standard of Eagle Rock High productions, regretting the departure of beloved drama instructor, Russell Copley, and hoping the theatre program wouldn't lose momentum, I figured someone had to step in and help keep the ball rolling. Might as well be me, right? After the phone conversation with Ms. Estrada, I wandered around my vacant English classroom for the entire first period conference, bouncing possible May production ideas around. It was on.

A couple of weeks later, I met the 5th and 6th period members of Eagle Rock Stage, offered my suggestions, and asked if they had any themselves. "A Midsummer Night's Dream!" someone shouted. "Yeaaaaahhhhh," concurred some others.

"Not bad," I thought. That was one of my first ideas too. Still, I wanted to read aloud a few others before we decided. We tried out an absurdist retelling of the story of Robin Hood. It wasn't as funny as when I had read it a few years back. Forget it. The kids were right. Easy choice: Shakespeare.

Some Eagle Rock High School students already have experience with A Midsummer Night's Dream. In my 9th and 11th Grade English classes, about a third of them know the story: the wedding of Hippolyta and Theseus, the jealous feud of King Oberon and his Queen Titania, rude mechanicals' botched play rehearsal, an impassioned entanglement of four confused lovers, all bound together by the mischievous Puck. Despite this seeming confusion, I find it to be Shakespeare's most accessible play. Knowing the talent of Eagle Rock Stage, I was certain we could make it more than just accessible, but very much the "dream" it was intended to be: an evening of bizarre, frightening, adventurous, and intoxicating bliss.

Of course, the vision of Shakespeare's dreamscape has evolved since the bard penned it in the early 1590s. Our "dream" is a hybrid, hard-to-define, beautiful, and haunting world where the structured order of daily life is subverted by the chaotic nighttime realm of sleep-visions. It consists of an alluring forest designed by Jenessa Connor and a fairy-populated, musical landscape of punk, rock, reggae, and even a Hindi melody with dance choreographed by Jessica Valarde.

Special thanks go to Russell Copley for his advice and guidance; Nick Hall for his technical direction; Carla Copley for our publicity's hair and make-up design; Maria Solano for her administrative cooperation and patience; Assistant Principals Delia Estrada, Janet Lord, and Principal Velasco for their overall support; and some of the most amazing high school actors, designers, and technicians I've ever been around for making this dream a reality.

-Jon Malmed (director)