By William Shakespeare Directed by Peter Pasyk
This production includes mature themes.
WAKING UP TO THE UNREAL WORLD
Spellbound lovers, quarrelling fairies, tradesmen with a fervour for amateur theatricals: they’re all mixed up together in the surreal world of Shakespeare’s great comedy of dreaming and desire.
This deep dive into the sometimes unsettlingly dark and dangerous realms of the subconscious famously culminates in a play within the play: a hilariously inept performance by Nick Bottom and his fellow would-be actors. But even as we laugh at the ham-fisted efforts of these “rude mechanicals,” we are won over by their heartfelt belief in the power of the imagination.
Taking its cue from that insight, this production deploys the most fundamental techniques of theatrical art in a magically inventive staging of a play that is itself a celebration of the imagination at its most extreme.
House Program: A Midsummer Night's Dream
Virtual Runtime: One hour and 36 minutes
Study Guide: A Midsummer Night's Dream
Production support is generously provided by the Harkins & Manning families in memory of Susan & Jim Harkins.
2021: Hermia, Snug, Peaseblossom in A Midsummer Night's Dream. Second season. (Last year slated to play Jenna in Hamlet-911, Citizen in Richard III.) Elsewhere (selected): UnCovered: Notes from the Heart (Musical Stage Co.); Girl in Once (Segal Centre); Audrey in As You Like It, Phillipa in The Taming of the Shrew (St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival); Andrea in Dark Vanilla Jungle (Blarney Productions); Halley in Armstrong's War (Theatre Network). Training: National Theatre School of Canada, Birmingham Conservatory for Classical Theatre. Awards: Two-time nominee - Sterling Award; three-time nominee - Edmonton Music Award; recipient of 2019 Montreal English Theatre Award for Lead Performance in a Musical & Emerging Artist; recipient of 2019 Shirley Banks Prize for Emerging Musical Theatre Artists. Other: Thanks to Mom & Dad & Toni (& Roxy) - for teaching me how to love & sing & laugh & pluck a goose. I love you.
2021: Puck, Egeus in A Midsummer Night's Dream. Sixth season. Stratford: As You Like It (Celia), The Hypochondriac, Alice Through the Looking-Glass (Alice), MND: A Chamber Play (Titania/Hermia), The Tempest (Miranda), The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Cabaret (Sally Bowles), Trojan Women, The Miracle Worker (Helen Keller). Elsewhere (selected): Summer: The Donna Summer Musical (first US national tour); Mother Night (59E59); If Sand… (NYMF Award); Wedding Party (Crow's/NAC/TIFT); Life After (Canadian Stage); Once (Dora Award - Mirvish); Children of God (Urban Ink/NAC); Bloodless (Theatre20); In the Next Room (Tarragon/RMTC); MND, Double Bill, Exit the King (Soulpepper); Assassins (Dora nomination - Birdland/TIFT); Mimi (Dora nomination - Tarragon); Shaw Festival (2003-2007). Film/TV: The Hot Zone, Frankie Drake, Dorothy's Secret, Jack in the Box, Murdoch Mysteries. Training: National Theatre School; The Actors Center, NYC. For Puck-eternal, Ian Watson. To be here. Is all.
2021: Demetrius, Quince, Mustardseed in A Midsummer Night's Dream. Second season. Stratford: Valentine in Two Gentlemen of Verona (Birmingham Conservatory). Elsewhere: Iago in Othello, Richard in Richard III, Sparkish in The Country Wife, Lysander in A Midsummer Night's Dream (London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art); Paul Bratter in Barefoot in the Park, Paul Verral in Born Yesterday (Blue Bridge Repertory Theatre); Henry Baskerville in Hound of the Baskervilles (Royal Canadian Theatre Co.); Young Sherlock in Sherlock Holmes (Chemainus Theatre Festival); Mark Antony in Julius Caesar (Victoria Shakespeare Society). Film/TV: Fragile Seeds (feature film), The Flash, Far Cry 4, Monkey Up, Cascadia, Ollie and Emma. Directing: Julius Caesar (New Image College, Vancouver). Training: Birmingham Conservatory, The London Academy of Dramatic Art (Masters with Distinction, Classical Acting). Et cetera: Jonathan dedicates this season to his family and in memory of his father.
2021: Helena, Flute, Moth in A Midsummer Night's Dream. Elsewhere: Audiobook narration for Butter Honey Pig Bread by Francesca Ekwuyasi (ECW Press); Bobbi in Hilda's Yard (Foster Festival); Ensemble in Towards Youth: A Play on Radical Hope (Project:Humanity/Crow's Theatre); 00 in The Wolves (Howland Company/Crow's); Abigail in A Christmas Carol (Grand Theatre); Hermia in A Midsummer Night's Dream (Shakespeare in High Park); Spiker in James and the Giant Peach (Young People's Theatre); Ariel in The Tempest (Hart House Theatre). Training: Birmingham Conservatory for Classical Theatre, Factory Theatre Mechanicals, Toronto Fringe Theatre Entrepreneurs' Network Training, Randolph Academy for Performing Arts. Awards: Dora Award for The Wolves; Toronto Fringe Patron's Pick Award for All Our Yesterdays (AnOther Theatre Company). Et cetera: Thank you to my mighty Mum, dear sisters, sweet friends, far-flung family, amazing mentors, and The Talent House.
2021: Lysander, Snout, Cobweb in A Midsummer Night's Dream. Second season. Elsewhere: Taz in Samantha: A Concept Album, Set to Stage (Greenlight Theatre); Slightly in Peter Pan (Bad Hats Theatre); Dido in Dido, Queen of Carthage, directed by Peter Hinton (York University Theatre). Training: Birmingham Conservatory, 2019, 2021 (Stratford Festival); Acting Conservatory, York University, 2018 (BFA); Michael Gordon Shore, Role Development. Online: Instagram: @micah.woods. Et cetera: This is for my family. Thank you for your endless support!
2021: Hippolyta, Titania in A Midsummer Night's Dream. Third season. Bahareh was born in Iran and raised in Vancouver, BC, and is a Toronto-based actor. Selected theatre credits: An Ideal Husband, Julius Caesar and The Aeneid (Stratford); A Doll's House, Part 2 (Mirvish/RMTC); Cost of Living (Arts Club/Citadel); Shakespeare in Love (Citadel/RMTC); Unholy, HER2 (Nightwood); Salt-Water Moon (Why Not/Factory); Death of the King, Blood Wedding and Hallaj (Modern Times); Oil, Pomona, Moment and Bea (ARC); Le Placard, Les Zinspirés 2 (Théâtre Français); Kiss (Canadian Stage/Theatre Smash/ARC); Minotaur (YPT); The Kite Runner (Theatre Calgary/Citadel). Bahareh is a six-time Dora Award nominee and a two-time Sterling Award nominee.
2021: Director of A Midsummer Night's Dream. Fifth season. Stratford: Director of Hamlet, 2020 - cancelled due to COVID. Assistant director: Birds of a Kind, School for Scandal, Breath of Kings. Elsewhere: Peter is an acclaimed theatre director who has worked with Canada's leading theatre companies including Tarragon Theatre, Soulpepper, Shaw Festival, Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre and Canadian Stage. Peter directed the world premières of Jordan Tannahill's Late Company (Theatre Centre), Rosamund Small's Sisters (Soulpepper), and Rosa Laborde's Like Wolves (GCTC). Peter's Dora-nominated productions include The Nether, Killer Joe, Dying City, When the World Was Green and The Jones Boy. Peter also works as a filmmaker in Canada and Poland. Awards: Peter is a two-time Dora Award nominee for Outstanding Direction and a Winnipeg Theatre Award nominee for Outstanding Direction. Et cetera: For Ian Watson.
2021: Set designer of A Midsummer Night's Dream. Second season. Elsewhere: Set, costume, lighting design for Ghost Quartet (Crow's Theatre); set, lighting, sound design for Book of Life (Volcano Theatre/Canadian Stage); lighting design for Café Sarajevo (Bluemouth Inc.); lighting design for Charlotte (Theaturtle); set and lighting design for The Nether (Coal Mine Theatre); lighting design for It Comes in Waves (Bluemouth Inc./Necessary Angel Theatre); set and lighting design for Brave New World (Litmus Theatre/Theatre Passe Muraille); set, costume, lighting design for Late Company (Surface Underground/Why Not Theatre). Awards: Dora Award in Lighting Design for The Nether (Coal Mine); Dora Award in Independent Set Design for Crawlspace (Videofag); Dora Award in Lighting Design for It Comes in Waves (Bluemouth Inc./Necessary Angel); Toronto Theatre Critics Award in Design for The Nether (Coal Mine). Et cetera: Kaitlin, you're the best!
2021: Lighting designer of A Midsummer Night's Dream. 17th season. Stratford (selected): Billy Elliot, Little Shop of Horrors, Birds of a Kind, The Rocky Horror Show, The Music Man, The Tempest, Napoli Milionaria!, Guys and Dolls, The School for Scandal, Macbeth, A Chorus Line, Hamlet, The Sound of Music, Oedipus Rex, King Lear, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Othello, Fiddler on the Roof, The Matchmaker, Twelfth Night.Elsewhere: Piaf/Deitrich (Mirvish); A Christmas Carol (Theatre Calgary); Così Fan Tutte (Israeli Opera, COC); Il Trittico, Jenufa, Maria Stuarda, Albert Herring (Pacific Opera Victoria); A Doll's House Part 2 (RMTC/Mirvish); The Full Light of Day (Electric Company); Tartuffe (Canadian Stage/Stratford); The Humans (Citadel/Canadian Stage); Enron (NAC); A Word or Two with Christopher Plummer (CTG/Stratford, Los Angeles); Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Sideways (La Jolla Playhouse); Julie, The Other Place, Harper Regan, Venus in Fur (Canadian Stage); Chimerica (RMTC/Canadian Stage).
2021: Assistant director of A Midsummer Night's Dream. Third season. Elsewhere: Marie works between Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal. She has directed for and collaborated with companies from across the country such as Crow's Theatre, Théâtre La Seizième, Neworld, Necessary Angel, Bard on the Beach, Rumble Theatre and Porte-Parole. Since 2018, she has been the Associate Artistic Director at Crow's Theatre. Training: Concordia University; Michael Langham Workshop. Awards: Dora Award for Outstanding Direction in the Musical Theatre division and Toronto Theatre Critics' Award for Best Director of a Musical for Ghost Quartet; 2019 Ray Michal Award for Outstanding Body of Work by an Emerging Director; Patron's Pick and Best of Fringe Awards at the 2019 Toronto Fringe for The Huns; Artistic Risk Award at the Vancouver Fringe 2018 for Surveil. Online: mariefarsi.com.
2021: Apprentice stage manager of A Midsummer Night's Dream. Second season. Elsewhere: Stage manager of Adam's Unplugged Puppet Party (The Pucking Fuppets Co.), This Is How We Live (Frantic Assembly and Ryerson School of Performance), Equinox and Goose … Please Pay Attention! (New Voices Festival), The '94 Club (Crave Productions), The Women (Ryerson School of Performance), Folks Like Us and Miss Michael: In Conversation with Michael Learned (The Victoria Playhouse Petrolia). Apprentice stage manager of Come Down from Up River (Theatre Orangeville) and Driving Miss Daisy (The Victoria Playhouse Petrolia). Training: BFA with Honours in Performance Production and Design, Ryerson School of Performance. Et cetera: Lily is so proud to be joining the team at the Stratford Festival, and would like to thank her family, friends, and professors for all their love and support!
2021: Production stage manager of the Tom Patterson Theatre Canopy. Eighth season. Stratford: Production stage manager, Festival Theatre, 2020. Assistant stage manager: Billy Elliot, Othello, The Music Man, To Kill a Mockingbird, Shakespeare in Love, The Hypochondriac, The Sound of Music, The Taming of the Shrew, Love's Labour's Lost, As You Like It, King of Thieves. Elsewhere (selected): King Lear, Twelfth Night (SiHP); A City, Divisadero (Necessary Angel); Cracked: new light on dementia (UW/Collective Disruption); Comfort (Red Snow Collective); The Road to Paradise, Night (Human Cargo); Miracle on 34th Street (STC); Bella (HGJTC); Anne of Green Gables, Canada Rocks! (Charlottetown); Falling: A Wake (Blyth); The Barber of Seville (Soulpepper); Binti's Journey, Head à Tête, Old Man and the River (Theatre Direct); Danny, King of the Basement (Roseneath); Othello, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Twelfth Night, All's Well That Ends Well (SLSF).
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