RENO — What happens when you take some mixed-up lovers, a mischievous sprite, a fairy queen and a fool, then shake them all up with a good dose of Lady Gaga and drop them into an apocalyptic modern-day Athens? You end up with a contemporary production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” that just goes to show how much of a timeless classic this Shakespeare play really is.
All of the Midsummer favorites are here, from the fairies to the lovers to the rude mechanicals. But this Sage Ridge School production puts a new twist on the story, says Cameron Crain, artistic managing director of the Nevada Shakespeare Company and drama teacher at SRS. “We decided to set our production in an alternate 2010 reality; this is a distressed Athens, a world where the elements are at odds with each other. The natural world is overtaking the civilized world.”
In addition to acting, Sage Ridge students experience the full theatre experience, from set design to makeup and costuming to assistant directing. “I am blessed with a talented, creative and hard-working design team— the students in my directing class,” said Crain. “Following my second year in pursuit of my Masters degree in theatre from Southern Oregon in Ashland, I wanted to challenge my students with an opportunity to design a fresh new staging of one of Shakespeare’s most-produced plays.”
The current production continues the school’s strong relationship with the works of the Bard. Over the past years, this drama department, in addition to other plays and musicals, has staged “The Tempest,” “The Comedy of Errors,” “Romeo and Juliet,” and “Macbeth.” Additionally, Sage Ridge student actors have performed with the Nevada Shakespeare Company and with the Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival’s D.G. Menchetti Young Shakespeare youth outreach troupe, and have participated in the highly selective Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s Summer Seminar for High School Juniors in Ashland, Ore.
The Sage Ridge School production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” takes place Thursday, Friday and Saturday, Oct. 21, 22 and 23 at 7 p.m. Admission will not be charged, but there is a suggested donation of $5 for adults. Concessions will be available. For more information or for directions to the school, please contact Cameron Crain at ccrain@sageridge.org.
