The OHS theater department just announced the 2024 spring play, William Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Over the first weeks of March, the announcement was made to actors, crew and the public.
“A Midsummer Night’s Dream” was written by playwright William Shakespeare. The play was chosen for its large cast, timeless plot and character movement. “Midsummer” is one of Shakespeare’s best-known comedies.
This year’s production will be the third time theater director Mr. Erik Eitrheim has directed “Midsummer” at OHS. Each time, the play can be interpreted differently with a new theme. Mr. Eitrheim said, “I’m most excited to put our concept into reality. The concept for the show is the Burning Man.” Like music festivals, Burning Man has an artistic feel to the play. The cast and crew are both very eager to see how they can make the theme “Burning Man” come to life.
Not every interpretation has a theme to the play. Senior head crew director Idalia Anderson said, “With Shakespeare “Midsummer,” you can have it in the 30,000 in space and people will still get what it’s about.” The play can take place anywhere or anytime and still make sense.
“A Midsummer Night’s Dream” is a flexible play where the director can take the show in many ways. “Midsummer” is a comedy play set in Athens that follows a love conflict among four Athens lovers.
Crew member Avery Dunn said, “I believe the hardest thing about this play is that we are losing a lot of stage crew members who were a part of the musical. Working on the play will put a lot more stress on the people who are staying.” Comparatively, there were tons of people in the cast of the winter musical “Newsies.” New activities are going on, so some of the people in the previous cast or crew cannot participate. This provides a new challenge for the department.
Auditions for the play were on March 12 and 13, and callbacks were on March 14. The cast was announced on March 15. The play will be performed on May 2, 3 and 4 at 7 p.m. and May 5 at 1:30 p.m. in the OHS auditorium.
