It was a busy week. Gall bladder surgery, Broadway show, nephew’s JHS graduation, and Shakespeare in Central Park. The graduation and Shakespeare were the same day so I took a nap in-between and then met rtb, violaleeblue, and mollyT at Central Park up near 103rd Street. I’d seen New York Classical Theatre productions at that section of Central Park last year. It’s a lovely spot with an open field and you walk down to a lake.
There’s the Shakespeare in the Park that everyone knows and then there are several companies that perform Shakespeare during the summer in various parks (and parking lots) around the city. New York Classical Theatre performs panoramic theater, which means the audience follows the actors to different sections of the park for each scene. Central Park – especially that section of the park – is a perfect setting for A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In the past I’ve seen their plays during the end of their runs so it would be dark by the end and the actors would be using flashlights. Seeing the play at the beginning of the summer means there’s still lots of light towards the end of the play.
While we were waiting for the play to start I noticed several people sitting around in brightly colored clothes and correctly assumed that they were actors in the play. One actor was playing a wall and he had a bad NYC accent and I assume he was doing a Trump imitation. There was one Hamilton reference that was very funny and there were many funny moments during the play. For the play within a play the actors were purposely bad and wearing costumes that did not look good in comparison to the actual play when they represented ugly real-life types. The play was fun and funny and I enjoyed the walk and the words.
Clay Storseth (Theseus/Oberon), Amy Hutchins (Hippolyta/Titania), Noelle Franco (Hermia), Daniel Patrick Smith (Demetrius), Kevin Shewey (Lysander), Lauriel Freidman (Helena), Ian Gould (Bottom), Montgomery Sutton (Flute), Patrick Truhler (Snout), Sommer Carbuccia (Snug), Nick Salamone (Peter Quince), and Matt Mundy (Puck) were all excellent and it’s too long ago for me to remember the stand-outs.
Also wonderful jobs by associate artistic director Sean Hagerty (director), Amy Pedigo-Otto (production designer), Andrea Andresakis (movement), Bronwyn Barnwell (wardrobe supervisor), and everyone else involved with the production. Artistic director Stephen Burdman knows how to put on a good show.
By Carene Lydia Lopez
