Parkway Playhouse stages “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” Sept. 20-28

From a press release:

Parkway Playhouse stages “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” Sept. 20-28

Fairies mix with mortals, a feuding king and queen unleash magical practical jokes on one another, spells yield improbable love affairs and a band of comical tradesmen wander into an enchanted wood and are transformed in the most unlikely and often hilarious ways in Shakespeare’s most popular, enduring, and rowdy romantic comedy, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, opening on September 20 at Parkway Playhouse and continuing on Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30pm and Sundays at 3:00pm through September 28.

Tickets range from $10-$20 and additional discounts are available for students, groups of 10 or more, as well as for seniors and active military. Reservations can be made by contacting the Parkway Playhouse box office at 828-682-4285 between 1-5pm Thursdays through Saturdays or visiting the Parkway Playhouse website.

In a bid to escape a forced marriage, four young lovers, Helena, Hermia, Lysander, and Demetrius, abscond to the forest to elope. However, their romantic flight is uproariously complicated by the woods’ unexpected magical fairy residents. Presided over by Oberon the petulant Fairy King and Titania his stubborn queen, the fairies keep their kingdom here, and impish characters, like the mischievous Puck roam. On the same night that the love-struck youth flee in to the woods, Oberon and Titania have a tumultuous fight and a group of bumbling tradesmen, who fancy themselves brilliant actors, are preparing to stage a play for an upcoming royal wedding in the same enchanted woods. Passions hilariously collide, magical spells go awry, the play is nearly canceled, and uproarious chaos looms as the night fades to dawn. Filled with fantastical transformations, mistaken identities, and indelibly original characters, it is a story once experienced, not easily forgotten.

“Parkway Playhouse is a teaching theatre and creating opportunities to experience new things is a driving part of our mission, and has been for almost seven decades. Many people have only had to read Shakespeare, including students, who are required to read it. This is an opportunity to experience this play as it was meant to be seen” commented Artistic Director Andrew Gall. “This is a funny, romantic, play with very engaging characters and we have worked to make the production very accessible and enjoyable for audiences of all ages. I hope you will join us for an evening, you will be to busy laughing to regret it.”

The production boasts a cast of highly seasoned area performers including Asheville-based Dwight Chiles, who plays the good-hearted but somewhat naïve and clown-ish Bottom; Avery County native, Parkway Playhouse regular Haven Jenkins as the crafty Puck; as well as Trinty Smith, Will Storrs, Jered Shults, and Allison Young (making her Parkway Playhouse debut) as the four enamored lovers. Dominic Aquilino and Mary Katherine Smith-Gall, both with numerous appearances at Parkway Playhouse, appear as the warring Oberon and Titania. The rest of the cast includes: Ryan Robertson, Andrea Bailey, Jeff Douglas Messer, Steve Elderbrock, Rob Storrs, Michael Lilly, Doug Shaw, Logan Walden, Levi Bradford, Taylor Hutcheson, and Olivia Morgan. The production was directed by Gall, and the fairy-tale landscape and costumes were dreamed up by Bruce Chuvala and Victoria Smith.

Support for Parkway Playhouse’s 2014 season comes from WKYK/WTOE, the Blumenthal Foundation, and the Mountain Air Community Residents Fund.

For more information about tickets, performances, classes and other opportunities, please contact Parkway Playhouse at 828.682.4285 or visit www.parkwayplayhouse.com.