The Southern California Shakespeare Festival will have a special outdoor performance of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” on at 6 p.m., Friday, Sept. 20, at Union Plaza.
“Performing Shakespeare is very popular and done all over the world,” says festival founder and theatre Professor Linda Bisesti. “Shakespeare was very connected to nature. All his plays reflect the outdoors.”
The play offers Cal Poly Pomona theatre students the opportunity to work and perform alongside professionals, including Sam Robinson, the director; actress Paula Weston Solano, an instructor at Cal Poly Pomona; and costumer Kelly Fluker.
“A Midsummer Night’s Dream” recounts the romantic intrigues of two couples, Hermia and Lysander, and Helena and Demetrius, as they journey from city of Athens into the fantasy world of the forest. Oberon and Titania, king and queen of the fairies in the forest, respectively, and Puck, one of their subjects, become entangled in the couple’s intrigues, with comic results.
Students play some of the leading roles: Vanessa Badida plays Hermia; Tiana Parker is Lysander, and Amy Hatfield is Helena.
The festival is in its ninth year, and its audience has grown. Nearly every show sells out —the Sept. 27 performance is already sold out —and it draws students from middle and high schools as far away as Big Bear who read Shakespearean plays in their classes. Additional performances will be held through Sept. 29 at the Studio Theatre in Building 25. For dates and more information, visit www.southerncaliforniashakespearefestival.org.
The Sept. 20 outdoor performance has a limited number of seats available. Tickets are on sale at the theatre office in Building 25 or at the event. For more information, call (909) 869-3900.