Mention the word “Shakespeare” to most teenagers and you’ll hear groans of dismay. But not at Pierson High School — at least, not this week. Students there are putting the final touches on their production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” the Bard’s comedy of woodland fairies, potions and star-crossed lovers. And you could say the young actors are positively smitten by the material.
“They were so glad we were doing this and eager to take on the challenge, says English teacher Gary Schulman, who directs the play. “They really love this.”
Every four or five years, Schulman and teacher Keith Holden, who produce the fall play together, choose a Shakespearean offering for the Pierson students to tackle. It’s become something of a tradition at the school.
“Thirteen years ago, ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ was the first play we did here at Pierson. It was such a fun play to do,” says Schulman who rehearsed this production in a very unconventional manner.
Back in June, before the end of the school year, students interested in trying out for the play were given copies of the script. After spending the summer with the material, the students came back to school ready to work. Schulman notes there were no standard auditions for the play. Instead, for the first two weeks of rehearsal, the group read the script over and over, and students took successive lines, regardless of what character was speaking them.
“We read through the script and talked about it,” says Schulman. “It was a challenge for them to keep their egos in check, we were doing the investigation and they were thinking, ‘What part am I getting?’”
“What was good about this was naturally, as we read and switched off, it became evident what roles fit what actors,” adds Schulman. “When we finally cast the play they were all fine with it. By that time, they were so committed to the idea of the play, it really helped to foster an ensemble feeling to everything. They knew they were all in it together.”
And the young thespians came to understand that Schulman and Holden’s choice of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” expressed a vote of confidence in their collective abilities.
“Midsummer Night’s Dream” follows two sets of lovers who run off into the woods as a result of their mutual affections (or lack thereof). Informed by her father that she must marry Demetrius, a man she does not love, Hermia tells her best friend, Helena, that she is eloping with her lover Lysander. Helena, who loves Demetrius herself and has been rejected by him, tells him of Hermia’s plan hoping to win him back. But Demetrius, despite the competition from Lysander, remains in love with Hermia and follows the eloping couple into the woods. Helena trails hoping to convince Demetrius to love her instead.
Because most Shakespeare troupes consist of adult actors, it’s hard to remember that he actually wrote “Midsummer Night’s Dream” with teenagers in mind. The drama of unrequited love and close friends pitted against one another as they vie for the affections of a suitor is certainly familiar territory to anyone who has survived high school.
“They’re teenagers like us, with the same problems and emotions,” says junior Holly Goldstein, who plays the rejected Helena. “But instead of school, the goal is to get married.”
“Helena is so in love with Demetrius, and they were together. Then Hermia started flirting with him,” continues Goldstein. “But Hermia doesn’t want to marry him, she really loves Lysander. Helena is thinking, ‘Why does that happen? Hermia gets all the attention.’”
“It’s kind of like high school,” adds Goldstein. “Hermia and Lysander are running away and I think, ‘Why doesn’t that happen to me?’ I see Demetrius being a jerk to me and I can’t help but love him. It’s so ridiculous.”
Ahhh, young love…..
Meanwhile, back in the forest, Oberon, king of the fairies and his queen, Titania, have had an argument and Oberon calls on the mischievous woodland creature Puck to apply a love potion to Titania’s eyes while she sleeps so that she will fall in love with the first living thing she sees when she awakens. Things get complicated when Puck also puts the potion on the eyes of several travelers as well, including Lysander and Demetrius, and both young men fall in love with the previously unloved Helena.
In the end, of course, all’s well that ends well (this is one of Shakespeare’s comedy’s after all) and the lovers get sorted out with everyone finding someone to love who loves them back.
The theme of love is an appropriate one, given that Shakespeare wrote “Midsummer’s Night Dream” as a wedding gift, and it’s a gift that the Pierson students still appreciate today, more than 400 years after it was written.
“I really love the deep meaning behind it,” says senior David Kestler, who plays Lysander. “It’s not a face value kind of play. You have to think about what Shakespeare is really saying. What it’s really about.”
“You have to really know what your doing. It’s written in iambic pentameter and it really flows,” says Goldstein. “This is the kind of thing where words get stuck in you’re head — it’s so melodic, it really flows.”
“We all got it really quick, or at least Mr. Schulman said we did,” adds Kestler. “There is also physical comedy in this play. I like the layers, and the sense of sophistication. Shakespeare put in parts that could be modified to talk about problems of every age. He knew people wouldn’t always laugh at the queen. He knew some things would change — but the troubles of humans never change.”
“They’re having a fun time they’re trying to put themselves in it and are also very concerned about getting it right,” says Schulman. “Which makes my job easier. A lot of times when we’re rehearsing they’ll say, ‘Is it supposed to be like this? It’s so funny.’”
“What amazes me is how much of this they can relate to,” adds Schulman. “Having been written in 1596, we talk about how they need to eliminate everything that they know that happened after 1596, and that’s who their characters are — getting rid of the phones, TVs, cars, aspirations and how teenagers talk today. This is what teenagers were about. In 1596, the woods went on for ever, and all you had to think of was each other.”
Goldstein comes to this production straight from her role as Marcy Park in “The 25th annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” at the Southampton Cultural Center. Rehearsals for the two plays overlapped. Learning to spell unpronounceable words for one while mastering Shakespearean English for the other may sound completely impossible, but for Goldstein, Marcy and Helena were so different as characters, she was able to keep their words separate in her mind.
“To play these roles you have to be as honest as possible and put yourself in the character’s shoes,” says Goldstein. “Sometimes, it’s more difficult if they’re similar to you.”
Shakespeare loved words, and indeed, this particular play has been known to run over three and a half hours long. But fear not wary theatregoers, for that will not be the case at Pierson. Schulman has managed to shave this show down to just around two hours, tops.
“It’s a lot of fun to be involved in, it’s a lot of fun to direct and to watch,” says Schulman. “It’s like a set of monkey bars — a great playground for the kids.”
Pierson High School’s production of William Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” opens tonight, Thursday, November 19, 2009 at 7 p.m. in the school auditorium, 200 Jermain Avenue, Sag Harbor. Shows are also on Friday, November 20 at 7 p.m. and Saturday, November 21 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Tickets are $5 in the main office. Call 725-5302 for details.
Top: Holly Goldstein as Helena (foreground) with Kathleen Comber (Hermia), Beau Riva (Demetirus) and David Kestler (Lysander) during rehearsals. (Michael Heller photo)
