About MIDSUMMER

“From the moment the lights go down, it is evident that this is not your 10th grade English class's Shakespeare…a unique adaptation.”
-Broadway World, Caryn Robbins

Theatre for the New City in association with the cell present The Hive’s A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM. Part night club, part burlesque, part good old fashioned love story, this production turns the traditional on its head.  In this modern re-imagining of Shakespeare’s classic, ideas of gender, sexual-orientation and power are explored and exploded.  By casting Shakespeare’s lovers as gay and lesbian couples, we are able to refocus the play’s central conflict of choice in marriage onto today’s relevant issue at hand:  marriage equality.  

“The timing of this gender-bending version of Shakespeare's ‘A Midsummer Night's Dream’ couldn't be more appropriate given New York State's recent legislation for same-sex marriage.”
-Back Stage, Karl Levett

Last July, the cell and The Hive co-produced an earlier version of MIDSUMMER, which played to great audience and critical acclaim.  Now, the award-winning Theatre for the New City and the cell want to co-produce a new run of the show with us in April through May of this year.  We want to take this show to the next level.  We’re tightening up the script, bringing in fresh talent, incorporating new design elements and transforming the theatre space into a dream-like immersive audience experience.  It’s going to be hot!

“…it is easily the most persuasive and compelling Midsummer of the dozen I have seen.”
-Show Business Weekly, Bryan Clark

Why MIDSUMMER?  Why Now?

We know—it’s an old play and it’s been done a bajillion times.  Everyone’s read it, everyone’s seen it, everyone thinks they know it—a dude dressed up as a donkey and a bunch of magical fairies, right?

So, if we were going to tackle the Bard, and bring his gorgeous words before a modern audience, we felt it was essential to shed new light on the play.  When Shakespeare originally wrote the play, he had a unique opportunity.  In his own times, arranged marriage was the norm, heterosexuality was compulsory and women were considered little more than property.  However, the reigning monarch of England at the time was an unmarried woman who catapulted her country onto the world stage.  With the example set by his Queen, Shakespeare was able to write a play which questioned traditional norms of marriage.  In the original text of MIDSUMMER, Shakespeare presented the controversial argument that women deserved to choose their own husbands. 

The contemporary parallel became immediately obvious to us. 

If this is a play about choice in marriage, about fighting tyrannical forces in the name of love, then in our own times, it is most relevant in the issue of marriage equality.  This discovery was the impetus for our approach to the play, but by no means did it encompass our entire vision.  We quickly expanded into a larger exploration of gender and power.  We started asking questions like: What is gender?  What is the nature of bias?  In a relativistic world, what is taboo?  What’s at the heart of homophobia?  When it comes to love, do gender and sexual orientation ultimately even matter?

It’s important to us as a company that this not merely be a “message” piece.  We’re out to tell a beautiful human story.  In the end, we want audiences not to see a gay couple, a straight couple, a lesbian or transgendered couple, but simply a bunch of people in love.  

“…ground-breaking interpretation of this play…A MUST SEE!”
-nytheatre, Nicholas Linnehan

Why Do We Need Your Help?

Producing theatre in NYC comes at an extremely high cost.  We are a non-profit theatre company operating in one of the most expensive cities in the world.  Theatre tickets in NYC are typically exorbitantly expensive such that those who need to see theatre most cannot afford to do so (certainly not in this economy).  It is vitally important to The Hive that we continue to keep our ticket costs affordable for our audiences.  In theory we could charge more per ticket to cover our costs, but we are committed to keeping ticket prices at or below the cost of a movie ticket.  Accessibility to the arts is a central tenet of our values.

We need your help to raise the capital to make the next run of the show possible and affordable.  This show is not merely a repeat of a past run, but a leaner, meaner version that deserves to be seen by more audiences.  The money you contribute will go directly to costs like:

• Materials for shadow puppets
• Renting lighting equipment
• Transforming the theatre space into an immersive environment
• Building costumes and props
• Video projectors and screens
• Paying our artists and collaborators
• Marketing and promotions
• Music and sound design

Our partners at Theatre for the New City and the cell are generously doing their part by partially funding our project.  But we need YOU in order to get all the way there, and make this a truly unforgettable A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM.

To learn more about The Hive and our last version of MIDSUMMER, please visit our website.

 

Who is Involved?

The amazing cast of MIDSUMMER includes Hive members who have appeared on Broadway, in venues across the country and even London's West End.  The cast includes Chris Critelli, Samuel T. Gaines, Fernando Gambaroni, Shira Gregory, Meghan Grace O'Leary, Marissa Parness, Glenn Quentin, Guy Rader, Michael Raver and Alan Winner.  To see headshots and learn more about these Hive members and the cast of MIDSUMMER visit our Members page:  http://www.thehivetheatre.com/members

We are also blessed to have a stellar artistic team assembled for this next incarnation of The Hive's MIDSUMMER.  Matthew A.J. Gregory, also Artistic Director of The Hive, returns to direct this production and bring his vision of MIDSUMMER on stage.

“Immensely enjoyable…with wit and wicked imagination, artistic director Matthew A.J. Gregory challenges marriage inequality”
-The Advocate, Brandon Voss

The rest of our tremendous team includes returning Hive members:

Scenic Designer – Justin Couchara (Recent:  Asst. Scenic Designer for PETER AND THE STARCATCHER , Lead Props Sculptor for BLOODY BLOODY ANDREW JACKSON, and Executive Director for The Hive)

Lighting Designer - Nick Gonsman (Recent: Field Project Coordinator for ETC and Managing Director for The Hive)

Production Manager – Scott Andrews

Stage Manager – Lauren Williams

We are also honored to be welcoming a group of new artists on this next venture into our MIDSUMMER:

Sound Designer - Phil Rudy (Recent:  Sound design Off Broadway for THE DEEP THROAT SEX SCANDAL and FACEBOOK ME.  Also recently became a member of The Hive)

Choreographer - Jen Littlefield

Puppet designer - Joe Therrien

Costume Designer – Marte Joh Ekhougen (Recent: puppet design for HAND TO GOD at Ensemble Studio Theatre)

Assistant Scenic Designers - Ellie Bye and Josh Hackett

CHECK OUT OUR AMAZING INCENTIVES!

We have many exciting incentives, from t-shirts to the chance to have your name tattooed on the actor playing PUCK!  You can have your caricature done by Hive artists or even have your own personalized comic book created by The Hive!  You even get to pick your own super-power!

Check out some of the caricatures and comic book art by Hive member Chris Critelli:

Caricature by Chris Critelli

Caricature of the MIDSUMMER cast by Chris Critelli

Comic book art by Chris Critelli