A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Theater by the Blind, the only blind theater in the U.S., presents William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, directed by Ike Schambelan. This magical show is one of Shakespeare’s most joyous, about the pangs and intensity of young romance. As the play begins, the Athenians are planning the entertainment for a wedding. Two weddings are scheduled but one of the brides-to-be wants to marry another. She runs off into the woods, where the actors are rehearsing, and encounters the magic of the fairies along the way. The three worlds collide, but it all ends happily, even though “the course of true love never did run smooth.”

A Midsummer Night’s Dream takes six actors and each plays an Athenian, a
“rude mechanical,” and a fairy. There’s extra fun in the changes, the way TBTB’s
actors transform from one character to another. The Athenians are Upper-East
side private school kids with the look of Sex and the City. They love their
Manolo Blahniks, but those don’t hold up very well in the forest. The
mechanicals are the workers of Manhattan, the recently-arrived immigrants behind the push carts in the garment district and the counters of Korean delis. The
fairies are the staff at a disco, modern day magic makers.

There is an additional performance Tues, Jan. 30 at 7.