Lake Pend Oreille Repertory Theatre brings Shakespeare’s ‘Midsummer’ to the Big Apple

When it came to his production of William Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” director Tim Bangle had a vision. The Shakespeare comedy is set in ancient Athens, but Bangle knew he could make a modern-day setting work and decided on New York City.

“New York City had a lot of texture in the cityscape and texture within the people aspect of it, some different personalities and personas to choose from,” he said.

And with three story lines braided together, all connected by the wedding of Theseus (Scott Gossett) and Hippolyta (Holly Beaman), multiple personas and a variety in the landscape were a necessity.

In “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” there is conflict among four lovers, Helena (Tobey Jensen), Lysander (Angel Rogers), Demetrius (Aiden Phillips) and Hermia (Linnaea Leadbetter), with Hermia’s father Egeus (Michael Richardson) wishing she would marry Demetrius instead of Lysander.

There is also a group of six actors working on a play they will perform before the big wedding. Theseus has chosen “Pyramus and Thisbe” despite the bad review from Philostrate (Cody Bost), his Master of Revels.

The mechanicals, aka the six actors, are Nick Bottom (Michael Clarke), Peter Quince (Sarah Caruso), Francis Flute (Michael Bigley), Snug (Robert Zweifel), Tom Snout (Dwight Webster) and Robin Starveling (Suzann McLamb).

Meddling with the lovers and the actors are a group of fairies with troubles of their own: Oberon (Andrew Sorg), who is the king of the fairies, Queen Titania (Nikki Luttmann), Puck (Sydney Carlson), Peasblossom (Kate Hill) Mustardseed (James Riddle), Moth (Camie Bost) and Cobweb (Elli Lawrence).

Lake Pend Oreille Repertory Theatre’s production of “A Midsummer’s Night Dream” opens Friday and runs through April 12 at the Panida Theater in Sandpoint.

In keeping with the New York City theme, the mechanicals are going to be portrayed as blue collar workers like dock workers and apartment building superintendents. The fairies are hidden in plain sight as people living on the street and street musicians.

As king and queen of the fairies, Oberon and Titania will be portrayed as a Russian mobster and a news reporter, respectively. Puck, a fairy who interacts with the lovers and the actors, is portrayed as a mime.

“Each of the fairies has a space where their true identity comes to play,” Bangle said.

With three groups to juggle onstage, the set also needed to be as big and varied as the real New York City.

The centerpiece of the stage is a 14-foot tall miniaturized version of the Empire State Building, and Bangle will use a recreation of One Times Square, a building famously covered in LED billboards that display advertisements, to project moving imagery.

Bangle wanted the set to look like New York City streets, so he’s arranged the buildings in a way that the actors can navigate around them as if they were really traversing the Big Apple.

On the other side of the stage, Bangle and his team have recreated Central Park, where characters will gather throughout the show, using a bleacherlike structure and a patch of grass.

Bringing yet another element into his production, Bangle is working with dancers from the Cocolalla Conservatory School of Classical Ballet and Dance. Video he filmed of the dancers will be shown toward the end of the show to represent everyone’s love coming to fruition.

“They’re so professional in their composure and how they dance,” Bangle said.

There is also an element of “America’s Got Talent” audience members can look out for when the actors begin performing the play within a play at Theseus and Hippolyta’s wedding.

After Lake Pend Oreille Repertory Theatre underwent restructuring, Bangle wanted to make a financially smart choice for the season and select a play that was in the public domain, meaning he wouldn’t have to pay royalties.

Shakespeare’s work fit the bill, and having played Theseus in a high school production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” Bangle was familiar with the comedy. Turns out prospective actors were familiar with it too, filling all of the available audition slots so quickly that Bangle had to open a few more to accommodate everyone who was interested.

An enduring theme of the play is its depictions of love. To highlight this, Bangle has made sure every actor knows where their character fits within the love spectrum, including Puck, who is seen stirring the pot, sometimes by mistake, amongst the couples in the story.

She herself has a chance to practice her flirting skills though while dancing with a mannequin at the start of the show.

Once all parties involved get it right, love is a joyful thing. Noting that the world is a very stressful place right now, Bangle said he, the cast and crew have approached “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” from a place of joy that has manifested in the rehearsal space, the chemistry between performers and, hopefully, the audience.

“The show is really about love even though there are some tense moments in the show,” he said. “We end it with a high note and a lot of laughing so it’s a good way to escape the stress of reality right now.”