-
Benjamin Michaud as Oberon, Lif Petrova as Titania and Faye Ratcliffe as the Changling Child in Project Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream. ” -
Lif Petrova, far left, and Deborah Shakespeare Thurber directing Counsel Chronopoulos and Tess Geana in rehearsal for “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” -
Jem Russell and Lachlan Linn-Boggs rehearse lifting Emmy Ratcliffe for the lover’s fight scene in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” as Counsel Chronopoulos, far left, and Tess Geana, on pedestal, look on. -
From left, Emmy Ratcliffe, Lachlan Linn-Boggs, Tess Geana and Jem Russell take direction from Deborah Shakespeare Thurber.
Project Shakespeare’s summer 2025 production “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” opens Thursday, July 31, at 6 p.m. at the Jaffrey Meetinghouse.
The play is directed by Deborah Shakespeare Thurber, founder and director of Project Shakespeare and associate directors Benjamin Michaud and Lif Petrova.
“This summer, the world needed joy,” Thurber said. “I chose ‘Dream’ for our production this summer because with all of chaos going on in the world, whatever side of whatever fence you are on, whatever issue it is that is concerning you, we all need some joy, and we all need to remember there is still beauty and good in the world.”
Thurber notes that while “Dream” starts with a tragedy, when Egeus threatens to have his daughter, Hermia, put to death, it becomes a light-hearted comedy and romance.
“We are leaning into the themes that Shakespeare has given us, that are already in the play, but with an awareness that we are in tough times,” Thurber said. “We are maybe drawing attention to some of those lines which you would not usually draw attention to because of the times we are in.”
Thurber sees parallels between the timeless struggles of the characters in “Dream” and the challenges the world today.
“The play is joyful, but there are extreme situations going on on the outside that have pushed the characters to this place of transformation,” Thurber said. “As awful and as terrible as this world is, there are also really wonderful things happening, and we need always to remember that. We may need to search for good things, but they are there. We all need to go to our happy place and find our joy, and joy will prevail.”
Petrova, who is choreographing the play-within-a-play scenes with the woodland fairies, said she is experimenting with a more “earthy” approach to the movement of the actors.
“I’m enjoying being able to move the fairies around, and getting to experiment with them not being so much what you think of as fairies flitting around. We’re trying to have them be more kind of crawling, closer to the ground, maybe more the way an animal would move. ” Petrova said. “We’re trying all kinds of things; it’s a lot of fun.”
This summer marks Petrova’s first time as official associate director, along with fellow associate director Michaud.
“It’s always really fun to find new things in the play, and to try to look at things differently,” she said. “Ben is working in some slapstick with the Mechanicals, and it’s going to be really funny.”
Petrova said the play is “double-cast,” with two complete casts — giving more members of the company a chance to play lead roles, and providing backup in case of illness.
“There is always someone who gets sick or has something happen, so it’s really wonderful that we automatically have back up and can switch in an out,” she said.
The company of “Dream” ranges in age from 7 to 19 and includes Margaret Bennett, Alexander Brand, Leila Burk, Counsel Chronopoulos, Emily Dugger, Tess Geana, Clover Heinzmann, Lillianna Helsel, Sienna Johnson, Eleanora Kishinevsky, Eloise Langille, Ariella Leifer, Lachlan Linn-Boggs, Henry McDonald, Benjamin Michaud, Elise Nicklin, Lif Petrova, Ben Pipitone, Miranda Pipitone, Toby Pipitone, Emmy Ratcliffe, Faye Ratcliffe, Amelia Rosbach, Jem Russell and Corbin Sanders.
Performances are July 31 at 6 p.m. at the Jaffrey Meetinghouse, 15 Laban Ainsworth Way; Aug. 1 at 6 p.m. at First Congregational Church, 6 Payson Hill Road, Rindge; August 2 at Fassett Farm Nursery, 822 Mountain Road, Jaffrey (outdoors/raindate Aug. 5); Aug. 7 at 6 p.m., Dublin Community Center, 1123 Main St., Dublin; Aug. 8 6 p.m. at Gathering Waters Charter Lower School, 98 S. Lincoln St., Keene; Aug. 9 at 2 p.m. at Peterborough Unitarian Universalist Church, 25 Main St., Peterborough; and Aug. 10 at 2 p.m. at Pine Hill Auditorium at High Mowing School, Pine Hill Road, Wilton.
Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for children 12 and under. Reservations are requested at projectshakespeare.org.