THEATRE + COMEDY

Houston Family Arts Center  Teen Actors Guild presents A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The classic Shakespearean comedy comes to life at HFAC. Performances on the HFAC Garza Main Stage 10760 Grant Road, Houston, TX 77070. Opening Night: Friday, October 21, 2011. Complete Run: October 21 – November 6, 2011.

One of Shakespeare’s most popular comedies has been transported to Hollywood! The Bard’s timeless story now swirls around the set of a 1920’s silent movie, complete with film stars, wealthy producers and even lowly cameramen and grips. Ilich Guardiola, director and Santry Rush, assistant director, direct this Teen Actors Guild production guaranteed to keep you laughing. If you thought you could never understand and enjoy Shakespeare, see this one. You won’t look at Shakespeare the same way again.

The energetic cast of 27 teens comes from all over Houston. Austin Jacobs portrays Theseus and Brianna Badreau is Hippolyta. Theseus’s rigid views cause a foursome of confused young lovers—Hermia (Annabelle Cousins), Lysander (Connor Heaton), Helena (Anna Conover) and Demetrius (Jonathan Lammey)—to flee for the forest, where Austin Jacobs turns up again as Oberon with Rachel Broussard as Titania, King and Queen of a band of mischievous fairies. Because the fairy royals are engaged in a battle royal, things are thrown out of joint for a band of roguish actors, led by a buffoon named Bottom (Ryan Jacobs), which sets the stage for a fairy prankster named Puck (Alyssa Armstrong) to create chaos in the night. But by morning all is well again, leaving harmony not just among the characters but within and between whole worlds.

The following round out the cast of A Midsummer Night’s Dream: True Lee Hernandez as Egeus, Sophie Rossiter as Philostrate, Veronica McLaren as Peter Quince/prologue, Olivia Clayton as Snout/Wall, Emily Prince as Starveling/Moon, Elisa Ron as Flute/Thisbe, Taylor Hall as Peaseblossom, Phoebe Adams as Cobweb, Claire Metusalem as Moth, Cassidy D’Agostino as Mustardseed, Samantha Smith as Fairy 1, Ellie Butler as Fairy 2, Eden Carter as Fairy 3, Holly Harris as Lady in Waiting to Hypolita, Alex Reyes and Allie Davis as Attendants to Hypolita, and Kameren Lowell as Attendant to Theseus/Oberon.