A Midsummer Night's Dream Director's Note

Full Circle

Twenty-six years ago, I said my first word on the APT stage: "Relent." And neither I nor APT has relented since then. I was Demetrius in A Midsummer Night's Dream, with Jim Ridge as Puck, Tracy Michelle Arnold as Titania and the grand leading man himself, Jonathan Smoots, as Oberon.

Jonathan spoke the first word ever uttered at APT: "Now." Today, we get to say them again, in the year of his passing. This very bittersweet symmetry reminds me that theater, like life, moves in cycles of remembrance and renewal.

APT, like Midsummer, like any great story, allows us to step out of our routines—our jobs, our habits, our normal lives—and taste some midsummer magic and madness under the stars. Shakespeare's characters come to the woods and are transformed by what they find there. We too are transformed when we come out to our little theater in the woods—and when we return to our jobs, our habits, our lives, a little bit of that magic stays with us. I know that the magic (and madness) that was Jonathan Smoots will stay with me forever—his wisdom, his generosity, his passion for this sacred space of storytelling.

As you watch our production tonight, nestled in this beautiful rural Wisconsin landscape, I hope you feel what I felt when I first performed here—wonder, possibility, and connection to something timeless. These woods have witnessed countless transformations by artists and audiences alike. I hope that a little bit of our magic, our madness, stays with you after you leave tonight. I hope you get to see the world anew, to love more deeply and to carry a spark of enchantment back into your everyday life.

Now. Welcome to the woods. Welcome to the dream.

- David Daniel, Director of A Midsummer Night's Dream