American Players Theatre comes full circle with 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'

Janet Clear, Isthmus

When we think of summer theater in Spring Green, most of us think of Shakespeare. American Players Theatre started in 1980 producing only Shakespeare for four years, then added a dose of Chekov to plays by the Bard for the next four. Since then, other playwrights have entered the chat, but Shakespeare remains the O.G., with at least one of his classics performed at APT every year of its 45-year run. The very first play ever performed on the Hill at APT was A Midsummer Night’s Dream. It’s a perfect starter course: deliciously funny, a bit bawdy, full of magic and mayhem. Plots intertwine as three groups engage in intrigue: marriage-minded Athenian royalty, amateur theater-loving tradespeople, and manipulative fairies cross paths in the woods; hilarity ensues.

APT stages A Midsummer Night’s Dream again this summer, with pared-down minimalism. As the audience enters the theater, only an iron-wrapped staircase appears on stage. The dark-painted timbers of APT’s skeletal backdrops and lighting towers make the stage a virtual black box. The actors are front and center in this production. And they are more than up to the task. Jim DeVita as Oberon is imperious and a bit desperate to regain the love of Elizabeth Ledo’s Titania, reveling in her powers. The characters who might think that they are the central focus of the play — the Athenian royalty, are all lovely. Samantha Newcomb as Hermia and Maggie Cramer as Helena stand out. Their ability to turn Shakespearean English into something understandable to modern audiences is astonishing. It’s like watching Olympics-level water ballet — breathtakingly beautiful athleticism.

The role of Puck is creatively cast, with two actors playing one part. Joshua M. Castille and Casey Hoekstra as Puck seemed like one person, split in two. Like the voice inside your head and the things you say out loud, sometimes two characters coexist in the same body. Castille and Hoekstra embrace and dance, sometimes speaking lines together, sometimes one at a time, like a woven tapestry. Castille is a Deaf actor who uses ASL, and both actors use their hands as well as their voices, adding richness and artistry to every line.

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