STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK
To believe Shakespeare is to believe that “the course of love never did run smooth.”
And that’s why “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” has long been one of the Bard’s most endearing plays.
Laughing Stock Theatre’s Sun Valley Shakespeare in the Park will mark its return after a two-year’s hiatus due to the pandemic by staging the popular comedy Aug. 19 through 27 at Ketchum’s Forest Service Park.
The park will turn into a fairy kingdom where pandemonium ensues when human lovers flee to the woods. Where young lovers eventually experience the transformative power of love as they allow it to grow beyond puppy love to mature love
An obstacle course of giant hoops, multi-level platforms and four different ladders provides the setting for the fast-paced, intoxicatingly joyful comedy that follows four young lovers and a troupe of stumbling actors through an enchanted forest where fairies and otherworldly creatures cast spells on the mortals.
Duke Theseus is about to marry his captured Indian princess Hippolyta. At the same time, the highly authoritative father of Lysander insists she marry Demetrius, even though she is in love with Hermia.
Meanwhile, Helena is head over heels in love with Hermia. All the while, the fairy king and queen Oberon and Titania are in the middle of a monstrous marital spat involving real or imagined infidelities and the possession of a small human “changeling child.”
Did we mention Puck, the mischievous naughty sprite who loves to watch young lovers struggle and yell at one another?
Many consider this play Shakespeare’s funniest play.
“We’d talked about doing ‘The Merchant of Venice’ before the pandemic hit. Then, Patsy Wygle said, “No, we have to come back with ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream,’ ” said Colton Pometta, the director. “It has everything—magic, fairies, and it’s very, very funny. It’s a great entry point for those who are seeing Shakespeare for their first time.”
Pometta, who lives in New York has been involved with four plays in Sun Valley, including John Patrick Shanley’s “Outside Mullingar” and 2019’s well-received production of Shakespeare’s “The Comedy of Errors.”
He will be joined by five professional actors from New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles, along with a dozen local actors.
“It’s very exciting to bring in actors from all over the country who’ve never seen the Sun Valley area before,” said Pometta. “It’s such a nice change of scenery from New York and the community does a wonderful job of embracing the Shakespeare Festival.”
You-Shin Chen, an award-winning set designer from Pittsburgh, set the stage while Owen Parmele is the prop master. Costume designer Jessica Bobillot Kroeze is decking actors out in a Tudor-Elizabethan wardrobe. She was inspired by the local nature to create the costumes for the fairies.
She hopes the audience will be able to figure that Puck is from the future by the costume she designed for him. She’s endowed the donkey with big floppy ears but not a full head.
“These past couple years have shown us how hard it is to hear people through masks so I will emphasize the donkey ears and tail,” she said.
Kroeze said she loves the setting: “This park is such a great place to see Shakespeare because the audience is so close to the actors. It has an intimacy you don’t often get in these modern days.”
IF YOU GO:
“A Midsummer’s Night Dream” takes the stage at 6 p.m. Friday through Sunday Aug. 19-21 and Tuesday through Saturday, Aug. 23-27, at Ketchum’s Forest Service Park. The park is located at First and Washington streets, across from Ketchum’s Limelight Hotel.
Tickets are $15 for students 18 and under and $25 for adults, available at https://www.laughingstocktheater.com.
The audience is invited to bring low-back chairs, blankets and picnics.
The cast includes Ramon Ramos: Oberon/Thesus; Naomi McDougall Jones: Titania/Hippolyta; Patsy Wygle: Egeus/Mistress Quince; Megan Mahoney: Hermia; Olemish Tugas: Lysander; Robbie Rescigno: Demetrius; Aubrey Taylor: Helena; Matt Musgrove: Bottom…
Also: Paul Rescigno: Francis Flute/Philostrate/Peaseblossom; Karen Nelson: Ann Snout/Mustardseed; Owen Parmele: Robin Starveling/Prop Master; David Janeski: Puck; Ward Loving: Snug; Sophia McKnight: Young Fairy, and Lizzie Loving: Young Fairy.