By David F. Rooney
This summer’s production of Shakespeare’s classic comedy A mid-Summer Night’s Dream will include dozens of local children, says professional actress Miranda Allen who spend Friday afternoon audition children for the Theatre Prospero production scheduled for Juy 19.
“We had 16 kids come out — that’s more than we expected,” she said in an interview on Saturday. “We thought we’d have to settle for 10… so I’m really pleased with this number.”
Four of these kids are in the 8-to-10 age range and the rest are teens. All 16 will have speaking lines.
In addition, Miranda expects that about 30 more children from the Community Connections Summer Day Camp program will participate in the play, as well.
“I was overwhelmed by the confidence and ability of the kids who came to the audition on friday afternoon,” she said.
So were the teens. Fourteen-year-old friends Hailey Christie-Hoyle and Erin Behncke were over the moon after their successful audition at the Performing Arts Centre.
“We love drama,” Erin said, adding that the two girls read the play and practiced for two of the roles, Hermia and Helena.
“Music is kind of my passion but I love acting, too,” Hailey said.
A Mid-Summer Night’s Dream was written between 1590 and 1596. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of the Duke of Athens, Theseus, and Hippolyta. These include the adventures of four young Athenian lovers and a group of six amateur actors, who are controlled and manipulated by the fairies who inhabit the forest in which most of the play is set. The play, categorized as a comedy, is one of Shakespeare’s most popular works for the stage and is widely performed across the world.
Edmonton-based Theatre Prospero has been incorporating students into its professional classical and poetry-based theatre since 1996. From 1998 to the present they have gone to schools doing 1-15 day artist-in-residence programs that have incorporated thousands of students at hundreds of schools across Alberta. This is the first time they have done this in Revelstoke. Seven professional actors, actresses and directors will arrive here in July to stage acting workshops for the children July 15-19 — with a full public performance of the play at the Arts Centre on July 19.
Auditions for speaking roles are now closed but children who want to participate can now do so through Community Connections Summer Day Camp program.
Click here to find out more about this year’s Summer Day Camps.
