And Now . . . In his Triumphant Return to the Stage . . . Philostrate!

A Midsummer Night's Dream. Dir. Kari Steinbach. Jonathan Munby. Perf. Mason Henderson, Jonathan Horn, Jessica Johnson, Alec Leonard, Austin Lewis, Marisa Jacobus, Lydia Wildes, Matt Groen, Ben Witt, Mitch Geiken, Russell Scharper, Bridget Russell, Sharayah Bunce, Isaac Lind, Allison Preiss, Julia Olsen, Gabriella Abbott, Meghan Sly, Mikaela Kase, Elaina Holmes, Timothy Lawrence, Ian Stuyvenberg, Dawson Del Ehlke, Meghan Sly, and Keith Jones. University of Northwestern Theatre. St. Paul. 26 February—1 March 2014.

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I've read Shakespeare extensively for many years. I've taught Shakespeare whenever and wherever I've been able to. I've kept a blog on all sorts of Shakespeare-related material for years. I've even directed four Shakespeare plays for a grade school.

Although I was in three musicals during my high school years, I've never been in a Shakespeare play. Ever.

That changes now.

The director of my university's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream asked me if I would take on the role of Philostrate, and I was thrilled to accept.

Philostrate, for those of you keeping score, is the Master of the Revels to Theseus, the Duke of Athens. He gets to introduce the Pyramus and Thisbe play-within-the-play to the Duke—and he then gets to try to persuade the Duke not to see that play.

I'm excited enough just to be in a Shakespeare play, but this production is already shaping up to be magnificent. The set is extremely interesting in its design, and the overall vision of the play is intriguing. The Athens scenes are generally black and white—with occasional black and white television news reports cutting in—while the scenes in the forest are in high technicolor (as indicated in the poster above).

More bulletins as events warrant. In the meantime, where's my Equity Card?

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