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From the Director, Kerry Bishé
My very first acting job was with MSIP 20 years ago, so directing here feels very much like coming home. MSIP helped me launch confidently into my acting career and I am so thrilled to bring my experience to the other side of the table as a director this fall. One of the things I relate to most about A Midsummer Night's Dream is that the characters journey to the woods and are transformed by what they experience there. Montana is a special place where, it feels, the woods have magic, the same way they do in Shakespeare's play.
With this production, we explore, among other things, the unique, intertwined history of Shakespeare in Montana. The Mechanicals and their theatre troupe are like rodeo clowns. Theseus, Duke of Athens is like Wyatt Earp, the lawman in charge. And his fiancée, the fierce Amazonian princess Hippolyta, is like Annie Oakley. The metaphor threads its way through the whole production, connecting the costumes, and props, the songs and the sets with the acting style and brings the message of the play very close to home. I hope the students who get to experience this production feel connected to the past, both Shakespeare's and Montana's. I hope they discover that they actually understand what often feels like a foreign language. I hope they laugh at the hilarious jokes and empathize with the plight of young, unrequited love. Above all, I hope we can make a play that was first performed over 400 years ago feel relevant to our experience today.
