Campus Life

An unforgettable dream just inches away

Bringing fantasy, mischief and love to the stage, University of West Florida Theatre students will lightheartedly show audiences a happy ending in Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream."

Bringing fantasy, mischief and love to the stage, University of West Florida Theatre students will lightheartedly show audiences a happy ending in Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”

The UWF Department of Theatre will present the production Feb. 19, 20, 21, 25, 26, 27 and 28 at 8 p.m. and Feb. 22 and March 1 at 2:30 p.m. at the Center for Fine and Performing Arts Studio Theatre, Building 82. Tickets cost $16 per person for adults, $12 per person for senior citizens and active military and $10 per person for non-UWF students and UWF faculty and staff. UWF students are admitted free with their Nautilus cards.

“I tell my students that Theatre only matters when it’s relevant, that’s why Shakespeare continues to be popular more than 400 years later,” said Kevin P. Kern, director and assistant professor of Theatre. “‘Midsummer Night’s Dream’ has themes that are still on the minds of people in 2009. Parents who meddle in the affairs of their children, the bitter jealousy of lovers, escaping an oppressive society, freedom to choose one’s own destiny and bad community theatre.”

Staged in the round, this classic tale of mismatched lovers, cranky fairies and the world’s first community theatre, happens around, behind, in front of and in-between the audience. “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” is perfect for Shakespeare enthusiasts and novices alike.

“There’s a reason this is the most popular of Shakespeare’s comedies,” said Kern. “It’s the funniest, hands down. It ends with a group of bad amateur actors trying desperately to put on a show in front of an audience that’s drinking and heckling them. How can that not be funny?”

The design staff is predominantly made up of UWF students with Corey Stano designing sets, Randy Hozian and Meghan Miller co-designing costumes and Charles Houghton, chair of the UWF Theatre Department, designing lights. The marketing images were designed and created by UWF art students Molly Bo Bowen and Crayton Ronso.

“You can spend $20 on a movie and popcorn, sit in a dark theatre and see something that was filmed nine months ago, one thousand miles away from here, or you can come to UWF and be a part of something that’s being created at that moment, in front of you, behind, you and all around you,” said Kern. “I can promise that this production of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ will be unlike any you’ve seen before.”

For more information or to purchase tickets, contact the CFPA Box Office at (850) 857-6285 or visit the CFPA Web site.

Written by Megan Tyson, University Marketing Communications