From February 2 to February 4 the middle school put on a production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. It was directed by Katie Townsend and Lorraine Thompson. In the cast were 42 seventh and eighth graders and 3 sixth graders.
It is a play about three different worlds that are intertwined with one another in an enchanted forest. There is the upper class, the blue-collar working class group, and the fairies. The fairy world misleads the other classes and outs spells on them. The fairies have problems with their two leaders, Queen Titania and King Oberon, who are fighting. Throughout the play, everyone is working together through their problems.
Mrs.Townsend chose the play because it is one of her favorites. This is because when she was in college she performed it and it was a role that got her out of her comfort zone. When she worked for Georgia Shakespeare her passion for Shakespeare flourished, and it made her love to teach it and learn more about it. She also teaches A Midsummer Night’s Dream each year to her sixth-grade classes so she is familiar with it. According to Mrs.Townsend, this year was the right year for it and this group of students was the right group for it.
One thing that stood out to Mrs.Townsend was that it was aesthetically one of the best productions in how everything looked for the audience. Townsend said, “My favorite thing was that throughout rehearsals we used their own unique talents throughout the show.” An example of this was that Millie Roberts is really good at dance and so she danced a lot throughout the show.
This cast put in a lot of hard work and dedication. They practiced each day every week starting with auditions in November and rehearsal started at the beginning of December and went until opening night. They would practice for around two hours Monday through Friday.
One thing that differentiates this play from other plays at Athens Academy from others is that students run the entire show and no adults are helping with any part of it. Mrs.Townsend says, “When high expectations are set then students usually reach those high expectations.”
