‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’

So if you’re not busy this weekend or next, come see me perform at Villager’s Theatre. If you are busy, cancel your plans.

I’m in a production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” the Shakespearean comedy about a pair of lovers whose affections get switched about, a dispute between the king and queen of fairies, and a hapless group of laborers who want nothing more than to honor Theseus, ruler of Athens, on the day of his wedding, with a play that they have no idea how badly they are performing it, nor how inappropriate it is for a wedding. (Our director was surprised to discover tonight, for instance, that a hand gesture in use for most of the play’s 400-year history is an obscene gesture in Britain, though not in the United States.)

It is a good production, with a limited engagement. Our first performance was tonight. We have only five performances remaining until the two hours’ traffic of our stage hath run its course. Tickets cost $12 a seat, or $10 for students.

My own part in the play is a small one; I play Robin Starvling, a so-called rude mechanical, one of the hard-working men “who never labored in their minds before now” and who is cast to play the role of the Man in the Moon for their show.

This is my second performance in a community theater. My debut came back in December with the role of Bob Bradley in “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.” As I wrote in my actor’s bio:

This is David’s second dramatic appearance Villagers Theatre. … Appearing in a Shakespearean comedy is a dream come true, and somewhere inside him is a college student doing cartwheels in a dorm room he hasn’t lived in for twenty years. He’d like to thank his wife for indulging this latest hobby, and to thank his daughters for encouraging him to audition, even when he gets cast and they don’t.

Some debt surely is owned to the late Jim Lusardi, the Lafayette professor under whom I was fortunate to learn what I know about Shakespeare in performance.

This one’s for you, Jim. Hope you get a chuckle out the show. And I hope everyone else can come out, support the arts, and chuckle with Jim as well. This show’s one I’m genuinely proud to be in.