UMass Amherst: Performances Plus! -A Midsummer Night’s Dream

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Performances Plus Guest performing arts series for school audiences

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

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Tuesday, October 3
Bowker Auditorium 10:00 am
$8 students: $10 adults
What better time than the present wicked era to capture the necessary lightness of being and intricacies of Shakespeare’s multifaceted fictional landscape? This production is born in the land of John Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath. It is a place of migration and poverty, a stark yet beautiful place full of yearning and dreams. The context of the depression era, Dust Bowl struggle, offers an arena in which the magic becomes even more special. The enchantment appears as if by magic via the imagination of people who have nothing to share but their hopes and dreams.

2 hours, 20 minutes (including intermission)
Grades 6 - 12

Teaching Resources

Shakespeare: Teacher's Guide
For use with Midsummer - A teacher guide developed by the National Endowment for the Arts for the Shakespeare in American Communities Initiative - includes lesson plans and information on the life of Shakespeare and the Elizabethan Age. (Acrobat pdf 215kb)
Shakespeare: Recitation Contest
For use with Midsummer - Materials for an in-class project in which students study, memorize and perform Shakepearean sonnets and monologues . Developed by the National Endowment for the Arts for the Shakespeare in American Communities Initiative. (Acrobat pdf 1.1mb)
Shakespeare Activity Packet
For use with Midsummer - An activity packet including a simple quiz, Shakespeare quotes and phrases and a related crossword puzzle. Created by the National Endowment for the Arts for the Shakespeare in American Communities Initiative (Acrobat pdf 1.33mb)
A Midsummer Night's Dream Study Guide
A Midsummer Night's Dream Study Guide featuring background information on SITI Company, a note from the director, a synopsis of the play, literary and historical information on the dust bowl era, and student activities. (Acrobat pdf 3.26mb)