"A Midsummer Night's Dream" at Modern Rep

I can't remember when I've had so much fun experiencing Shakespeare. #TCTheater artist Grant Sorenson's new company Modern Rep bills the experience thusly: "Shakespeare's most overdone comedy gets a radical new production that explodes Original Practice all-male casting into something messy, sexy, and very gay. Performed by six dynamic actors, this Midsummer Night's Dream embraces the dark, twisted, and unsettling aspects of Shakespeare's original text, served up in a flamboyant and unexpectedly queer way." Mission accomplished! When you think about it, Midsummer features fairies, ample romantic banter including double entendres, a character named Bottom, an ass, and lots of talk about a hole. It was just begging to be turned into a gay fantasia! And this production delivers in the most clever and joyful way. It's definitely the sexiest Shakespeare I've ever seen, and the gayest Shakespeare I've ever seen, in the best possible way. It's a joyful celebration to begin Pride month that flies in the face of anyone who dares to say that queer people don't deserve all of the fullness and legality of life as a citizen of this country, as a resident of this planet. And as a piece of theater, this Midsummer is so modern and forward-thinking. I don't worry about the state of theater as long as there are artists making inventive, outside-the-box, wholly engaging theater in sweaty little loading docks in the North Loop (continuing through June 20).

the company assembles (photo by Molly Jay)

A Midsummer Night's Dream is the original romcom, and the Shakespeare play I've seen most often, except of course for the ubiquitous Romeo and Juliet. The play-within-a-play structure is used to great effect here; our story opens with the so-called "rude mechanicals," the hapless theater troupe preparing to perform for the wedding of the Duke of Athens, assigning parts. But not only do they assign parts for the play-within-the-play, the tragic love story of Pyramus and Thisbe, but also for the play itself. David Michaeli plays the director of the rude mechanicals, calling the other actors by name (Bryce Baxter, Jonathan Edwards, Richard Rigmaiden, Leo Rossmiller, and Kashif Shakti) and giving them parts for both Midsummer and Pyramus, using lines from the play in a meta way. Then someone yells "get the lights," and our play begins, continuing like a fever dream for somewhere around two hours with no intermission (what is time in a dream?). It is both a faithful representation of Shakespeare's words and story (longtime Guthrie dramaturg Jo Holcomb provides that function here), and something entirely new and original.

Hermia (David Michaeli) and Lysander (Bryce Baxter)
(photo by Molly Jay)

Conceived/adapted/directed by Grant Sorenson, the 20+ characters in the play are very cleverly divided amongst the six cast members in an impressive feat of logistics. It all fits together neatly like a puzzle. In the forest, four actors play the four lovers (Bryce, Jonathan, David, and Leo), while the other two are the fairy queen Titania (Kashif) and the mischievous Puck (Richard), pulling the strings and manipulating the foolish mortals along with fairy king Oberon (David, stepping out of the foursome). All six of them double as the acting troupe, including Leo as Bottom, with a startling transformation into the ass that a bewitched Titania falls in love with. It's dizzying to think about and try to track all of the character transitions, but it all works beautifully for a seamless story.

Helena (Jonathan Edwards) and Demetrius (Leo Rossmiller)
(photo by Molly Jay)

But there's also a lot added that's not Shakespeare, which is what makes this so much fun. Mixing in a bit of Cats the Jellicle Ball (but without the cats) and Heated Rivalry (but without the hockey), there are steamy scenes between the lovers and the fairies, some musical lip sync moments, and lots of pop culture references, including an endless stream of musical theater references in the form of music cues during the mechanicals' performance, playing up the theatricality and poking loving fun at the genre. Everyone in the cast is great and appears to be having a lot of fun, which translates into the audience having fun too (the youngest and most enthusiastic audience I've seen at the theater in quite some time). This cast is so playful with each other and the audience, with very physical and energetic performances, until the four lovers collapse into a heap of tangled bodies at the end of the dreamy night, like children who have worn themselves out playing.

Hippolyta (Richard Rigmaiden) and Theseus (Kashif Shakti)
discover the lovers (photo by Molly Jay)

Modern Rep's new space (where they also hold the monthly Table/Read, a reading of a play announced just before it begins) is essentially a loading dock, or office space, off an alley in the trendy North Loop neighborhood of Minneapolis. It's a black box of a space, or rather a white box, and for this play it's transformed into a forest with dirt on the floor in a square surrounded on three sides by metal bleachers, and greenery hung from the ceilings and walls. But these boys are not confined to the space of the square (although I did love the scene with the members of the quadrangle in each of the four corners of the square, being moved around by Puck like chess pieces). They run in and out of the space, climbing on every climbable structure. The only set piece is a mattress, with a few fun and often hilarious props. Costumes are festive and modern and minimal, with a few pieces added to differentiate characters, and glitter. Lots of glitter. Lighting goes from full lights when they're assigning parts at the beginning of the show, to more theatrical lighting, with white and colored lights strung overhead, and a beautiful morning effect when the lovers wake (scenographer Grant Sorenson, lighting designer Shannon Elliott, costumes uncredited).

I feel like I've watched Grant grow up, from a young actor in the ensemble of Theater Latte Da's Spring Awakening (which they just announced will be part of their upcoming season), through all the great original and reimagined work that 7th House Theater did, then his brief but memorable company Arrow Theater, and now this newest incarnation as Modern Rep (and Table/Read), after returning from Boston University where he earned a BFA in Directing. I continue to be impressed with his work, it's always so inventive and modern and forward-thinking, pushing the envelope and the boundaries of what theater can be and do, and always just exactly what we need at the present moment. Modern Rep is the perfect name for this new company, reimaging classics for the modern world (including a fantastic site-specific regional premiere production of Oscar Wilde's Salomé earlier this year).

If you're looking to shake up your theater-going a little bit, and experience one of Shakespeare's most beloved comedies in a new way, don't miss this wild and beautiful dream of a Midsummer. The location is easy to get to and park at, just off 94 and Washington, close to the North Loop Ramp. Get there early and bring cash to buy snacks and drinks from the cast as they mill around before the show (and offer temporary tattoos). Note that it is a bit warm in the space, and the metal bleachers are not the most comfortable to sit on for two hours, so dress for comfort and maybe bring a personal fan or a camp chair with back support. But really, the show is so engaging that once you're swept up in it and immersed in the dream, you forget about everything else.

dream tattoos with Lettered in Theatre
(photo credit: @letteredintheatre)