AStar-Crossed Stagecoach

2016 Teacher’s Guide

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All the West’s a Stage, a production of Montana Shakespeare in the Parks’ MONTANA SHAKES! program, highlights the magical world of the fairies from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream in an interactive and imaginative performance. Augustus Babylon and Mary Sweetgrace, our plucky traveling players, are joined by the mysterious and mischievous Johnny Dropbottom – and a few other companions – to pull brave young audience members into Queen Titania and King Oberon’s fairy court. By acting out the figurative language of Shakespeare’s original play, audience members help Augustus, Mary, and Johnny bring to life the play-within-the-play: the story of Pyramus and Thisbe.

Introduction

The Characters

STEPHANIE CHAVARA as Mary Sweetgrace

BRETT GARRETT as Johnny Dropbottom

MILES DUFFEY as Augustus Babylon

MT SHAKES! ALL THE WEST’S A STAGE • TEACHER’S GUIDE WWW.SHAKESPEAREINTHEPARKS.ORG

All the West’s a Stage features scenes and characters from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, one of his most enduring comedies. There are three main storylines that intertwine in the original play: the love triangle(s) between Hermia and Lysander and Helena and Demetrius, four young Athenians; the dispute between Titania and Oberon, queen and king of the fairies; and the play-within-the-play being rehearsed for performance before the newly-wed Duke of Athens. Our play takes the intersection of the latter two storylines as its focus. When the play opens, Titania and Oberon are locked in a dispute over a boy whom Titania has adopted. Oberon instructs his servant Puck to spell Titania with a magic flower so that she will fall in love with the first creature she sees upon awakening. As luck would have it, the first creature Titania see upon awakening is a donkey-headed Bottom who was also enchanted by Puck while rehearsing the play “Pyramus and Thisbe.” Eventually, Oberon decides that all good sports must come to an end. He breaks the spell on Titania and reconciles with his queen; Bottom is returned to his human form in time to perform his play for the Duke. At the close of the play, fairies perform their blessings and Puck delivers a tender epilogue soliloquy.

Going to see a play is a very different experience from going to the movies. During live theatre, the audience is as important a part of the experience as the actors. Here are some tips for young audience members that will help make the experience great. Live response is great! A live performance is like a conversation between the actors and the audience. The more the audience responds (appropriately), the more the actors get excited about telling the story. The actors can see and hear you. If an audience member is not paying attention and chatting with a friend instead, the actors know it. Theatre actors have only one chance with each audience to communicate clearly, so it is their job to ‘check in’ with the audience and make sure they’re understanding. If you’re not paying attention, the actors will know it. Teachers should lead the way. Teachers, we are performing for you as well as the students. Sitting among students and experiencing the play with them can help to enhance their experiences as well as your own. Remember, besides learning about Shakespeare, we are trying to educate students on how to see and enjoy live theatre. Please, lead the way, and let us know if you enjoyed the performance, too!

Synopsis Theatre Etiquette

MT SHAKES! ALL THE WEST’S A STAGE • TEACHER’S GUIDE WWW.SHAKESPEAREINTHEPARKS.ORG

A Midsummer Night’s Dream scene with Bottom and the fairies painted by John Anster Fitzgerald

I n Shakespeare’s plays, students will hear some unfamiliar words. If you have time, review some of these terms with your students before the play. We will also take time during the performance to define some of these words and phrases.

Dote – to bestow or express excessive love or fondness habitually

Doth – do

Forsworn – (Forswear) to give up or abandon

Hobgoblin/Puck – a mischievous creature

Knavery – trickery

Lavishing – to expend or give in great amounts

Loathe – to feel disgust or intense aversion for;

Methinks – “it seems to me..”

Perchance – perhaps; maybe; possibly

Promontory – a point of high land that juts out into a large body of water, a cliff

Rash – acting too hastily or without consideration

Tarry – stay; wait

Thee/thou – you

Thy – your

Wanton – without regard for what is right, just, humane, etc.

Vocabulary Guide

MT SHAKES! ALL THE WEST’S A STAGE • TEACHER’S GUIDE WWW.SHAKESPEAREINTHEPARKS.ORG

Stanley Tucci as Puck in the 1999 film version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Historic illustration of Bottom.

STEPHANIE CHAVARA (MARY SWEETGRACE) is thrilled to be returning to Montana for the MTShakes! tour after having toured with the Merchant of Venice this past fall. Stephanie

currently lives in Chicago, recent credits there include Charles Ives Take Me Home at Strawdog Theatre, Genius at Profiles, Brighton Beach Memoirs at Fox Valley Rep, Motion at Signal Ensemble, and Mourning Becomes Electra at Remy Bumppo. In addition, she has worked with The Goodman, TimeLine, Jackalope, American Blues Theatre, Dog + Pony, and Collaboraction. She is also a teacher, director, and writer and has worked with Adventure Stage, Writers Theatre, Arts For All, Actors Training Center of Wilmette and 2nd Story. She holds an MFA from The Theatre School at DePaul, and has worked abroad with the Rhodopi International Theatre Laboratory in Bulgaria.

BRETT GARRETT (JOHNNY DROPBOTTOM) is thrilled to be returning to Montana for the MTShakes! program. His recent credits include A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Henry V

(Chicago Shakespeare Theatre), Hamlet and Comedy of Errors (Houston Shakespeare Theatre), Richard III and Comedy of Errors (Notre Dame Shakespeare Festival), Hamlet (Muse of Fire), Importance of Being Earnest (Oklahoma City Repertory Theatre), Macbeth, Merry Wives of Windsor, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Two Knoble Kinsmen (Oklahoma Shakespeare in the Parks), as well as Pride and Prejudice and A Christmas Carol (Oklahoma City Children’s Theatre). Brett graduated with a BFA in acting from Oklahoma City University. He would like to thank Kevin for this amazing opportunity and his family and friends for all of their love and support.

MILES DUFFEY (AUGUSTUS BABYLON) is absolutely thrilled to be coming back to Montana for the MTShakes! tour. He was last seen in this

past fall’s Shakespeare in the Schools production of The Merchant of Venice. He has performed in years past in the plays Macbeth and The Two Gentleman of Verona. He was also in the Montana Shakespeare in the Parks production of The Merchant of Venice in 2011. Just last winter he toured to schools in Idaho performing The Comedy of Errors for the Idaho Shakespeare Festival. He is a Minneapolis based actor and cannot wait to see the mountains of Montana again!

The Cast and Crew

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Mark Douglas MacIntyre (Director) After completing his university studies in Theatre Arts, Mr. MacIntyre began his professional acting career in 1974 working variously as an actor, playwright and director in a number of

regional theatres in the West and Midwest, including Montana Shakespeare in the Parks. In 1977, he was approached by the Music Director of the Spokane Symphony and offered the opportunity to create and perform a touring educational concert for symphony orchestra. This program proved so singularly successful that it soon led to invitations from other orchestras. With his creative partner, Maggie Petersen, Mr. MacIntyre formed the Magic Circle Mime Company in 1978 and since that time they have created and performed concert programs with orchestras throughout the United States, Canada, Asia and in Europe. Mr. MacIntyre has created and led workshops in theatre and music for numerous public and private schools, youth orchestras, The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and in 2010 for the U.S. Army School of Music.

Since its first printing in 1600, A Midsummer Night’s Dream has captured the imagination of countless artists and performers across a variety of genres and mediums. Here is just a short list of some of the many other works of art that Shakespeare’s play has inspired over the years:

• The Fairy Queen by Henry Purcell, a masque or semi-opera adapted from Shakespeare’s play

• Concert overture and incidental music composed by Felix Mendelssohn in for a performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream in 1827 (which gave us the famous “Wedding March” still used as a recessional in weddings today as well as the “Dance of the Clowns”).

• An opera by Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears, first performed in 1960

• George Balanchine’s first full-length ballet was A Midsummer Night’s Dream; it premiered in 1962 and used Mendelssohn’s music

• Dozens of films reference or have adapted the original play, including the 1999 Michael Hoffman film starring Kevin Kline as Bottom and Michelle Pfeiffer as Titania and, most recently, a 2015 Lucasfilm animated feature called Strange Magic.

A Midsummer Night’s Dreamin the Arts

MT SHAKES! ALL THE WEST’S A STAGE • TEACHER’S GUIDE WWW.SHAKESPEAREINTHEPARKS.ORG

George Balanchine’s ballet version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

The 1999 film of A Midsummer Night’s Dream featuring Michelle Pheiffer as Titania and Kevin Kline as Bottom. A Midsummer Night’s Dream inspired

the recent animated film Strange Magic.