Mountain Community Theater presents magical production of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’

At the core of director Stephen Phillips’ rich and textured production of William Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” is an enchanting encounter between Scott Kravitz as Nick Bottom and Rebecca Clark as Titania, queen of the Fairies. This brief affair is both hilarious and charming as Clark possesses all of the majestic regality you could hope for from a supernatural royal and Kravitz has the salt of the earth unselfconscious characteristic of the “rude mechanicals.” The product of a practical joke, this union puts the audience in the hands of Puck, a mischievous fairy who delights in the chaos of relationships gone awry. This is superb directing, and the staging elucidates the plot lines and subtexts expertly. The production team at Mountain Community Theater has created a vivid and convincing world for dramatic moments like this to live within. The set itself is a shining highlight of this worthy production. It invites you to suspend your disbelief and to enter the ancient woods outside of Athens for a feverish and imaginative evening. Following the lovestruck paths of four young lovers Helena, Hermia, Lysander and Demetrius we enter into a magical realm ruled by King Oberon and Queen Titania. This production uses a framing device that adds a thoughtful element to the story. The play begins with a young boy who is staying with his mother and stepfather for the holidays, and he calls his dad feeling upset about their separation for the holidays. The boy’s parents are played by the same actors David Leach and Clark who play Oberon and Titania, mirroring the custodial conflict. The story that unfolds then becomes the troubled dream of a boy who misses his dad, giving the story its critical edge. Within the surreal world of this dream, the dancing realm of the fairies is led by Sarah Mitchler as a leather-clad Puck. Mitchler is also the movement director of the production and she fills the stage with fun choreography. The character Puck has a lot of attitude and Mitchler’s version is satisfyingly full of mischief. The fairies are satisfyingly otherworldly, giving the play its magical dimension. The four lovers who enter the woods in pursuit of love and fall victim to Puck’s pranks are played with romantic sincerity. Naomi Bowers is charming as Hermia, the original object of both men’s desires. She has to play the rebellious lover determined to be with her Lysander despite her father’s wishes and Athenian law; and then the shocked, scorned lover, showing a considerable range of emotion. Zed Warner continues to show strong leading male energy by claiming the love he’s won from Hermia through his affection and character, that is until he wakes up in the woods with other ideas. Jennifer Stanford plays a humorous Helena, heartbroken but buoyant in pursuit of Demetrius. She embodies Helena’s combination of self-deprecation and amorous ambition with a fun upbeat energy. Gurjeet Bagri gives Demetrius a pleasant gentlemanly air until he tries to threaten Helena to keep her from following him. The acting of these four is good, and it makes the main course of the play a pleasure to enjoy. It is the mechanicals who steal the show, however. Of course there is Kravitz as Bottom who does a great job of being the butt of Shakespeare’s jokes, and during a performance of a play-within-a-play, “Pyramus and Thisbe,” he delivers his lines as Pyramus with great zest. But there is also Trina Quince played deftly by Nancy Martin-Kern, who is the playwright and director of their humble play. Cory Nash plays a satisfyingly innocent Tom Snout, assigned the role of the Wall in their play. Jackson Wolffe is a very funny and sweet Snug who does not scare the ladies roaring as Lion. Ian Dyer infuses Robin Starveling with personality as Moonshine. It is Dimitri Lamendella, however, who transforms the play-within-a-play from farce to something soulful and sweet as Thisbe. Henry Anima plays the changeling boy and the boy who has this surreal and unsettling dream in the frame narrative. He is a sweet child longing for his family to be together during the holidays, a pawn in a power struggle he can’t understand. It is both painful and heartwarming to witness the unconscious worlds his imagination creates in the Athenian woods.
https://www.santacruzsentinel.com/2025/11/26/mountain-community-theater-presents-magical-production-of-a-midsummer-nights-dream/