The play A Midsummer's Nights Dream was produced by Calvin Christian High School in 2008. The play revolves around the adventures of four young lovers, a group of amateur actors and their interactions with the fairies who inhabit a moonlit forest. The story takes place in Midsummer and is a complex farce featuring Hermia & Lysander and Helena & Demetrius. Their romantic intrigues are confused and complicated still further by entering the forest where Oberon, the King of the Fairies and his Queen, Titania, preside. Puck (or Robin Goodfellow) is a major character who is full of mischief and tricks. Other visitors to the enchanted forest include Bottom the weaver and his friends Snug, Snout, Quince and Flute the amateur dramatists who want to rehearse their terrible but hilarious version of the play Pyramus and Thisbe.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Act I

Scene I                        Athens.  The palace of Theseus.

Scene II           Athens.  A street near Quince’s house.

Act II

Scene I                        A wood near Athens.

Scene II           Another part of the wood

Act III

Scene I                        The wood.  Titania lying asleep.

Scene II           Another part of the wood.

Act IV

Scene I                        The same.  Lysander, Demetrius, Helena,

and Hermia lying asleep.

Scene II           Athens.  A street near Quince’s house.

Act V

Scene I                        Athens.  The palace of Theseus.

Cast of Characters (in order of appearance)

Hippolyta…..……………………………………..…Ashley Berkenpas

Theseus………………………………………………...Wendell Schaap

Egeus……………..……………………………..……………..Alex Vo

Hermia………………………………………...………Hannah Brenton

Demetrius….……………………………..…………Matthew De Vries

Lysander……………………………………………………Matt Busch

Helena……………………………………………….………Jeni Kanis

Quince……………………………………..……..……Ellen De Young

Bottom…………………………………..……………….…Nick Marra

Flute……………………………………………...….....Hannah Nedrud

Starveling………………………………………...…....Ella Duchatelier

Snout……………………………………...…………….....Molly Barry

Snug………………………………………..........……Hannah De Vries

Puck……………………………………………...………Zack Petersen

Peaseblossom….………………………………………..…..Sarah Roen

Oberon……………………………………………………Brian Estrem

Titania…………………………………………………….Emily Groen

Mustardseed……………………..…………………..Elizabeth Johnson

Cobweb…………………………………………..Mattie Koppendrayer

Philostrate…………………………………………………..…..Alex Vo

Sound and light crew:  Eleanor Staricka and Kyle Erffmeyer

Set crew:  Emily Barry, Molly Barry, Matt Bonnema, Kyle Brandes,

Hannah Brenton, Ellen De Young, Emily Groen, Elizabeth Johnson,

Nick Marra, Rachel Mulder, Miranda Olsen, Zack Petersen,

Eleanor Staricka, Luke Stewart, Alex Vo, and Aly Ylinen

Stage crew:  Sarah Roen, Elizabeth Johnson, Rachel Mulder,

JacobTeunissen, and Mattie Koppendrayer

Costumes:  Emily Barry and Aly Ylinen

Make-up:  Jemma Storbakken, Jordan Severin, and Rachel Mulder

Poster and program cover design:  Matt Busch

Poster and program cover painting:  Aly Ylinen

Music composer and producer: Matt Busch

Director’s Notes

When I began looking for a play this year, I had a comedy in mind.  I wanted something playful, and who is more playful than the trickster Puck from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream? 

In addition to its playful humor, the play poses a question: What is real and what is illusion.  So often reality for us becomes what we can see, what we know, or what we can explain rationally.  What about dreams?  What about visions?  What about love?  These are realities that we are free to do, but often fail to do. 

Dreams, visions, and love, I think, move us to imagine, to see what we did not see.  Because this is a story about change—about seeing anew—we chose to set our performance around 1910, a time when fashion, thought, and societal roles were changing—and a time just prior to the Great War, which caused chaos and confusion, completely changing our perceptions of reality. 

In the end, I believe Shakespeare’s message is an invitation rather than an answer.  Throughout our preparations for the play, I was reminded of a song by Ken Medema.  In “A Place for Dreaming” he writes, “A life with no dreams is a hell that I simply refuse to bear.”  Medema’s invitation and Shakespeare’s invitation is also my invitation to you: “Come dreamin’ with me, admission is free.”

Wendell Schaap

Special thanks to…

Jason Eidsvoog (Voog Videos)—performance videotape

Rick Busch (Rick Busch Photographics)—cast pictures and poster

and program design

Ken Erffmeyer (Thomson, Inc.)—poster, program, and invitation printing

Bando Brandes—set design and construction

Deb Petersen and Bea Schaap—costumes

Gail Bonnema and Terri De Vries—dinner organization