Overview
NOTE: The script is currently available in a Manuscript Edition while the final Acting Edition is being prepared.
This eight-person adaptation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream places us at Hermia’s wedding rehearsal dinner, where she is trapped into marrying Demetrius, threatening to tear her away from her true love Lysander. When dressmaker Bottom fits her into her wedding gown, Hermia faints and awakens in a magical landscape—part frolic, part dream, part nightmare. In her Wizard of Oz-like hallucination her parents transform into Titania and Oberon and friends and lovers couple and uncouple until, at last, Hermia escapes to be with her true love.
Casting & Production
Casting
Thoughtful, color-conscious, casting is expected.
BOTTOM — 50s. Male. Hermia’s dressmaker and confidante. A simple man with a poetic mind and big dreams. His hobby, and his passion, is puppet making.
HERMIA — 20s. Female. The Bride. Beautiful. Smart. Rebellious. Born into great privilege, and while providing her comfort, it has never offered happiness. Deeply in love with Lysander.
DEMETRIUS — 20s. Male. The Groom. Born into great privilege and has never once questioned it. He was raised for a public life and is very comfortable being on display.
HERMIA’S MOTHER — 50s. Female. Mother of the bride. Regal, strong, but carries regret. Has figured out how to wield power in a male-driven world. She is Titania in her daughter’s dream.
HERMIA’S FATHER — 50s. Male. Father of the bride. Master of the world he lives in and has no intention of ever being anything else. He is Oberon in his daughter’s dream.
HELENA — 20s. Female. The maid of honor and childhood friend of Hermia. She could have anything she wanted but listens to too many voices, including her own, that make her belief in that idea impossible.
LYSANDER — 20s. Nonbinary. They work as a day laborer on Hermia’s family estate. Smart. Resourceful. Romantic. Loyal. Deeply in love with Hermia.
PHILOSTRATE — 20s. Male. A footman on Hermia’s family estate. Has little to no power in this world but understands how to get it when needed and enjoys wielding it when possible. He is Puck in Hermia’s dream.
THE DUKE — A recorded voice-over. Cis-male. Powerful. Commanding.
