Mauckingbird Theatre Company

Media Relations, Print Design, and Marketing for Philadelphia-based theater company committed to producing professional gay-themed theater
Photo by John Flak

Mauckingbird Theatre Company presents
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
By William Shakespeare
Directed by Peter Reynolds and Lynne Innerst

August 20 – September 12, 2010
Randall Theater at Temple University

“The course of true love never did run smooth.”

Shakespeare’s classic comedy A Midsummer Night’s Dream is re-imagined in Mauckingbird Theatre Company’s gender-bent tale of modern love. Athens is an elite boarding school where the social scene is fierce and dating is as dramatic as ever. In the company of Headmaster Theseus and his bride-to-be Hippolyta, Egeus demands that his daughter Hermia, the “it girl” of Athens, marry his ideal son-in-law Demetrius. Young love gets complicated when Hermia locks eyes on Lysander, a gorgeous girl just like herself, and a handsome boy named Helena lusts after Demetrius. All bets are off when the schoolmates take a trip to a futuristic forest where sexuality is fluid and meddling monarchs Oberon and Titania stir up chaos and mischief in Mauckingbird’s Midsummer with a twist.

Nick Anselmo, Sean Gibson, Charles Illingworth IV, Patrick Joyce, Melanie Julian, Emily Letts, Matt Lorenz, Ben Lovell, and Erin Mulgrew join Midsummer’s talented cast of 20 – the largest in company history.

For a full schedule and additional production information, read the full press release on our site here.

“Gay or not Gay, this is simply good theater.” – Philadelphia Magazine

Foundedby Artistic Director Peter Reynolds and Managing Director Lindsay Mauck, Mauckingbird Theatre Company is committed to producing professional gay-themed theatre, while also exploring classic literature and musical genres and providing affordable productions of infrequently produced works. Past productions include the critically acclaimed all-male versions of Shakespeare’s R & J (2008) and The Misanthrope (2008), the lesbian adaptation of Hedda Gabler (2009), the dark crime drama Never the Sinner: The Leopold and Loeb Story (2009), and TRU and The Threshing Floor (2010), a repertory of two one-man shows about influential gay writers Truman Capote and James Baldwin.

Mauckingbird Theatre Company presents A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare’s classic comedy A Midsummer Night’s Dream is re-imagined with a queer aesthetic in Mauckingbird Theatre Company’s gender-bent tale of modern love, directed by Mauckingbird Artistic Director Peter Reynolds and co-Director Lynne Innerst.

Related Blog Entries

Two thumbs up for Mauckingbird's revamped queer "A Midsummer Night's Dream"

Downloads

Photo by John FlakErin Mulgrew as Hermia and Emily Letts as Lysander with Sean Gibson as Demetrius and Patrick Joyce as Helena
Photo by John Flak		3.93 MB
Photo by John FlakSean Thompson as Titania, Danielle Pinnock as Nick Bottom, and Charles Illingworth IV as Oberon
Photo by John Flak		896 KB
Photo by John FlakEmily Letts as Lysander and Erin Mulgrew as Hermia
Photo by John Flak		3.42 MB
Photo by John FlakDavid Quinn as Francis Flute, Danielle Pinnock as Nick Bottom, Stephanie Cryor as Peter Quince
Photo by John Flak		737.9 KB
Photo by John FlakSean Thompson as Titania (center), surrounded by cyberpunk fairies
Photo by John Flak		1.42 MB
Photo by John FlakSean Thompson as Titania, Danielle Pinnock as Nick Bottom, and Charles Illingworth IV as Oberon
Photo by John Flak		773.23 KB
photo by Jill McCorkelBrent Knobloch as Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream
photo by Jill McCorkel		7.74 MB
photo by Jill McCorkelBrent Knobloch as Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream
photo by Jill McCorkel		8.14 MB
A Midsummer Night's Dream (2010) A Midsummer Night's Dream (2010) [poster]
A Midsummer Night's Dream (2010) 		354.68 KB

Press Mentions

'Midsummer Night's Dream' from Mauckingbird

The Philadelphia Inquirer

“Wherever the line is between the classical and the contemporary, between sex and sexual politics, between a campy wink and a theatrical nod, Peter Reynolds, artistic director of Mauckingbird Theatre Company, walks it. For this clever, festive, gender-bending production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, he is joined by codirector Lynne Innerst. Together, with a young, energetic, talented cast, they make Shakespeare’s most familiar comedy seem surprising, a “new jollity” full of fun.” – Toby Zinman, The Philadelphia Inquirer. Read more…

Praise for Capote / Baldwin Winter Repertoire (2010)

Philadelphia City Paper


“Two different approaches, two distinctive performances, two important writers- and one great repertoire of plays.”– Philadelphia City Paper

Praise for Never the Sinner: The Leopold and Loeb Story (August 2009)

CurtainUp.com

“… This new kid in town offers intelligently selected and well produced gay-related work performed for thinking audiences of whatever persuasion.” – CurtainUp.com

A successful new theater company focuses on gay-themed works

Philadelphia Weekly


“As Philadelphia theater grows, the theater community takes great pride in touting its diversity. Sadly this so-called diversity rarely includes plays geared toward gay audiences… The little company with the funny name may establish itself as the place to go in Philly for original gay theater.” Read more…

Praise for The Misanthrope (December 2008)

Philadelphia City Paper, Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Weekly


“Without a word uttered about gay rights, this production defends them eloquently.”
– Philadelphia City Paper

Praise for Shakespeare's R&J (August 2008)

Philadelphia Magazine, Philadelphia City Paper, Philadelphia Inquirer


“Mauckingbird takes the definition of gay theater from high camp to high class.”
– Philadelphia City Paper

“Gloriously achieving what all great theatre should: It makes the new familiar, and the familiar, new.” –  Philadelphia City Paper

Praise for Hedda Gabler (January 2009)

The Feminist Review, METRO, Philadelphia Magazine, Uwishunu


“…A truly great new production with a twist that makes it, in my opinion, a more interesting imagining of Ibsen’s original.” – The Feminist Review

“Whether portrayed as an insane villain, a misunderstood and isolated woman, or a feminist in the wrong era, girlfriend is a manipulative and frightening presence and then some… Mauckingbird Theatre Company offers an interesting twist in their latest production: Hedda is actually in love with a woman… But fear not — this Hedda has just as much fire as the original.” – METRO


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