A Midsummer Night’s Dream
FAQs
What is A Midsummer night’s dream about?
It’s A comedy.
It’s about love and all the trouble it can cause.
It’s MAGical.
It’s kinda wacky.
it’s filled with misunderstandings.
It begs all of us to not take life too seriously.
If you’ve been involved in PDC at all you know I believe in “taking silliness seriously”. If you haven’t worked with Caroline- well now you know! We have fun, we take risks, AND we work VERY hard. So, while learning Shakespeare can feel like serious business the purpose of this experience will be to have FUN expanding our horizons together. Life is full of silliness and so is this play.
I am not a Shakespeare expert. I have taken classes in acting and teaching Shakespeare and I have directed this play another time and created a little movie with some PDC students a few years ago, BUT I myself have never performed Shakespeare for an audience! You’ll be way ahead of me when we’re done! While I’m no Shakespeare expert, I do believe after 20 years that I am an expert in helping young people find what it is inside them that makes them tick which ultimately makes them a better actor! I just love telling stories. I know this story well, but I also know I will discover new things about it through you and our collaboration. I’m excited about this adventure we will take together.
Can I audition if I’ve never done anything with PDC?
YES! This is our first ever set of auditions that do not require previous PDC experience. BUT you should have some acting/theater experience from somewhere.
Everyone will fill out an Audition Form. If you have very little acting/theater experience your chances of being cast are much, much smaller.
If acting is something you are interested in -hooray!- we have a ton of wonderful places for young people to study theater here in Portland. Keep going!
Can I register for another camp or does this count in the one-camp-on-registration day camp?
While this show kicks off our summer 2025 camps, it does not count in the camp line up for current 7th and 8th graders who want to also take other camps. Yay! Current and former PDC students can also apply to intern.
How is this going to work? Is it a camp?
Yah sorta. THIS IS NOT A CAMP YOU CAN REGISTER FOR ON FEBRUARY 8TH WITH OUR OTHER CAMPS. Auditions are in April - details on what to prepare and a sign up are below.
You will be notified in late April whether you have been offered a part or not. If you accept your role you will need to register for our intensive camp week. The cost is $400. We offer 25% and 50% tuition assistance options if needed.
Rehearsals will begin in the evenings in May and continue through June until we meet for our camp intensive June 16 - 21at Saint David of Wales.
During our intensive we will be putting together our costumes, props and set pieces and rehearsing on stage. Everyone will have jobs behind the scenes as well as on stage.
Please be sure to tell us on the audition form ALL of your conflicts during May and June. Having a conflicts list from everyone will help me make the schedule- NOT necessarily take you out of the running. So please don’t avoid putting things down in an attempt to get a role and then tell me later you can’t make certain days.
I am afraid of Shakespeare
The man’s been dead for over 400 years so he really can’t hurt y- oh wait you mean performing Shakespeare? Yah it’s ok me too a little. My philosophy is do it anyway. Adopt that for yourself now.
I hate shakespeare
Are you sure? Maybe you don’t know. But you could just come watch if it sounds unappealing. And come watch our production of Something Rotten Jr this summer, too- you might have something in common with some of those characters.
is this a musical?
No. Well, Has it had music in it before? Yes. Does it need to have music in it this summer? No. Do you need to sing in it? No. But can you? Will you? Do you play an instrument? We are forming a troupe of creative people who will decide that. It’s a 430 year old story so we get to call some of the shots. We won’t be tap dancing or anything, though.
The cast of characters
I plan to cast 16 - 20 students. This means someone might double up a role or we may combine/eliminate a few roles in our abridged version. “The Sweethearts” and “The Mechanicals” will not have doubled roles. “Athenian Nobles” may double as fairies (but not Puck, Oberon or Titania). This is all currently still up in the air as I create an abridged script that works for us.
In order to keep it a small troupe, students who are chosen must have a role in the play. However, on the audition form (below) there is an opportunity for you to put all the roles you are interested in and to state if you are interested in a very small role and want to be involved in the creative process in other ways, too.
The largest roles with the most speech and biggest responsibilities are all of The Sweethearts, The Mechanicals and Puck, Oberon and Titania.
I’ve tried to give you a tiny bit of info on each character on the list. On the monologues, I give you a bit of back story and perspective, but ultimately researching will be up to you. I have a ton of kids books that help spell out this story easily in regular ol’ English. You can borrow them - just ask me! See below for a great resource- I will update with more links when I have time.
CHARACTERS
Athenian Nobles
Theseus, Duke of Athens (medium role)
Hippolyta, his bride, an Amazon Queen (medium role)
Philostrate, Theseus’ master of the revels (a small role, in charge of the Duke’s entertainment)
Egeus, Hermia’s father - overbearing, controlling - demands she marry Demetrius or die (small role)
The Sweethearts (all the human lovers. comedic timing a plus; large roles)
Hermia, a girl in love with Lysander, but is being forced to marry Demetrius; determined, strong-willed; shorter than Helena
Lysander, a boy in love with Hermia - clever, kind, hopeless romantic, rival of Demetrius
Demetrius, a boy also in love with Hermia - a social ladder-climber; was once in love with Helena or so she thought; Hermia’s father approves of him
Helena, Hermia’s best friend, desperately in love with Demetrius - witty, strong-willed, insecure, romantic; taller than Hermia
The Mechanicals (lower class group of tradesman; aspiring actor troupe; comedic timing a must; large roles)
Bottom, a weaver (plays Pyramus) - a know-it-all, over achiever
Quince, a carpenter (directs the play) - serious and mature
Flute, a bellows-mender (plays Thisbe) - eager
Snug, a joiner (plays the Lion) - innocent
Starveling, a tailor (plays Moonshine) - timid, anxious
Snout, a tinker (plays Wall) - dense, forgetful
The Fairies
Puck – a hobgoblin, servant to Oberon. a magical, mischief maker; large role
Oberon, king of the fairies; powerful, commanding, stubborn; large role
Titania, queen of the fairies; powerful, commanding, stubborn; medium-large role
Peaseblossom, a fairy, servant to Titania; small role
Moth, a fairy, servant to Titania; small role
Cobweb, a fairy, servant to Titania; small role
Mustardseed, a fairy, servant to Titania; small role
Auditions
Auditions: Friday April 11, Saturday April 12 and Sunday April 13
Call backs: Sunday April 20; 6 - 9pm
All auditions and callbacks will be held downstairs in the PDC classroom at St David of Wales church:
2800 SE Harrison St. Look for signs if you’ve never been there!
Please sign up for an audition slot HERE and fill out this audition form HERE (it gets sent right to Caroline!)
Please prepare one of the monologues below from A Midsummer Night’s Dream (some of them have been shortened for the purpose of the audition- we may or may not use the full versions for our show).
It should go without saying, you should choose a monologue for a role you’d be interested in playing. There are only 6 roles listed - choose one similar in type to the role you are interested in playing if yours isn’t an option. Please only prepare one even if you are interested in multiple roles.
DON’T FLIP OUT. Shakespeare is not easy. Read it slowly. Dig around for what everything means. Do not just memorize it and hope to get it right. Character. Character. Character. I am less concerned about you getting the rhythms right - forget the iambic pentameter if it’s causing you stress. Make it sound modern if you want. Make it your own. I am always, always interested in your essence over your perfection. Take your time. Play the character and what they need.
NO NEED FOR ENGLISH ACCENTS - Please don’t worry about that. They probably didn’t sound English like we know it now 430 years ago anyway! Concentrate on the character’s desires, hopes, needs and bring a smidge of yourself to it. Always.
IF you have never worked with Caroline before and have a short, contemporary, one-minute comedic monologue you would like to perform in addition to one of the Midsummer monologues below you may. This is NOT a requirement. It is just another opportunity for me to get to know you and your abilities. Please don’t send videos, links, pictures of past performances. I really don’t have time to watch them.
We will take a snapshot of you to go along with your audition form on your audition day. No need to bring a head shot.
Be prepared to chat with me a little after your audition, too.
Audition Monologues
Helpful resources
Scour the internet. You can never do too much research when you’re trying to learn something new.
I’ll update this when I have time, but you know how to use Google, too. While I never want you to COPY someone else’s performance, it’s not cheating to watch to better understand the text.
My Shakespeare - this is a great resource with the whole script annotated, scene synopses, videos, etc. I love it. Links to it are included in all of the monologues listed above, too.
and just for fun…our movie making outtakes… because making a movie in one day outside is both glorious and terrible. How many times will I say “wait a minute” in this one? ":-/