This spring’s play featured Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” which explored the complexity of love and the power of magic.
The show was a modernized version of Shakespeare’s original play, featuring costumes from modern times. Opening night was April 3, with the final show held on April 5.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, as performed by Ferris theatre students, detailed the story of two couples whose relationships were tampered with by magic spells.
Integrative studies senior Ainsley Miller, who uses they/them pronouns, played Snug the Joiner. They reflected on what they enjoyed about the show.
“My favorite is the play within the play,” Miller said. “I feel like we all have a lot of fun with it.”
Many twists and unique elements were added to the show, different from how Shakespeare originally wrote the play.
Pre-optometry senior Emma Olinger, a pre-optometry senior who played Titania, added what was fun for her in the production.
“I really like everyone getting to add little personal things to their character,” Olinger said. “Everyone is always in their character and adding their own little personal touch to things.”
Theater students at Ferris have only good things to say about their fellow actors and actresses, emphasizing the fun they bring to the show. Digital animation and game design junior Jason Zawacki, who played Lysander, expressed his appreciation for the other show members.
“I definitely love all of the people,” Zawacki said. “They really bring it to life. It’s so fun getting to connect with different people across all different majors and different walks of life.”
Throughout the show, audience members were captivated and laughing.
Gen Hobart, an employee of Big Rapids High School, was among those in the audience captivated by the play.
“It was really funny,” Hobart said. “I liked all of the different twists that they put in, and the music and dancing. I thought they did a great job.”
Despite the love the students have expressed for the show they put on, many of them have reflected on the challenges that it presented.
“Something that was really, really hard was the Shakespeare language,” Miller said. “For a lot of people in the show, this is their first show ever. We’ve been trying to help people figure out how to do Shakespeare language, but it’s very hard.”
Several of the actors and actresses have expressed the unique challenges of putting on a Shakespeare play.
“I think just because it’s Shakespeare that brings its own set of challenges with trying to understand what you’re saying and get that message across to the audience as well,” Zawacki said.
Ferris theatre students have been working since the beginning of the year to put on the show.
Auditions started in early January, and they have been rehearsing since, taking advantage of the time they had to prepare.
Theatre Director and Assistant Professor of Humanities Dennis Henry has a strong background in Shakespearean theatre, having taught acting classes, directed plays and more at several colleges around the country.
The show, with more than 40 students from over two dozen majors, relied heavily on Henry’s hard work and coordination in order to be successful.
Henry reflected on the success of the play, as well as some of the biggest challenges.
“The set was beautiful and was also effective in allowing the actors the space to carry out the great physical comedy aspects of the show,” Henry said. “The first [challenge] is the Shakespearean language, thereby making it understandable to the audience. The other tricky part is working around the actors’ busy schedules.”
Ferris theatre students put a unique twist on the classic play, allowing the cast to have fun with it and make the characters their own.
The next show will be the Fall 2025 play, as opposed to the usual Fall musical.