AHA’s Starlight Productions is putting on Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream: The Lovers this January as part of the MSHSL One Act Competition. The theater competition is based on the structure of a One Act, only allowing for thirty-five minutes of play and twenty minutes of set up and take down. This meant that the head of the theater department, Gregg Sawyer, had to decide on a scene from this particular play and modify the scene to perform in a way that tells a story. The actors and the crew are not permitted to speak while the piece is being performed, so they can not relay anything regarding how much time they have left to the actors. The production is disqualified if the actors or crew go over the setup and take down time or the allowed run time. The entire set must fit in a 10×10 radius box in order to use it for the competition. The set features a platform that can be lowered and taken apart because of the strategic bolts placed in the set. When lowered it is a blue platform covered with blue whimsical grass and when raised is tan with shading and has an arch.
AHA is currently in Class AA Section 6 and competes against Benilde St. Margaret’s, DeLaSalle, Edina, Hopkins, Southwest, Washburn, Richfield, Robbinsdale Armstrong, Robbinsdale Cooper, and St. Louis Park. They performed at Richfield High School on Saturday, January 21 and tied for first place to move on to the section finals Saturday, February 4.
This play features Sam Delaney ‘23 as Puck, a fairy who disguised himself as Egeus. Egeus is the father of Hermia, who is played by Naomi Hayft ‘23. Hermia tries to convince her father Egeus to let her marry Lysander, played by Evan Stensland ‘23, but her father insists on her marrying Demetrius, played by Thomas Rise ‘24. Oberon, played by Ryan McGuire ‘23, decides to take pity on Helena, played by Tessa Reiter ‘24 by attempting to make Demetrius love her. The show is directed by Sylvia Guertin ‘23 and assisted by Patrick Skamser ‘24.
The technicians of this show consist of Liam Jo ‘26, Maggy Kinsella ‘24, Katherine Kuffel ‘24, Savannah Guertin ‘23, and Tommy Pollack ‘24. The technicians worked almost every day after school and on Saturdays for three continuous weeks. The costume crew of this show consists of a team of three, Max Boerboom ‘26, Kaelyn Roloff ‘25, and Anna Ross ‘25, who fitted the cast of the show into unique custom costumes. The stage managers of the show, who run the behind-the-scenes and make sure the show runs smoothly, are Quentin Padrazik ‘23 and Tyler Weiland ‘23. The light technician for the show Landon Stenger ‘24 ensures that proper lighting is on the actors to ensure their faces are lit in the proper places. Finally, the sound technician for the show is Edward Lang ‘25. He ensures that the music and sound effects are realistic.
The cast and crew of the one act are competing against more than a dozen schools and trying to beat out their competitors to earn a spot in the State Tournament. In the dead of winter, there is a dream, but dreams require work, and the people listed above have been putting in the effort every single day, so come see their work in action during their second public showing on Friday, February 3rd in the AHA theater at 7pm.
