Elkins High School Theatre to present ‘Midsummer Night’s Dream’
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ELKINS -- The Elkins High School Theatre will premiere its production of William Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" on Thursday.
The show will run through Saturday. The Thursday and Friday performances will begin at 7 p.m., with doors opening at 6:30 p.m.
The Saturday performance will be a matinee, beginning at 3 p.m., with doors opening at 2:30 p.m. Tickets for the show can be purchased at the door.
"'A Midsummer Night's Dream' is a classic," Elkins High School's Theatre Director Jennifer Armstrong told The Inter-Mountain. "Lots of people enjoy Shakespeare, and we were hoping to draw in more community members to see the show."
Armstrong is directing the show alongside fellow EHS teacher Andrew Carroll.
Armstrong said the students, though at first hesitant about learning Shakespeare, have done very well. Some students have even told Armstrong they've "fallen in love with the text."
"Like always, I think they are nervous, but there's definitely excitement as well," Armstrong said.
When asked if any changes had been made to the original work, Armstrong admitted that a few minor changes were made for the sake of brevity.
"The only real change that has been made is cutting out some of the smaller parts, because we didn't have enough in the cast," Armstrong said. "We also cut some of the text, which is the norm for performing Shakespeare. If we didn't cut anything, it would be five hours long."
Armstrong believes that audiences should be excited to see the Mechanicals, an amateur theatre troupe who get into all sorts of trouble in the play, perform "the play-within-the-play."
When asked how she felt about the performance before the premiere, Armstrong showed great pride in her students.
"I'm feeling great about the show," Armstrong said. "The kids have worked hard and it shows."