A look at a recent rehearsal of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” from Why’s It Gotta Be? Theater Group, playing at the Unitarian Universalist Society of Greater Springfield from Nov. 6-14.
Reminder Publishing photo by Trent Levakis
SPRINGFIELD — Fresh off its first anniversary, Why’s It Gotta Be? Theater Group returns for its second production: the Shakespeare classic “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” Nov. 6-14 at the Unitarian Universalist Society of Greater Springfield.
Directed by Isabella Bonavita, the production features the classic tale and comedy set across two worlds – the court of Athens and a mystical forest that lies beyond the city’s walls. The theater group said its adaptation features a gender-blind cast to intentionally surface fresh considerations and queer themes.
“A Midsummer Night’s Dream” explores the irrationality of love, desire, friendship, possession, jealousy and magic, the group said.
“My number one idea was that this was going to be a completely gender-blind cast. Something fun with Shakespeare is you can do literally whatever you want; you can even rewrite half the show if you want, so that’s what we did,” Bonavita told Reminder Publishing. “We have a lot of shows where we love to swap genders for certain characters, which is a little tougher depending on the show, but with Shakespeare, there’s no rules, so this is kind of a perfect and convenient show for WIGB to do.”
The plot follows Hermia and Lysander, who are deeply in love, but Hermia’s guardian wants them to marry Demetrius. Demetrius is pursued by Helena, whose passion goes unrequited. When the Duke tells Hermia they must obey their guardian, die or enter a convent, Hermia and Lysander flee into a nearby wood, where Demetrius and Helena follow.
In another part of Athens, a group of artists is rehearsing a play to be performed at Theseus’ and Hippolyta’s marriage. The actors make plans to rendezvous in the same wood. However, the wood is a magical realm ruled by the fairies Oberon and Titania.
“A Midsummer Night’s Dream” opens at the Unity House in Springfield, located at 245 Porter Lake Drive, on Friday, Nov. 6, at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 7 and 14 will feature 2 and 7:30 p.m. showings, and all other shows on Sunday, Nov. 8, Thursday, Nov. 12 and Friday, Nov. 13 will take place at 7:30 p.m.
Tickets are $23 and include a $2 processing fee if ordered online at wigbtheater.org/midsummer.
Founder, actor and president of Why’s It Gotta Be?, Devin Dumas, told Reminder Publishing that he encourages fellow board members and interested players and participants of WIGB productions to come forward with any suggestions for potential shows. Through this effort, Dumas aims to make WIGB a collaborative space where people can try to put together queer theater they are passionate about.
“When [Bonavita] brought it to us as a board, she funnily enough knew it was something I was going to ask of her, to make it queer or gender diverse or just have some element of that in it regardless, so she brought it to the proposal with that in mind already,” said Dumas. “I was really excited for that because something we want to do in the future — obviously Shakespeare is in the public domain — but even works that are licensed, we have very low-key long-term future ideas for ways to cast certain shows gender blind as well, so I think this is nice to start with.”
Not only does this production feature a gender-blind cast and freedom of interpretation from its players, but each character grouping also has an era tied to their costume design and presentation.
“As for the style and theme, everyone always says when you do Shakespeare there’s always a time period or a vibe you pick. We’re kind of all over the place. I put each group of characters in the era I thought they belonged. For example, the lovers are rebellious teens, in puppy love, against traditions, so they’re the 90s grunge characters. The adults are very traditional, very stuck up, like these are the rules, so it’s very 30s to 50s,” Bonavita explained. “The performers, players who are in the play within the play, they are out-of-work circus performers because I thought that’s just kind of their vibe. They’re these people thrown together who happen to be creatives, but they work these mundane jobs like us.”
A look at a recent rehearsal of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” from Why’s It Gotta Be? Theater Group, playing at the Unitarian Universalist Society of Greater Springfield from Nov. 6-14.
Reminder Publishing photo by Trent Levakis
September marked the one-year anniversary of WIGB, which Dumas explained was created to fill a gap in consistent productions of queer and gender-diverse stories in the local theater scene.
Their first production, “Legoland,” was an intimate two-person show that played at Easthampton’s CitySpace in May. The theater group has also been active through smaller shows and events like its Say Something series, drag shows and a musical theater workshop. Dumas said it has been exciting to see the group’s growth over this time and the connections they have continued to make from Springfield to Northampton.
“It’s been successful. With ”Legoland,” for instance, we honestly anticipated a loss with our first show. We’re a new company. We’re doing something that doesn’t really have any name recognition. We felt like we were betting a lot on that show, and it did not come in at a loss at all,” Dumas explained.
Dumas added that with the success of “Legoland” and now the growing interest in the upcoming production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” which saw over 50 people audition, the theater group is building up trust with audiences that can allow them to take a chance on productions that don’t have immediate name recognition over the course of the next year, including completely original work.
“It’s been exciting, but it’s been scary in that vein. Part of it has just been building trust in our audiences and trust in our peers,” Dumas added. “We’ve just been trying to make sure that we reach people where they’re at, so they know we’re here and want to tell them and share with them these stories.”
Bonavita, also a WIGB board member, said it’s been exciting to be part of the rapidly excelling theater group and to see the growth over the last year.
“It intrigued me because fresh, queer theater is obviously something heavily needed now, but it’s also some of the most fun. I’m sick of seeing people doing ‘Annie’ and ‘Shrek.’ If you want to go do that, fantastic, but at the same time I don’t need to see that eight more times. Just the idea of doing new stuff was so cool,” Bonavita added.
Dumas shared similar sentiments about what WIGB has accomplished so far and added that the group hopes to keep this positive momentum as it continues to be a reliable place for queer theater in the region.
“I personally am very grateful to all the support and eagerness people have had about WIGB. I’m very thankful to the audience who have come out,” Dumas added. “Something I have always said is the best way to support us is just coming to our shows. I would rather the house be filled with an audience to take in the story we’re telling than anything else. I’m very thankful for that.”
For more information on WIGB, visit wigbtheater.org.
‘Hermia (played by Julia Adamo) and Lysander (played by Aaron Williams) are at the center of the classic Shakespeare tale. Here, they sport a 1990s grunge look inspired by the characters and themes of the show.
Reminder Publishing photo by Trent Levakis
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