Gaspipe Theatre Company bringing Shakespeare to life with ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ – Sunbury Daily Item

LEWISBURG William Shakespeares A Midsummer Nights Dream will come to life in Hufnagle Park, thanks to a local theater company.

Gaspipe Theatre Company will perform the classic comedy at 7 p.m. Friday, Saturday and Sunday as part of its Shakespeare in the Park program.

A Midsummer Nights Dream is kind of a tradition for Gaspipe, said Stefan Eisenhower, director. It was the first play we did for Shakespeare in the Park in 2000 and its been revisited every five years.

The play, published in the 17th century, is about two Athenian couples who run away to the forest, an amateur group of actors rehearsing for a production and a mischievous fairy named Puck, whose spells create a love triangle among the Athenians and makes the fairy queen fall in love with Bottom, an actor who has been magicked so he unknowingly has the head of a donkey.

In the theater industry, A Midsummers Nights Dream is a widely performed play and Eisenhower said each production has a way to make the show unique to them.

Gaspipe sticks close to the source text, but we do put a little spin on it through costumes and the set, he said. This year has a slight steampunk theme but tries not to distract from the original material.

In addition to its history with the Gaspipe Theatre Company, A Midsummer Nights Dream was chosen because it has a large cast and has a relatively fair distribution of lines, so more actors get a chance to speak.

The play lets new and old actors try Shakespeare and be introduced to it, Eisenhower said.

Andrew Shaffer, who plays Bottom and has performed in all of Gaspipes Shakespeare in the Park productions, said the play has a lot of appeal at different levels.

Theres a love triangle that turns into zany stuff, theres fairies, magic and music, but a lot of intricate word play and historical references, he said. Shakespeare survived for so long because its entertaining.

Eisenhower noted the cast has a wide range of age and experience.

He said one of his favorite things as a director is watching his cast go deep into their roles and find all the little pieces they can pull from the text to affect their portrayals.

Even actors who are familiar with their roles learn something new about their characters.

Shaffer has played Bottom an actor magicked to have a donkeys head and is the recipient of fairy queen Titanias affection six times total.

Shaffer is still finding new things about Bottoms character, Eisenhower said.

Shaffer first portrayed Bottom in 1999 at Lewisburg Area High School and has returned to the role every time Gaspipe performs the play.

Bottom gets to be the clown, and be silly and wear the donkey head and sing, Shaffer said. Hes a really fun character.

Hes also performed in every Shakespeare in the Park.

Shakespeare is classic for a reason, Shaffer said.

This years production also marks a return to Gaspipes outdoor roots after a year off in 2020 due to COVID and a relocation in 2021 due to construction at Hufnagle Park. A Midsummer Nights Dream will be performed at the gazebo, a familiar location for the company.

We didnt have Shakespeare in the Park in 2020 because of the pandemic, but we called it Taming of the flu, Eisenhower said with a laugh.

Typically, the company performs each night of the show at different parks in the Valley, but opted to do all three performances at Hufnagle this year.

Were glad to be back, said Shaffer.

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Gaspipe Theatre Company bringing Shakespeare to life with 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' - Sunbury Daily Item