A Midsummer Night's Dream

Cast List - A Midsummer Night's Dream

Puck - Chris Taylor

Titania - Meighan Smith

Oberon - Brinton Wilkins

Demetrius - Tom Roche

Lysander - Sean Sweeney

Helena - Lexi Thomsen

Hermia - Madeline Thatcher

Quince - Nels Holmgren

Bottom/Pyramus - Bryson Dumas

Flute/Thisby - Grant Christopherson

Snout/Wall - Brooke Wilkins

Snug/Lion - Mitch Schouten

Starveling/Moonshine - Henry Holmgren

Theseus - Joe Holmgren

Hippolyta - Moira Gray

Egeus - Melany Wilkins

Philostrate - David Thulin

Peasblossom - Larissa Anderson

Cobweb - Sierra Phillips

Moth - Whitney Wilkins

Mustardseed - Micaela Morgan

Additional Fairies & Other Characters: Moira Gray, Elizabeth Myers, Alina Smith, Makayla Smith, Solana Cordova, Clara Boas

Audition Sides (Please memorize one for your audition)

PUCK

My mistress with a monster is in love.

Near to her close and consecrated bower,

While she was in her dull and sleeping hour,

A crew of patches, rude mechanicals,

That work for bread upon Athenian stalls,

Were met together to rehearse a play

Intended for great Theseus' nuptial day.

The shallowest thickskin of that barren sort

Who Pyramus presented in their sport,

Forsook his scene and enter'd in a brake;

When I did him at this advantage take,

An ass's nowl I fixed on his head;

When in that moment,—so it came to pass,—

Titania wak'd, and straightway lov'd an ass.

OBERON

Thou seest these lovers seek a place to fight;

Hie therefore, Robin, overcast the night;

The starry welkin cover thou anon

With drooping fog, as black as Acheron,

And lead these testy rivals so astray

As one come not within another's way.

Like to Lysander sometime frame thy tongue,

Then stir Demetrius up with bitter wrong;

And sometime rail thou like Demetrius;

And from each other look thou lead them thus,

Till o'er their brows death-counterfeiting sleep

With leaden legs and batty wings doth creep:

Then crush this herb into Lysander's eye;

Whose liquor hath this virtuous property,

To take from thence all error with his might

And make his eyeballs roll with wonted sight.

When they next wake, all this derision

Shall seem a dream and fruitless vision;

And back to Athens shall the lovers wend

With league whose date till death shall never end.

TITANIA

Set your heart at rest;

The fairy-land buys not the child of me.

His mother was a vot'ress of my order:

And, in the spicèd Indian air, by night,

Full often hath she gossip'd by my side;

And sat with me on Neptune's yellow sands,

Marking the embarkèd traders on the flood;

When we have laugh'd to see the sails conceive,

And grow big-bellied with the wanton wind;

Which she, with pretty and with swimming gait

Following,—her womb then rich with my young squire,—

Would imitate; and sail upon the land,

To fetch me trifles, and return again,

As from a voyage, rich with merchandise.

But she, being mortal, of that boy did die;

And for her sake do I rear up her boy:

And for her sake I will not part with him.

LYSANDER

A good persuasion; therefore, hear me, Hermia.

I have a widow aunt, a dowager

Of great revenue, and she hath no child:

From Athens is her house remote seven leagues;

And she respects me as her only son.

There, gentle Hermia, may I marry thee;

And to that place the sharp Athenian law

Cannot pursue us. If thou lovest me then,

Steal forth thy father's house tomorrow night;

And in the wood, a league without the town,

Where I did meet thee once with Helena,

To do observance to a morn of May,

There will I stay for thee.

DEMETRIUS

Do I entice you? Do I speak you fair?

Or, rather, do I not in plainest truth

Tell you I do not, nor I cannot love you?

Tempt not too much the hatred of my spirit;

For I am sick when I do look on thee.

You do impeach your modesty too much,

To leave the city, and commit yourself

Into the hands of one that loves you not;

To trust the opportunity of night,

And the ill counsel of a desert place,

With the rich worth of your virginity.

I will not stay thy questions; let me go:

Or, if thou follow me, do not believe

But I shall do thee mischief in the wood.

HERMIA

Now I but chide, but I should use thee worse;

For thou, I fear, hast given me cause to curse.

If thou hast slain Lysander in his sleep,

Being o'er shoes in blood, plunge in the deep,

And kill me too.

The sun was not so true unto the day

As he to me: would he have stol'n away

From sleeping Hermia? I'll believe as soon

This whole earth may be bor'd; and that the moon

May through the centre creep and so displease

Her brother's noontide with the antipodes.

It cannot be but thou hast murder'd him;

So should a murderer look; so dead, so grim.

HELENA

O spite! O hell! I see you all are bent

To set against me for your merriment.

If you were civil, and knew courtesy,

You would not do me thus much injury.

Can you not hate me, as I know you do,

But you must join in souls to mock me too?

If you were men, as men you are in show,

You would not use a gentle lady so;

To vow, and swear, and superpraise my parts,

When I am sure you hate me with your hearts.

You both are rivals, and love Hermia;

And now both rivals, to mock Helena:

A trim exploit, a manly enterprise,

To conjure tears up in a poor maid's eyes

With your derision! None of noble sort

Would so offend a virgin, and extort

A poor soul's patience, all to make you sport.

QUINCE

Some of your French crowns have no hair at all, and then you will play bare-faced.— But, masters, here are your parts: and I am to entreat you, request you, and desire you, to con them by to-morrow night; and meet me in the palace wood, a mile without the town, by moonlight; there will we rehearse: for if we meet in the city, we shall be dogg'd with company, and our devices known. In the meantime I will draw a bill of properties, such as our play wants. I pray you, fail me not.

BOTTOM

When my cue comes, call me, and I will answer. My next is 'Most fair Pyramus.'—Heigh-ho!—Peter Quince! Flute, the bellows-mender! Snout, the tinker! Starveling! God's my life, stol'n hence, and left me asleep! I have had a most rare vision. I have had a dream—past the wit of man to say what dream it was.—Man is but an ass if he go about to expound this dream. Methought I was—there is no man can tell what. Methought I was, and methought I had,—but man is but a patched fool, if he will offer to say what methought I had. The eye of man hath not heard, the ear of man hath not seen; man's hand is not able to taste, his tongue to conceive, nor his heart to report, what my dream was. I will get Peter Quince to write a ballad of this dream: it shall be called Bottom's Dream, because it hath no bottom; and I will sing it in the latter end of a play, before the duke: peradventure, to make it the more gracious, I shall sing it at her death.

FLUTE/THISBE

Asleep, my love?

What, dead, my dove?

O Pyramus, arise,

Speak, speak. Quite dumb?

Dead, dead? A tomb

Must cover thy sweet eyes.

These lily lips,

This cherry nose,

These yellow cowslip cheeks,

Are gone, are gone:

Lovers, make moan!

His eyes were green as leeks.

O Sisters Three,

Come, come to me,

With hands as pale as milk;

Lay them in gore,

Since you have shore

With shears his thread of silk.

Tongue, not a word:—

Come, trusty sword;

Come, blade, my breast imbrue;

And farewell, friends:—

Thus Thisbe ends;

Adieu, adieu, adieu.

SNUG/LION

You, ladies, you, whose gentle hearts do fear

The smallest monstrous mouse that creeps on floor,

May now, perchance, both quake and tremble here,

When lion rough in wildest rage doth roar.

Then know that I, one Snug the joiner, am

A lion fell, nor else no lion's dam:

For, if I should as lion come in strife

Into this place, 'twere pity on my life.

SNOUT/WALL

In this same interlude it doth befall

That I, one Snout by name, present a wall:

And such a wall as I would have you think

That had in it a crannied hole or chink,

Through which the lovers, Pyramus and Thisby,

Did whisper often very secretly.

This loam, this rough-cast, and this stone, doth show

That I am that same wall; the truth is so:

And this the cranny is, right and sinister,

Through which the fearful lovers are to whisper.

THESEUS

I must confess that I have heard so much,

And with Demetrius thought to have spoke thereof;

But, being over-full of self-affairs,

My mind did lose it.—But, Demetrius, come;

And come, Egeus; you shall go with me;

I have some private schooling for you both.—

For you, fair Hermia, look you arm yourself

To fit your fancies to your father's will,

Or else the law of Athens yields you up,—

Which by no means we may extenuate,—

To death, or to a vow of single life.—

Come, my Hippolyta: what cheer, my love?

Demetrius, and Egeus, go along;

I must employ you in some business

Against our nuptial, and confer with you

Of something nearly that concerns yourselves.

EGEUS

Full of vexation come I, with complaint

Against my child, my daughter Hermia.—

Stand forth, Demetrius.—My noble lord,

This man hath my consent to marry her:—

Stand forth, Lysander;—and, my gracious duke,

This man hath bewitch'd the bosom of my child.

Thou, thou, Lysander, thou hast given her rhymes,

And interchang'd love-tokens with my child:

Thou hast by moonlight at her window sung,

With feigning voice, verses of feigning love;

And stol'n the impression of her fantasy

With bracelets of thy hair, rings, gawds, conceits,

Knacks, trifles, nosegays, sweetmeats,—messengers

Of strong prevailment in unharden'd youth;—

With cunning hast thou filch'd my daughter's heart;

Turned her obedience, which is due to me,

To stubborn harshness.—And, my gracious duke,

Be it so she will not here before your grace

Consent to marry with Demetrius,

I beg the ancient privilege of Athens,—

As she is mine I may dispose of her:

Which shall be either to this gentleman

Or to her death; according to our law

Immediately provided in that case.

FAIRY (ENSEMBLE)

Over hill, over dale,

Thorough bush, thorough brier,

Over park, over pale,

Thorough flood, thorough fire,

I do wander everywhere,

Swifter than the moon's sphere;

And I serve the fairy queen,

To dew her orbs upon the green.

The cowslips tall her pensioners be:

In their gold coats spots you see;

Those be rubies, fairy favours,

In those freckles live their savours;

I must go seek some dew-drops here,

And hang a pearl in every cowslip's ear.

Farewell, thou lob of spirits; I'll be gone:

Our queen and all her elves come here anon.

Character List (please note on your audition form which character you would be interested in)

Puck (male or female; age 15 to mid 20s) - Oberon's jester who acts as a narrator to the story. Puck is a mischievous and energetic fairy. He is responsible for the lovers confusion (mistaking Lysander for Demetrius) and transforms Bottom's head into a donkey.

Oberon (age mid 20s to 50s) - King of the fairies. He is stubborn, jealous and at odds with his wife Titania at the start of the show. Oberon sends Puck to make Demetrius fall in love with Helena as well as transform Bottom.

Titania (age mid 20s to 50s) - Queen of the fairies. Titania and Oberon's argument over the changeling boy has caused chaos in the natural world. She falls in love with Bottom due to a love potion concocted by her husband Oberon.

Lysander (age 16 to mid 20s) - One of the lovers. Lysander is in love with Hermia, but he cannot marry her because her father Egeus wants her to wed Demetrius. He and Hermia run away to the forrest together, but are then caught up in Puck's magic. Lysander is seen as the more caring of the two lead men.

Demetrius (age 16 to mid 20s) - One of the lovers. Demetrius is in love with Hermia and detests Helena's advances (as they were previously betrothed). He is cruel to Helena which causes Oberon to call for the love potion. At the end of the play, he falls in love with Helena.

Hermia (age 16 to mid 20s) - One of the lovers. Hermia is in love with Lysander, but is betrothed to Demetrius. She is smaller than her friend Helena and is a hopeless romantic at times.

Helena (age 16 to mid 20s) - One of the lovers. Helena is in love with Demetrius despite his destain for her (as they were previously betrothed). She is self-conscious of her height and believes the men are mocking her when they are both under the fairy magic.

Peter Quince/Prologue (age 20s to 50s) - The leader of the craftsmen (mechanicals) who are trying to put on a play for the duke of Athens' wedding. Despite being the leader, he is often undermined by Bottom and the foolishness of the other craftsmen.

Nick Bottom/Pyramus (age 20s to 50s) - An overconfident weaver who is part of Quince's troupe. He often misuses language while rehearsing the play. Bottom's head is turned into a donkey as part of a prank played on Titania by Oberon. He, however, stays unaware of the magic and believes Titania is in love with him because of his own greatness.

Francis Flute/Thisbe (age 18 to 50s) - A craftsman in Quince's troupe. Flute is forced to play Thisbe (a young girl in love) despite a light beard growing on his face. Flute often uses an overly high and squeaky voice while playing Thisbe.

Robin Starveling/Moonshine (age 18 to 50s) - A tailor in Quince's troupe. He is originally cast as Thisbe's mother, but ends up playing the role of the moon.

Tom Snout/Wall (age 18 to 50s) - A tinker in Quince's troupe. He is originally cast as Pyramus's father, but ends up playing the role of the wall.

Snug/Lion (age 18 to 50s) - A joiner in Quince's troupe. He plays the lion and worries that is roaring will frighten the ladies.

Egeus (age 18 to 50s) - Hermia's father who gives Demetrius permission to marry Hermia. He brings a complaint against his daughter to Theseus, the duke of Athens, in order to force her to marry Demetrius. He is severe and strict with his daughter.

Theseus (age 20s to 50s) - The duke of Athens. Theseus is the central power of Athens. He is engaged to Hippolyta and their marriage inspires Quince to put on a play.

Hippolyta (age 20s to 50s) - The queen of the Amazons. She is engaged to Theseus.

Changeling Boy (age 9-13) - A young child whom Titania has taken as her own child. This frustrates Oberon who wanted to use the boy as his attendant. In reality, Oberon is jealous of all the attention the boy is receiving from his wife.

Ensemble (Philostrate, Peaseblossom, Cobweb, Mote, Mustardseed, other fairies & court members) (age 11 & up) - The Ensemble is made up of fairies who attend to Oberon & Titania, court members at the wedding ceremony and the Philostrate who introduces the craftsmen's play. Minimal roles for those under 15.