AMS students to perform ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’

AUBURN — Auburn Middle School Drama Club’s spring show is “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” by William Shakespeare.

The club, consisting of around 30 students in grades seven and eight has been rehearsing three times a week since the end of January. Cast members were selected at auditions held in February.

Fairy King Oberon, left, played by Ava-Lyn Belnavis, arguies with Fairy Queen Titania, played by Alana Foster, with the fairies, played by Sommer Russell, Myesha Baker, Amalie Oinonen, Amber Fraser and Eli Morgan looking on. (Photo by Peter Robinson)

For many of the students involved this will be their first experience with Shakespeare. The original script was shortened to make it more manageable for middle school students, but all of the lines were kept in their original language. The AMS Drama Club has a tradition of performing a play by Shakespeare every two years, so that every middle school student can have the opportunity to be a part of it either as a seventh- or eighth-grader.

“A Midsummer Night’s Dream” was selected for its all-around appeal and wide variety of parts from comedy to magic, with troubled and confused young lovers trying to figure out who loves whom while being pranked by mischievous fairies.

Demetrius, right, played by Isaac Raymond, has been enchanted by the mischievous hobgoblin, Puck, into falling in love with Helena, played by Arielle Carver. (Photo by Peter Robinson)

Cost for tickets will be $5 at the door. Performances will be held at 7 p.m. Thursday and Friday, May 16 and 17, and at 2 and 7 p.m. Saturday, May 18, at the Auburn Middle School Theatre.