HARTFORD, CT — August 7, 2017 — Hartford
Stage Artistic Director Darko Tresnjak and Managing
Director Michael Stotts announced today the cast and creative
team for William Shakespeare’s A
Midsummer Night’s Dream,
directed by Tresnjak. The comedy, which runs September 7 through October 8,
opens Hartford Stage’s 2017-18 season. Actors Scarlett Strallen, Esau
Pritchett, and John Lavelle lead
the distinguished cast.
One of Shakespeare’s most popular works, A Midsummer Night’s Dream captivates with the intertwined stories of six bumbling actors; four lovestruck teenagers; one royal wedding; and the infinite magical realm of the fairies. Lust, folly, madness—and even true love—hide in the shimmering lights of the enchanted forest.
“We are thrilled to open our 2017-18 season
with a celebratory and joyous production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” Tresnjak said. “Both populist and
sophisticated, delightful and profound, Midsummer
is a play of infinite riches. I believe that it is Shakespeare’s most perfect
play.”
Tresnjak’s Hartford Stage credits include A
Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder (winner of four 2014 Tony Awards,
including Best Musical and Best Direction of a Musical for Tresnjak); the new musical Anastasia,
currently on Broadway; Heartbreak
House; The Comedy of Errors; Rear Window; Romeo &
Juliet; and Hamlet. Other recent credits
include The Killer (2014 Obie Award for Direction) at Theatre
for a New Audience and The Ghosts of Versailles at LA Opera.
English stage actress Scarlett Strallen will
play Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons, and Titania, the Fairy Queen. Strallen, a
two-time Olivier Award nominee, assumed the role of Sibella in A
Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder
on Broadway in 2015. In 2013, she played Cassie in the West End revival of A Chorus Line. Strallen also starred as
Lady Macduff in Kenneth Branagh's production of Macbeth and
as Mary Poppins in the London West End
and Broadway productions. She most recently appeared in the Encores! Off-Center
revival of Cole Porter’s The New Yorkers.
Theseus,
the Duke of Athens, and Oberon, the Fairy King, will be played by acclaimed stage
actor Esau Pritchett. Pritchett
starred as Mark Antony in the McCarter Theatre Center’s production of
Antony & Cleopatra. He has also
appeared in A Free Man of Color on
Broadway, The Crucible at the
Cleveland Play House, August Wilson’s King
Hedley II at the Matrix Theatre, and August Wilson’s Fences at Long Wharf Theatre. His film and television credits
include The Narrows, Iron Fist, and Orange is the New Black.
John
Lavelle will portray Nick Bottom, the hapless weaver. Lavelle played journalist
Roy Reed in the 2014 Academy Award-nominated film Selma. He also played Benjamin opposite Lorraine Bracco in John
Reid’s 2002 Broadway adaptation of The
Graduate. Additional stage credits include Macbeth and Red Velvet at
The Old Globe and The Royale at
Lincoln Center Theater. Lavelle portrayed Gratiano in Darko Tresnjak’s
acclaimed production of The Merchant of
Venice at Theatre for a New Audience and the Royal Shakespeare Company. He
has done voice work for the hit animated films Zootopia and Frozen and,
most recently, for the scripted audio drama Bronzeville.
Joining Strallen, Pritchett, and Lavelle in
the company of A Midsummer Night’s Dream
are: Will Apicella (As You Like It, Royal Academy of Dramatic Art; Andromache, Teatro della Pergola, Florence) as Philostrate/Puck;
Brent Bateman (Birdman; Boardwalk Empire; Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular – National
Tour) as Snout; Robert Hannon Davis (Romeo
& Juliet and A Christmas Carol –
A Ghost Story of Christmas, Hartford Stage) as Peter Quince/Egeus; Fedna Laure Jacquet (Proof, Kenny Leon’s True Colors; The Tempest, Classical Theatre of Harlem) as Helena; Jenny Leona (The Underpants, Hartford Stage; Frankenstein,
Denver Center Theatre Company) as
Hermia; Matthew Macca (The Comedy
of Errors, Hartford Stage; Brighton
Beach Memoirs, Playhouse on Park) as Francis Flute; Anne O’ Sullivan (Hedda
Gabler, Hartford Stage; Becoming Dr.
Ruth, B Street Theatre) as First Fairy; Tom Pecinka (Cloud 9, Hartford Stage; Arcadia, Yale Repertory Theatre) as Lysander; Alexander
Sovronsky (The Comedy of Errors, Hartford Stage; Cyrano de Bergerac on Broadway) as Robin Starveling; Damian
Jermaine Thompson (Fly,
Pasadena Playhouse; The Whipping Man, Arkansas
Repertory Theatre) as Demetrius;
and Louis Tucci (The Comedy of Errors, Hartford Stage; Buddy: the Buddy Holly Story on Broadway) as Snug.
Melody
Atkinson,
Gabrielle Filloux, Madison Vice, students at The Hartt School at the
University of Hartford, will portray the fairies.
In addition to Tresnjak, the creative team
includes: Set Designer Alexander Dodge (Anastasia and A
Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder at Hartford Stage and on
Broadway); Costume Designer Joshua Pearson (Private Lives and
La Dispute at Hartford Stage);
Lighting Designer York Kennedy (August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson and Rear Window at Hartford Stage); Sound
Designers Broken Chord Collective/Daniel Baker and Aaron Meicht (The Whipping
Man, Hartford Stage; Eclipsed on Broadway); Composer and Music Director Alexander Sovronsky (The Comedy of Errors, Hartford Stage);
Fight Choreographer Thomas Schall (11
productions on Broadway last season, including The Little Foxes and The
Front Page); and Voice and Text Coach Claudia
Hill-Sparks (Anastasia on
Broadway; Hamlet, Hartford Stage). Hartford
Stage Associate Artistic Director Elizabeth Williamson, Dramaturg for
Anastasia and Heartbreak House, will serve as Dramaturg.
Robyn M. Zalewski (Heartbreak
House and The Comedy of Errors at
Hartford Stage) will serve as Production Stage Manager, with Nicole Wiegert as Assistant
Stage Manager (James and the Giant Peach and
Big Fish at First Stage Milwaukee).
