It’s ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ for Janus Theater

Less than a month of summer remains. Celebrate what’s left of the season with Janus Theater Company’s production of Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” which opens Friday, Aug. 30 and runs through Sept. 15.

Performances are at 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays. Tickets are $18 and include complimentary refreshments and flowers.

Adapted and directed by Sean Hargadon as part of the Elgin Summer Shakes Festival 2013, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” will be presented with a full cast inside the Side Street Studio Arts, 15 Ziegler Court — a downtown Elgin storefront space that is home to dance, music and other art presentations.

“This production will be extremely intimate,” Hargadon said. “Seating is open to only a few dozen people and the action is very close.”

Part of the magic of the production will be taking this large play and fitting it into small space, Hargadon said. “The playfulness and romantic qualities of the play will be heightened and intensified because the audience and actors are so close,” he said. “This creates a whole new set of expectations and helps make the play fresh again for the audience.”

This is a return for Janus Theater to its storefront roots, Hargadon said.

“We began producing plays at the old Vail Street Café in Arlington Heights,” he said. “We were inspired by the off-off Broadway movement in New York during 1960s when Café Theater was very popular. Add to that our passion for all things Shakespeare and the Stratford Festival in Ontario, Canada, we began with little more than a lot of energy and a great deal of bravado.”

More than 60 productions later, the company continues to produce every year with a greater emphasis on classical productions with modern spins, featuring writers like Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde, Jane Austen, Sophocles and August Strindberg.

The cast for “A Midsummer Night’s Dream by Shakespeare,” adapted and directed by Sean Hargadon (Elgin), features Geo Nikols (Chicago) as Theseus/Oberon, Sarafina Vecchio (Huntley) as Hippolyta/Titania, Ann Marie Nordby (Arlington Heights) Puck/Philostrate, Marc Beth (Elgin) Egeus, Michael Kurowski (Chicago) Lysander, Megan Skord-Campbell (Chicago) Hermia, Sara Jean Mergener (Chicago) Helena, Mark Hespen (Crystal Lake) as Demetrius, Ross Frawley (Chicago) as Bottom, Kelly Bolton (Chicago) as Quince, Eric Waddick (Algonquin) as Snout/Fairy, Stetson Cross (Elgin) as Snug/Fairy, Timothy Vogel (Elgin) as Flute/Fairy, Dan Stromquist (Brookfield) as Starveling/Fairy.

Production design is by Tanner Meg (Elgin), choreography by Erin Rehberg (Elgin), costumes by Suzanne Brown-Kurtz (Algonquin), light design by Andy Murschel (Elgin) and sound design by the company and Sean Hargadon.

Tickets can be purchased online at www.elginsummershakes.eventbrite.com. For details, visit www.janustheater.com or call (847) 841-1713. Look for Elgin Summer Shakes 2013 on Facebook.