'A Midsummer Night's Dream': Classic Shakespeare play returns to the ECC Arts Center

"A Midsummer Night's Dream" returns to the Elgin Community College Arts Center for the spring theater performance, nearly a decade after the play first premiered at the college.

See the Spartan Auditorium transformed into a magical immersive forest, with ECC student Aldren Briones performing original music to help create an atmosphere of enchantment for the audience.

"My goal is to make Shakespeare not only accessible to the students and the audience but to have them enjoy the ride and leave with a greater appreciation for Shakespeare," said play director Susan A. Robinson, ECC theatre instructor and program coordinator.

"We have very enthusiastic actors throwing themselves headfirst into the play. There is a play within a play, lots of love triangles, a meddling fairy kingdom, and lots of mayhem," Robinson said. "Hopefully, it will be an exciting and joyous, chaotic ride."

The most performed of all the Shakespeare comedies, "A Midsummer Night's Dream," deals primarily with the theme of love and its complications. It contains three sets of characters: the Rude Mechanicals, who put on a play; the Court, which includes the Duke, his fiancé, and the young lovers; and the Fairy kingdom, which consists of a Fairy King and Queen and various fairies and sprites.

Performances will be 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, April 28 to May 6; and 3 p.m. Sundays, April 30 and May 7, in the Spartan Auditorium in Building G, 1700 Spartan Drive, Elgin.

Tickets are $12 or $10 for seniors and students.

ECC students can get a free ticket at the Arts Center Box Office in Building H with their student ID. Visit eccartscenter.org/tickets/ to purchase tickets.

The ECC Arts Center is on facebook.com/eccartscenter andinstagram.com/eccartscenter/.

If you have questions, call the ECC Arts Center box office at (847) 622-0300.