Looking Back at Midsummer, Ahead to Next Summer

We knew the show would be something exceptionally special as early as the first full run-through. Just as we were getting underway, a boy of 4 or 5 years old tugged his father into the Lincoln Foundation Garden. He was immediately enchanted. His father recognized this and they both stayed. And so Joe, Jr. became our Changeling Boy for that night. He immediately saw Oberon’s selfishness and took Titania’s side (more on this later). He offered advice and commentary to the lovers, the fairies, the mechanicals. At one point, our Oberon allowed himself to be bridled by the boy just as Bottom had been by the fairies. Joe, Jr. joined the onstage audience for “Pyramus and Thisbe,” topping the others’ wisecracks – and stopping the show more than once. He had, in effect, his own Where the Wild Things Are Midsummer Night. Our actors responded as delightedly and generously to him as he was responding to them.

Catherine Coffey, who played Hippolyta and Titania, provides an update: “I still have the collection of assorted gifts he gave me throughout the rehearsal. I have no idea what to do with a rose stem, a piece of glitter, and a band-aid, but I could never throw them away! He was absolutely precious. I ran into him only a week or so ago and I was still ‘Faerie Princess’ to him. That boy’s imagination will take him far.”

If you would like to make Flatwater Shakespeare’s Summer Tour
a permanent feature on the Lincoln scene,
there are two things you can do right now.

1) Support us with a donation as we prepare for Othello this fall.
Send your tax-deductible contribution to
Flatwater Shakespeare Company
P. O. Box 84935
Lincoln, NE 68501-4935

2) Have your business or place of employment
become a Sponsor of Flatwater Shakespeare’s Summer Tour 2012.
For information, contact Deni Kornbluh, Business Manager,
at 402-990-6143 or denikornbluh@gmail.com

Many thanks for your past and continued support!

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