Someday I’ll have to stop being surprised by how good the DaVinci
Players’ productions are. They’re always turning out to be
pretty good, so where’s the surprise?

It’s just that the troupe specializes in giving chances to young or
comparatively inexperienced actors, and at similar companies, you never
know what the results might be. But the DaVinci Players, a program of
the Studio Connections arts-learning center, blends in performers and
directors with more extensive résumés, making sure that
every production is built on a solid core. Typically, and no longer
surprisingly, the group’s production of A Midsummer Night’s
Dream comes off very well, despite the cast’s mix of professionals,
amateurs and even kids.

Perhaps the best accomplishment of first-time director (but seasoned
performer) Maria Alburtus is giving equal weight and entertainment
value to Shakespeare’s three layers of characters and plots. At one
level, we have the realm of the fairies, specifically King Oberon and
Queen Titania, who are feuding over custody of a boy; at Oberon’s
service is Puck, an expert at creating all sorts of mischief. Oberon is
distracted from his personal problems by the second level of action,
discord among two sets of young lovers wandering through the woods:
Lysander and Hermia, who are trying to avoid Hermia’s betrothal to
Demetrius, who is loved by Hermia’s friend Helena. Oberon sends Puck to
help straighten things out, but, of course, Puck’s magic spell goes
awry.

At the third level, one that initially seems unrelated to the other
goings-on, is a group of tradesmen, trying mightily but ineptly to put
together a little dramatic performance to present at the wedding of the
local duke. Puck comes along and transforms one among them, named
Bottom, into a talking ass (not much different from his natural form)
with which an enchanted Titania is made to fall in love.

The tradesmen, or “mechanicals,” as they’re called, are usually
little more than crude comic relief interrupting the action, but in the
DaVinci Players production, they seem better integrated into the story,
and more fully fleshed out as characters—particularly Bottom,
played with high humor but minimal mugging by Steve Wood, and Quince,
played by the expressive Kristina Miranda Sloan with much more gumption
and humor than this figure is usually awarded.

Children number among the lesser fairies, but Oberon is portrayed by
a fine professional, Robert Encila (the artistic director of the
DaVinci Players). He’s a commanding figure with a fine ear for
Shakespeare’s fluid cadences, and he’s well-matched by Lissa Staples’
Titania. Sophie Gibson-Rush, fresh out of high school, is properly
boisterous, physical and slightly scary as Puck.

Among the mortals, Teresa Vasquez’s steady Hermia contrasts nicely
with Samantha Cormier’s bubbly Helena. Jody Mullen is an impassioned
Lysander, while Stephen Greene manages the neat trick of suggesting
that Demetrius is a rather boring person without himself turning in a
boring performance.

Acting in the lesser roles is up and down, but the performances are
strong where it counts most. For example, Ginny Encila makes up for the
character Hippolyta’s cut lines with revealing facial reactions to the
pontificating of her husband-to-be, the duke. On the subject of cuts,
they’re well-managed, and serve to propel the action without doing a
single bit of harm.

Alburtus has transferred the action from Shakespeare’s pseudo-Athens
to contemporary Manhattan, with the forest scenes playing out in what
seems to be Central Park. The shift works well and, most importantly,
is handled consistently. The set is simple, but it features a very
nicely done tree trunk as its focal point.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream is not a profound play, and you
don’t need an Olivier to put it across. You do need a well-prepared
cast and a light spirit, which the DaVinci Players readily provide.

This article appears in Jun 18-24, 2009.