A Midsummer Night's Dream Documents

Download the documents below at least three weeks before the company is due to arrive at your school. Your students will need to have these materials as early as possible, so they can start to prepare for their part. The more familiar they are with who their character is, and what they are saying, the better prepared they will be to perform without their script and in front of an audience. 

All of these documents can be opened as a PDF in a new browser window by clicking the titles above. Left-click and selct "download linked file" command to download directly.

To The Teacher
A document giving you information on what you must do to prepare for the day of our arrival, and how to prepare your students for participation in our performance.  This document also contains a list of roles available for students to play. This will be of great assistance when you cast the roles.

Ground-Plan
A ground-plan indicating where we need you to arrange seating for the audience. You must have this seating arranged in advance of our arrival, and we must have the amount of space indicated on the ground-plan to stage the play.

The Story
A plain-English summary of the play.

All teachers should download the following documents for their students:

The Midsummer Night's Dream Script
This script has been specially prepared for our performance. Please make a copy for each of the student actors. The Script must be copied and distributed to students and be the primary script you refer to. DO NOT use another published version of the script.

Pronunciation Guide
Tips for the correct pronunciation of some tricky names.

Caveat: This script is, for the time being, not exactly as it will be at your school. We will have someone playing the role of Hermia in some scenes, e.g. the quartet. The definitive script will be available here very soon.

Individual sides
These can be printed and distributed to the student who has been assigned each respective role. Please note that there will be updated sides appearing at the beginning of September.

• Egeus
  
• Fairies
  
• First Fairy
• Hermia
• Philostrate
• Second Fairy
• Snout (= Lion - do not cast separately)
  
• Snug ( = Wall - do not cast separately)
  
• Sprites ( = Moonshine - do not cast separately)
  
• Starveling

A Common Sense Guide to Acting Shakespeare
An essential document that will help you prepare for your performance.

Documents marked by an asterisk (*) are forthcoming.

About These Documents

• If your school is unable to open or print any of these flies, for an administrative fee of $50, we will be happy to post hard-copies of the documents you need.
• Schools are responsible for printing and distributing all of the documents to students.
• If you have any questions, and especially if any of this information is confusing or unclear, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or call us immediately.

WHAT SCHOOLS MUST PROVIDE

• All students will need to wear a base costume with no visible logos. The base costume should consist of the following:
• Those playing an officer should wear all black (including shoes).
• Other students should bring long sleeve dress shirts or blouses in a light color
  (pastel preferably).
• Pants should be grey, blue or purple. No jeans, skirts, black or white pants
  please!
• All students should have practical shoes, which should be closed toed and comfortable (no heels, flip flops, crocs or sandals). They may be of any color.
• Girls must not wear low-cut pants that expose midriff, especially those playing
  men.
  
• Schools must make their school gym (or another space that fits our groundplan) available for the entire day, and schools are responsible for having seating arranged (as per our groundplan) before we arrive.
• The company will also require access to at least one additional room in addition to the performance space. This second room is for rehearsing with secondary groups of students.