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Shakespeare LIVE! performs Midsummer Night’s Dream March 9

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The University of Maine at Presque Isle will host Shakespeare LIVE!, a theater troupe that has performed for more than half a million students since its inception in 1997, for a performance of one of the Bard’s great comedies, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, on Thursday, March 9 at 7 p.m., in the Auditorium at Wieden Hall. A Midsummer Night’s Dream is one of Shakespeare’s most beloved and most performed works and is best experienced as the playwright intended–live on stage. The public is invited to attend this special event; donations will be accepted at the door to go toward future cultural arts programming.

As the educational touring wing of The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, Shakespeare LIVE! productions are hailed as innovative, visually stunning, and accessible to students. While the texts are abridged, the troupe prides itself on keeping Shakespeare’s language intact and delivering performances that are dynamic and appealing, exciting and engaging, and witty and imaginative.

Audience members who would like to learn more about the play, its characters and their motivations, and its historical background, are invited to stay after the March 9 performance and enjoy a short talk-back with troupe members.

Through special arrangement, the troupe is bringing two days of workshops and performances to the region. UMPI and the University of Maine at Fort Kent collaborated to bring the troupe to the County—the troupe will offer a theater workshop at UMPI ahead of their Presque Isle performance to provide area high school students with a unique and engaging opportunity to learn about Shakespeare’s work, and then perform A Midsummer Night’s Dream in the evening. On March 10, they will do the same in Fort Kent.

Shakespeare LIVE! is supported by Shakespeare in American Communities, a national program of The National Endowment for the Arts in cooperation with Arts Midwest. In 2004, Shakespeare LIVE! was selected as one of 22 professional theater companies nationwide to participate in the Shakespeare in American Communities: Shakespeare for a New Generation program, bringing high-quality, professional productions of Shakespeare’s plays to thousands of middle- and high-school students in underserved schools across the United States. For more information about Shakespeare for a New Generation, please visit ShakespeareInAmericanCommunities.org.

The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey’s programs are made possible, in part, by funding from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a Partner of the National Endowment for the Arts.  Additional major support is received from The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, F. M. Kirby Foundation, The Shubert Foundation, The Edward T. Cone Foundation, Bank of America, CTW Foundation, and The Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation, a grant from Investors Foundation, as well as contributions from numerous corporations, foundations, government agencies, and individuals. For more information about the Shakespeare Theater of New Jersey, visit shakespearenj.org.

The public is invited to attend this special performance; donations will be accepted at the door to assist with future cultural events. The troupe has asked that audience members please be seated five minutes before the program begins. No recording during the play is allowed. For more information, please call UMPI’s Community and Media Relations Office at 768-9452 or email info@umpi.edu.

Photo of two performers in "A Midsummer Nights Dream"