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Bottom's Dream 
A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare

Play Summary

 

A Midsummer Night's Dream is a comedy written by William Shakespeare between 1590 and 1597. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of Theseus, the Duke of Athens, to Hippolyta. These include the adventures of four young Athenian lovers and a group of six amateur actors (the mechanicals) who are controlled and manipulated by the fairies who inhabit the forest in which most of the play is set. The play is one of Shakespeare's most popular works for the stage and is widely performed across the world.

Press and Documents

Press Release

Bottom's Dream Program

Bottom's Dream Summary

 

In fifteen days, sixty South Los Angeles students studied and mounted a summer showcase based on Shakespeare’s famous romantic comedy of love gone awry: live theatrical scenes, a dumb show, a violinist, Donkey-Head art exhibit and free love potion for all.  Students are incoming seniors in the USC Neighborhood Academic Initiative and Foshay Learning Center as well as newly inducted AP English Literature scholars. The showcase culminated the first leg of a summer of intense preparation for these aspiring first-generation college students, which will include a college app bootcamp and SAT classes, in addition to this two week long immersion in the 400 year-old piece of dramatic work.  Over a hundred family and friends gathered to beat the heat wave through the magic of theater and the literature-inspired camaraderie of the teens who brought Bottom’s Dream to life. 

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