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Mum Puppettheatre Takes on the Bard - A Midsummer Night's Dream runs April 5 - 30, 2005

For Immediate Release: March 1, 2005

Philadelphia, PA – Known largely for its outstanding original productions of wordless mask and puppet theatre, Mum Puppettheatre tackles its biggest challenge yet: William Shakespeare. The Bard's most beloved and well-known comedy, A Midsummer Night's Dream tells the story of four young lovers and their various entanglements, adventures, and lessons learned in the woods outside of Athens. When paths cross between royalty and peasants, fairies and mortals, sparks fly! Over the course of a chaos-filled night, lovers are scorned, tricked, lost, found, pursued, abandoned and re-claimed, ending in a Shakespearean "happily ever after."

The production runs from April 5 to April 30, 2005. Tickets to preview performances (April 5 – 12) cost $1 - $6. Tickets to all other performances cost $25. Performances take place Tuesdays through Thursdays at 7pm, Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm, and Saturdays at 2pm. Tickets can be purchased by calling Mum's box office at 215.925.7686, visiting www.mumpuppet.org, or stopping by the theatre at 115 Arch Street, Monday through Friday, 10am to 5pm. Subscriptions for Mum's Evening Series (for adults) and Family Series (for the young and young-at-heart) for 2005-2006 will also be on sale as of April 5th.

Mum Artistic Director Robert Smythe's interest in staging the play does not stem specifically from the fact that it is Shakespeare, but rather from the fact that it is a 400-year-old work with ideas that are still fresh and fun today. "In spite of all his flowery and romantic language, Shakespeare still breaks things down to essentials," explains Smythe. "That's what puppetry strives to do, so it just seemed natural to put the two together."

Smythe, who directs the piece, has assembled an outstanding group of performers trained in stage acting, movement, and Shakespeare specifically, whom he feels "can hear the contemporary voice in the play without getting lost." The cast of nine features actress Erin Reilly as the mischievous Puck (usually portrayed by a male); Patrick Doran, Bradley Wrenn, Adrienne Mackey, and Genevieve Perrier as the four lovers Lysander, Demetrius, Helena and Hermia, respectively; Simon Harding as Oberon and Theseus, Kate Hurster as Tytania and Hippolyta, Ed Salek as Quince, and 2004 Barrymore Award-winner Lenny Haas as Bottom.

True to Mum's collaborative nature, the production includes a mélange of different art forms. At the beginning of the show, the actors playing the four lovers will perform in half-masks in the style of commedia dell'arte. This masked form of comedic performance dates back to the 1600 and 1700's in Italy. In fact, Smythe, set designer (and Mum Artistic Fellow) Martina Plag and mask designer Stephen Layne used centuries-old techniques – and a highly labor-intensive process – to create the masks. Once the lovers enter the enchanted environment of the woods, where fairies play tricks and cast spells on them, Japanese bunraku-style puppets portray the four lovers. Last seen in Mum's 2004 groundbreaking production of The Visit, this style of puppet is nearly life-sized and incredibly detailed. Simple hand puppets will be used to enact "Pyramus and Thisby," the play-within-the-play performed at the end of Midsummer, in the raucous style of a traditional Punch and Judy show. Finally, contemporary music will also be used to help highlight the modern themes in the play and help move the story along. "This isn't meant to be a definitive Shakespearean production," says Smythe. "But it will be a definitive Mum production."

Join Mum for Coffee and Conversation nights on Wednesdays, April 6th, 20th and 27th. These post-show discussions include refreshments provided by Whole Foods Market and feature scintillating discussions with some of the area's most vibrant professionals. The first Coffee and Conversation will be a Meet and Greet with the cast and creators of the show. Information on guest speakers for the other two evenings will be available at www.mumpuppet.org. Coffee and Conversation evenings are generously sponsored by Whole Foods Market.

Mum Puppettheatre makes art that moves, creating theatre beyond the scope of human actors, often without words. We integrate the plastic, visual and performing arts by creating stunning, emotionally compelling and breathtakingly beautiful theatre, using puppets, masks and the human body. Our mission is to collaborate with artists of all disciplines and backgrounds to explore the interdisciplinary nature of puppetry, and share the results with people of all ages, independent of language or culture, on stage, on tour and in the classroom.

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