Milken high school students had the pleasure of performing and watching the magic-filled Shakespearean play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, in the middle of November. During the performances, Milken’s theater consistently filled with eruptions of laughter and applause from an overjoyed audience, indicating to everyone who witnessed or was involved in the show, that it was a huge success. The performance lasted about an hour and contained multiple storylines, from fairies getting involved in lovestruck royals to a traveling theater group to feuding mythical creatures. The narrative covers these plotlines that occasionally overlap, filling the show with comedic acts of an engaging tale, and Milken’s version made it come alive with verve and joy.
The play took on a theme of a 1960’s Los Angeles canyon, making the costumes consist of lavish hippie and formal dress, while the set remained mystical and eerie. The fairies’ attire consisted of flowy flower-decorated clothes that highlighted their tinted hippie glasses, and the royals wore classic 1960’s traditional, more modest clothes. This made it strikingly unique compared to past Milken productions, as instead of having the theme embrace Shakespeares’ era, it embodied the iconic 1960s aesthetics, feeling, and music.
This is Milken’s first time – or at least in the past few years – branching out from using the original time period of a production, with Mamma Mia, Romeo and Juliet, and Les Miserables, among others, staying within their bounds of time, setting A Midsummer Night’s Dream apart from recent Milken shows. Sarah Figoten, director of the show and a performing arts teacher at Milken, conceived of this change. She stated, “I was really proud of the collaboration between me and the other designers. It’s a big visual show and [it was] taking [a] risk [to] set it in that time period, but it was fun for me to do the work, and my students were very enthusiastic
through the whole process.”
The play starred…as…
Characters stood out, including Puck, the mischievous and menacing fairy, performed by Meira F. (‘26), Hermia, a smitten royal, played by Abigail G. (‘27), and Helena, a comedic and lovestruck royal portrayed by Dorothy V. (‘28). All of the characters in particular shaped the play to be lively, engaging, and amusing. Both Abigail and Dorothy displayed their characters with drastic enunciation and body language, perfectly fitting for the way their characters were written. At the same time, Meira fittingly represented her mischievous character by projecting her voice in a sinister manner, while also using her entire body to appear very troublesome, just as Puck is.
The show used Shakespearean language, and the witty speech made it quite humorous and widely enjoyed throughout the Milken community. Some students found it hard to follow the Elizabethan language, but all those leaving the theater did so with admiration for the production. “I really enjoyed it, especially because some of my friends were in it. It made me laugh really hard and it overall brightened my day,” Lilly E. (‘27) said, expressing her enthusiasm after watching the performance.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Milken’s first production of the year, sets the bar very high—a great sign for the following productions to come.