ATHENS — When Dr. Gabriel Rieger came to Concord University as a literature professor just over two years ago, his passionate dream was to bring a Shakespeare festival to the “Campus Beautiful.”

This weekend, thanks to the hard work of Rieger, Director Erin Bone Steele and many others, that dream will become a reality when the first annual installment of the Appalachian Shakespeare Project brings a bit of the great English artist's work to the Mercer County community. Fittingly, the play that will be performed for the public at the CU gazebo tonight through Sunday will be the legendary playwright's beloved “A Midsummer Night's Dream.”

“When I interviewed for this position, they asked me what kind of contribution I would make to Concord, and I knew from the university's mission that one of the objectives is to help meet the economic and cultural needs of the southern West Virginia community,” said Rieger. “To my mind, that meant that we needed a Shakespeare festival here, and I wanted very much to start one. I've been involved in projects like this elsewhere, and it's always a lot of fun.”

After two years of preparation work to get that ambitious project off the ground, Rieger and Steele, an Athens native currently pursuing a PhD in theater history at the University of Maryland, came together in early June with a group of Concord students and faculty, local secondary school students and community members to begin rehearsals. It was then that they truly began to see the play they say was the easy choice for their first Appalachian Shakespeare Project performance come together.

“When Erin and I began working on this together, I think we both had 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' in mind for this year,” said Rieger. “We chose it in part because it's familiar, and the language in it just sparkles. It has such engaging characters, and it's such a fun play. Plus, the rhyme scheme is rigid and it makes the lines a little easier to remember, which was helpful in working with a non-professional cast as we are.”

In fact, giving amateur and even beginner actors an opportunity to perform, according to Steele, was a major goal of the project from the very start.

“We had people turn in applications to get into the play, rather than a traditional audition, because we wanted to give people who had never done anything like this before the opportunity to do it,” she said.

The result was an eclectic group of performers from all different backgrounds and experience levels, uniting to present their very own version of Shakespeare on the Concord campus.

“I decided to do this play in order to learn more about Shakespeare, because, honestly, before I started this I wasn't really a fan of his,” said CU English Literature and Philosophy major George Williams. “In doing this play, though, I've been so surprised at how funny he is. You can read Shakespeare all you want, but before you perform it, you'll never realize how funny it is; there's almost something humorous in every line.”

That levity is one of the aspects of this weekend's performances that Rieger expects audiences will find most appealing. Everything about the play and his theater group's performance of it, he says, will bring attendees up-close-and-personal in a way they've likely never been with the work of a playwright who is commonly deemed difficult to understand.

“This is going to be Shakespeare like I suspect you've never seen it, and a chance to experience his play like it's never taught in high school,” he said. “Actually, our performance philosophy is very close to Shakespeare's original way of doing his plays with his King's Men performers, with the way we improvise most of our costumes and interact so much with the audience. We're right outside here in nature, and a lot of the barriers present in a theater, we've sort of negated.”

Steele agrees.

“When you bring an audience to an outdoor space like this, it really changes how the relationship between performers and audience works,” she said. “You don't get the same thing in a traditional theater, behind the curtain and with the special lighting. This brings everyone together so much more and makes it more casual and accessible for the crowd.”

With the Appalachian Shakespeare Project, that casual atmosphere will extend even beyond the performance. Admission to the outdoor performance is on a donation, pay-what-you-can basis (with a suggested adult price of $5), and Steele is encouraging attendees to come early with a picnic dinner to enjoy before the show for a truly family fun night experience.

“We don't want to turn anyone away, and we're really hoping to make this an annual event, something that the community looks forward to and has a lot of fun at,” she said. “People can bring their picnic blankets and camp chairs and just have a picnic out here, and we'll have a tent in case of rain. It should be very casual and just a lot of fun.”

That fun will be enhanced, according to Rieger, by the talent and acting abilities of the project's amateur cast. This weekend, those able actors will put seven grueling weeks of rehearsals to good use as they work to not only share Shakespeare's genius with their audience, but also to truly bring “A Midsummer Night's Dream” to life.

The plot of the 400-year-old comedic play focuses on the misadventures of two young couples, a troupe of Athenian craftspeople and the king and queen of the fairies, who all find themselves in the forest during an enchanted midsummer's night.

“We have a wonderful, dedicated group here, and they've overcome any and all of the challenges that have been thrown at them throughout this process,” said Rieger, who is experiencing Shakespeare as an actor for the first time after years of studying, teaching and writing about his work. “I've been pleasantly surprised at how well our timing has come together; we give each other cues and play off each other so well. I think this is going to be a great ensemble piece, really funny and bringing this play to life in a way that will make so much sense to the audience.”

Again, Steele agreed.

“We're so excited to bring this performance to the community, and we are just hoping that many people will come out, take part, and really enjoy themselves this weekend,” she said.

“A Midsummer Night's Dream” performances will take place tonight (July 23), July 24, and July 25 at the CU gazebo, near the university's student center. Performances will begin at 6:30, but attendees are encouraged to come early with picnic dinners. Bring your lawn chairs.

For more information, call Steele at (240) 432-5058.

— Contact

CharLy Markwart at cmarkwart@ptonline.net.