[NoHo Arts District, CA] – This summer, the Kingsmen Shakespeare Company performs A Midsummer Night’s Dream, directed by Caitlin Arnd, under the stars to celebrate their 30th season!
The Kingsmen Shakespeare Company is dedicated to presenting professional programs and performances of the works of William Shakespeare for the education and entertainment of people of all ages.
About A Midsummer Night’s Dream
June 19- July 5
Puck, a mischievous fairy and jazz singer, invites us into a dream of the roaring, jazz-fueled world of 1920s Chicago. Duke Theseus, a high-powered mobster and owner of the speakeasy, Athen’s bar, is preparing to marry Hippolyta, a powerful bootlegger. Amidst the excitement of the upcoming nuptials, Egeus, Theseus’s wealthy associate, storms into the bar with a grievance.
He demands his daughter, Hermia, marry Demetrius, a slick, rising gangster. Hermia, however, is deeply in love with Lysander, a soulful jazz guitarist. Faced with the mob law—which dictates Hermia must either obey her father, face a life locked away in a convent, or execution—she and Lysander plot a midnight escape. They plan to flee past the city limits through the dense, shadowed woods surrounding Lake Michigan. Hermia confides this plan in her friend, Helena, who is desperately in love with Demetrius. Eager to win back his favor, Helena tips off Demetrius, and the four star-crossed youths plunge into the moonlit Chicago woods.
Unbeknownst to them, the forest is full of magical beings. Oberon, the King of the Fairies, is locked in a fierce battle with his queen, Titania, over a prized orphan boy he wants as his henchmen. Seeking to distract her, Oberon asks Puck to find a rare, exotic flower. When the juice of the flower is dripped into a sleeping person’s eyes, it makes them fall madly in love with the first creature they see.
Meanwhile, a ragtag group of working-class amateur actors – the “Mechanicals,” led by a former leading man named Bottom – gather in the same woods to rehearse a play for Theseus’s wedding.
Puck’s mischief quickly spins the night into utter chaos. Instructed by Oberon to fix the mortal lovers’ unrequited dynamic, Puck mistakenly douses Lysander’s eyes instead of Demetrius’s. Lysander wakes up, catches sight of Helena, and instantly abandons Hermia. Trying to correct the mistake, Puck douses Demetrius too. Suddenly, both men are aggressively pursuing a bewildered Helena, leaving Hermia heartbroken and furious.
Nearby, Puck stumbles upon the amateur actors. For a laugh, she transforms Bottom’s head into that of a donkey. When Titania wakes up under the influence of the love potion, the first thing she sees is the monstrous Bottom. Blinded by the magic, the elegant queen woos the clueless clown, pampering him with luxury.
Amused but satisfied that Titania has been sufficiently humiliated and manipulated into surrendering the orphan boy, Oberon orders Puck to lift the spells. Puck isolates the exhausting mortal lovers, applies the antidote to Lysander, and restores Bottom to his human form.
As dawn breaks over Lake Michigan, Duke Theseus finds the lovers sleeping in the grass. The lovers wake up to find themselves perfectly coupled, Lysander in love with Hermia and Demetrius in love with Helena. Theseus overrules Egeus’s demands, ordering a triple wedding back in the city. After their weddings, Bottom and his crew provide entertainment by performing their hilariously awful play at the speakeasy. As the lights go down on the roaring 20s, Puck reminds the audience that this was nothing more than a jazz-fueled dream.
Caitlin V. Arndt – Director’s Note
A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a hilarious, thoughtful, wild ride that has long captivated audiences young and old alike. As a longtime Shakespearean artist and educator, to say I’ve run into this play quite a few times would be an understatement. As an audience member, I watched this play for the first time in this very park at seven years old; Kingsmen’s first show. I was mesmerized by the show’s enchantment under the stars. As an actor, I performed in Midsummer both for kids and adults. I relished in their laughter and understanding of a 400-year-old text. As a theatre teacher, I’ve directed many children of all ages in this play. I cherished the moment the language and context clicked for a student.
In all of these ways of interacting with Midsummer, I’ve seen the power this play has. It translates from the page to the stage better than many of Shakespeare’s other works. The magic of the fairies feels real, the comedy of the mechanicals always delights and the mayhem of the lovers’ feelings, despite the circumstances, is all too familiar. This is the play that makes people fall in love with Shakespeare. It was important to me to have a fresh take on a classic, something that felt exciting and new. I wanted an exhilarating environment to match the fun of the play and the 1920s jazz age felt perfect.
Jazz music is unpredictable, highly expressive and driven by a thematic pulse. A Midsummer Night’s Dream is very much the same. It is a story of love and magic that drops us in unexpected places but arrives precisely where we want it to. Our production feels like a story conjured from a piece of jazz music, sung by our storyteller, Puck. Puck has always been my favorite character: A mischievous, joyous thread of a character woven throughout the tapestry of the play. Puck weaves through each group of characters, causing chaos and resolve, joy and heartbreak, unintentionally invoking growth in each of them. We invite you on a journey to forget the heaviness of the real world and allow yourself to experience magic. As I often remind myself, sometimes it’s okay to give in to the music and have a little fun.
Where:
California Lutheran University
60 W Olsen Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91360
When:
June 19-21, 26-28 and July 2,3, 5, 2026
Friday-Sunday, 8:00 p.m. – Park opens at 5:30pm
Tickets:
https://ci.ovationtix.com/35972/production/1268535
Stay tuned for Hamlet
Directed by Michael J. Arndt
July 10-12, 17-19 and 24-26, 2026
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About The Kingsmen Shakespeare Company
In 1997, a collaboration between Santa Susana Repertory Theatre Company and the Drama Department at California Lutheran University produced the first Kingsmen Shakespeare Festival in Kingsmen Park on the campus of California Lutheran University. The first Festival featured a three-weekend run of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The Festival was offered “free” to the public. Due to the success of that first Festival, the Kingsmen Shakespeare Company was formed as a not-for-profit professional theatre organization. KSC holds special contracts with Actors Equity Association (AEA) and is a member of the Shakespeare Theatre Association of America (STAA).
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