Offshoot Productions

will present William Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream"

this summer at Sams Auditorium. It is the second Shakespearean show the

company has produced.

Offshoot presented

"Twelfth Night" at the Lafayette Educational Center in early

2001 and fell in love with the beauty of the language and the joy of presenting

the show. Both plays are two of Shakespeare's better known comedies and

are very popular with audiences, but Shakespeare's shows are a rarity

on the southside.

Newnan Community

Theatre has performed "A Winter's Tale," House Red Theatre Company

has performed selected scenes from a number of Shakespeare shows with

their show "A Midwinter's Madness" and students all over the

county have to read some Shakespearean works and yet most theater companies

find that it is a challenge to get audiences in the seats (or think it

will be a challenge) when it comes to Shakespeare.

"The best

gift one can give local audiences is a balance between familiar and popular

shows and new, challenging shows," said Offshoot's artistic director

Susan Steadman. Steadman has witnessed the power of Shakespeare over her

cast of "Twelfth Night." While some of the actors were familiar

with performing Shakespeare, newcomers got an immense rush from discovering

they understood what their characters strange words meant and what motivated

them.

Steadman's

cast for "A Midsummer Night's Dream" is a mix of professional

actors and apprentices. Many of the professional actors had been in the

show before but wanted to do it again and play a different part. Jason

Vaughn, who recently appeared in "Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz"

and has taught several classes will play Bottom in this production, while

Jen King has been in several productions for Offshoot and participated

in theater for close to 12 years but has never done Shakespeare before.

Offshoot will

also offer two one week Shakespeare camps between the opening and closing

of "A Midsummer Night's Dream." The camps will focus on the

comedies and the campers will learn not to be intimidated by the language.

They will learn the difference between studying Shakespeare from a literary

standpoint, like they do in school, and looking at it from a stage work

level. The camps will also learn about the manners and the social classes

and interaction of the time.

Offshoot is

going all out for this summer's production. They will stage the show in

Sams Auditorium July 12-28 and will set the play in Athenian times. There

is a lot of action and comedy in the show and Steadman believes that the

actors and the audience will have a lot to sink their teeth into.

The group is

already facing some challenges, including the need of a costumer. If you

are interested in helping out or would like to learn more about Offshoot

or the show, phone 770-631-2362 or visit www.offshootproductions.org .

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