“Shakespeare is difficult because it sounds like a completely different language, and it’s much more sophisticated, and it’s not something the common era will understand,” said Avery Campbell, who played Flute/Thisby, 9th.

The theater department put on a production of William Shakespeare’s, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, November 12th, through November 14th. Their goal was to engage the audience with a modern day form of language to make the plot of the play more understandable.

“We made it easier to understand because we made our actions speak louder than words,” said Campbell.

The actions portrayed in the play helped communicate with the audience what was meant to be represented by Shakespearean language.

“I was proud of how the students performed, I felt like they did a good job of telling the story so whether you were familiar with Shakespeare, or new to it, you still understood what was going on throughout the play. Many of them [students] didn’t really understand what A Midsummer Night’s Dream was about, and so once we started breaking down the language and getting into what the story was, they realized it’s still a pretty common story today that happens today about teenagers falling in love, the confusion that can occur about she likes him and he likes her, and all the ensuing chaos that happens pretty much on the daily,” said Brandon Riley, Theatre Arts teacher, and director of the play.

Kohl Parker, who played the role of Lysander, 10th, explained how A Midsummer Night’s Dream was also a way to transition into Shakespeare’s work.

“I think A Midsummer is a really good gateway to Shakespeare, I’m really hoping that people see this and look more into Shakespeare,” said Parker.

Maria Pena, who played the part of Hermia, 12th, explains how the cast put a twist on the play by not taking a regular approach to the plot, by making it a more relatable high school environment.

“i just hope the audience enjoyed it overall, and just got a kick out of it,” said Pena.