Annabel Pyne
Student Life Editor
ESU’s Theater Department tackled a classic this year, and opened its 2026-2027 season with “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” On Oct. 22, the department opened their play for their five performances including one they held for a high school with a talkback session.
“I thought the cast and crew did a great job bringing everything together, especially with the acting, set design, and costumes. All three really helped capture the overall feel of the story and made the whole experience more immersive,” Timothy Wenrich, a marketing and digital media technology major, said.
ESU’s design crew created a two-story set and all of the costumes worn by the characters on stage. The fairies all had bells on their costumes that jingled every time they moved. The tech crew played ambient music with the occasional laughing of the fairies in the forest.
Alli Wright, who played a fairy named Cobweb, also did the makeup for the show. She helped with the basic makeup of some of the normal humans, including the four lovers, and she designed the makeup for the fairies who had colorful eyeshadow and more elaborate designs.
“The process was so much fun and I loved getting to do the makeup on top of being in the cast. My favorite part was being able to play around with the mannerisms of a character that isn’t human,” said Wright.
The Theater department chose this show because of its large ensemble cast as it is an incredible opportunity for many students to train in the more professional context of college-level theater, according to Jason Narvy, the director. After being asked to pick a favorite part, he admitted:
“The play within the play is always a favorite. It’s meta-theater before meta-theater was a thing and it makes fun of itself.”
From “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” they move on to their spring musical, “The Addams Family”, directed by Emmy Levine, a theater professor at ESU. Anyone who wants to audition is welcome to, and there is no limit based on major. If interested, auditions are on Nov. 16-18. For more information, visit their Instagram page: