As spring break came to a close, those working on this year’s play had to kick it into high gear as April 4-6, the dates for the performance, grew closer and closer.

The play is “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” by William Shakespeare but with a steampunk twist made apparent through the cogs and gears adorned across the stage and jammed into the moon attached to the ceiling. The play follows the story of four lovers as they fight for each others affection.

Andrew Messina, sophomore, plays the role of Demetrius, one of the four lovers, in the play. He said while he has been a part of theater productions before, this is his first year being part of the spring play.

“Last year, the play seemed like it was so much fun,” Messina said. “To have the chance to experience that same amount of fun is something I’m grateful for.”

Along with giving him time to have fun, Messina said Spring Break gave him a chance to memorize his lines.

“I went over my script for 30 minutes to an hour almost everyday,” Messina said. “It offered a great opportunity for me to really develop my character’s personality.”

He said that while he could practice his lines, he lost the ability to work on blocking, or how he should move on stage.

“It affected me when we had to be off book because I was so focused on blocking that I would sometimes forget a line or two,” Messina said.  

Jack Cunningham, senior, is the stage manager for the production. He has been part of the spring play for all four years and said the play is usually soon after the end of break.

“At this point, we’re used to it,” Cunningham said. “I have found my ways to talk to people and make sure they are doing their job even when we have break.”

One of Cunningham’s jobs is to make sure everyone has their lines memorized, which he said was especially important this year because the play is by Shakespeare.

While others were practicing lines, Cunningham was working on setting up the stage. He said he has enjoyed setting up the steampunk theme decided by the director of the play, Rebecca Blindauer, because it adds a nice twist to the play.

“Whenever you think of ‘Midsummer Night’s Dream,’ you always think of these wooded areas, but with the steampunk theme, there is a nice rusty and metal feel to it,” Cunningham said.

Rebecca Blindauer said having the break so close to the play can lead to some complications.

“Spring break never falls at a great time,” Blindauer said. “It makes us have to do so much planning and prep work to put us in good shape before we perform.”

Some of that preparation work was special to this year’s show. Because it is a Shakespearean play, Blindauer decided that for the first four weeks of practice, students would study other works by Shakespeare to grow their understanding of his writing style.

“Shakespeare is like a foreign language,” Blindauer said. “If you don’t understand what it is saying, your audience will never understand.”

Blindauer added that while she was nervous at first to use so much practice time at the start of the year, it ended up working out.

“We put in lots of time at the beginning on that so everything else has gone really smoothly,” Blindauer said.

She said even though there are time constraints, everyone working on the play is prepared.

“It’s so weird for me to feel so calm a week before we open,” Blindauer said. “I feel like they’ve worked really really hard and they have put in a lot of time, effort and work.”