College of Mount Saint Vincent Theater Company-in-Residence Red Monkey Theater Group Presents A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM in January 2013
12/5/2012
Riverdale, N.Y. – Following sold-out performances of Uncle Vanya and Dance in Call in Fall 2012, Red Monkey Theater Group (RMTG) continues residency at the Mount with four performances of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, directed by Tal Aviezer in the newly-renovated Cahill Theater on the University of Mount Saint Vincent campus in Riverdale. Performances run January 24 through January 27, Thursday through Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. Tickets are currently on sale at www.redmonkeytheater.org ($18 general, $15 students and seniors, free for University of Mount Saint Vincent students and staff with ID).
RMTG looks forward to re-igniting the campus’s Shakespearean legacy. The grounds of the College were once the estate of famed nineteenth-century Shakespearean actor Edwin Forrest, who constructed the now-landmarked Fonthill Castle to resemble Dunsinane, the home of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, one of the actor’s favorite roles. Fonthill Castle sits directly adjacent to the newly-renovated Cahill Theater, a venue ideally suited to the personal, thoughtful performance style and intimate staging that have long been RMTG hallmarks. Two Mount Saint Vincent students will be a part of the production, as members of the cast and crew.
While honoring Shakespearean tradition, RMTG Artistic Director Tal Aviezer says audiences can expect some very modern and irreverent comic surprises in this production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
“The human characters in this play are a mix of young lovers and eager actors,” he says. “I think audiences may recognizes themselves in these characters and the initial distractions they deal with early in the play; everything from intrusive smartphones to relationship drama to bossy co-workers. There are times when we’d all like to escape into a world of wild magic just as these characters do. Then again, be careful what you wish for, I suppose!”
Before arriving at Cahill Theater, two preview performances of A Midsummer Night’s Dream will be held at off-site locations. On January 12, RMTG presents its traditional free afternoon Shakespeare performance at 1:30 p.m. at St. Paul’s Church National Historic Site, 897 South Columbus Avenue in Mt. Vernon, N.Y. Another performance follows at 8 p.m. on Friday, January 18, presented by Fort Hill Players at Rochambeau School, 228 Fisher Avenue, White Plains, NY. RMTG will then return to Cahill Theater at the University of Mount Saint Vincent for performances between January 24 and January 27.
For more information about the University of Mount Saint Vincent, visit www.mountsaintvincent.edu.
For tickets, directions, and additional details, please visit www.redmonkeytheater.org.
About the University of Mount Saint Vincent
Founded by the Sisters of Charity of New York, the University of Mount Saint Vincent is an academically excellent, authentically inclusive, Catholic and ecumenical liberal arts college. The College combines a strong core curriculum with a full array of majors in the liberal arts and selected professional fields of study. The College offers a quality education to talented students without regard to financial background, by offering generous scholarships and institutional grants. Mount Saint Vincent is located on a pastoral waterfront campus in New York City, with easy access to all the cultural, educational and professional development opportunities that the city affords.