FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 20, 2014
Contact:
Mary Riley, Producing Artistic Director, 347-665-8067,
mriley@merciaentertainment.org
Mercia Entertainment
proudly presents the
Spontaneous Shakespeare Players
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Directed by Mary Riley
Sat., June 28th @ 2:00pm
Sun., June 29th @ 2:00pm
Much Ado About Nothing
Directed by Christine A. Kahler
Sat., July 5th @ 2:00pm
Sun., July 6th @ 2:00pm
Central Park’s Summit Rock (approx. 83rd St. directly off of Central Park West)
This June & July, Spontaneous Shakespeare Players (“SSP”) are back to bring the Bard's A Midsummer Night’s Dream
and Much Ado About Nothing to New York City—the way Shakespeare’s own players performed it.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Much Ado About Nothing marks the sixth annual FREE Shakespeare productions
that SSP has shared with New York audiences at Central Park's Summit Rock and the second year of being produced by
Mercia Entertainment. Dedicated to bringing the Shakespeare of olden times to modern audiences, SSP uses original
Elizabethan performance techniques—involving audience interaction, cue scripts-in-hand and LOTS of spontaneity—to
bring Shakespeare's words to life in a thrilling and hilarious way. This is seriously entertaining Shakespeare, the like of
which you have never seen before, performed by actors trained in Original Practice rehearsal techniques. A Midsummer
Night’s Dream and Much Ado About Nothing will be performed outdoors for FREE, so pack your picnic blankets and
Central Park friendly lunches. It’s fun for the whole family!
Written around 1598, William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing is about a young woman wrongly accused of
being unchaste who is later reconciled with her accusing lover. It is also about a second couple – two witty, bright
individuals who swear they will never fall in love.
Girl meets boy. Girl falls in love with boy. Girl loses boy when mischievous fairy sprinkles love "juice" on boy's eyelids,
making him fall for another girl. Girl wins boy back (with the help of a little fairy magic). No, it's not the latest romantic
comedy to hit theaters near you; it's a play that was dreamed up by William Shakespeare toward the end of the 16th
century. Like the modern-day romantic comedy genre it's helped to shape and influence, A Midsummer Night's Dream
features young lovers who fall comically in and out of love in a ridiculously brief period of time (over the course of a
single, enchanted midsummer night).
Watch our bold and magnificent actors perform the First Folio Style with cue scripts in hand, all while interacting and
entertaining the audience in ways you could never have imagined. Shakespeare should always be this fun!
DETAILS: Free admission; no tickets required.
We strongly encourage you to bring blankets, cushions or chairs for picnic style seating.
Location: Central Park’s Summit Rock
(approx. 83rd St. directly off of Central Park West)
Subway Information: Take the B or C train to the 86st St.
stop.
Enter at 85st St. and follow the hill up to the right.
http://www.centralpark.com/pages/maps.html
Running Times: Midsummer runs approximately 90
minutes with no intermission. Much Ado runs
approximately 2.5 hours with 1 intermission
MerciaEntertainment.org/Spontaneousshakespeare.org
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