A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Ramo: Shakespeare with Heart and Laughter

On May 1, 2, and 3, Caltech EXPLiCIT brought another Shakespeare classic to the Ramo Auditorium stage: A Midsummer Night’s Dream. It’s always a pleasure to watch this play, no matter how many versions you’ve already seen. EXPLiCIT is made up of bright, fresh minds with a real interest in art and culture, and that spirit shapes both how they perform and how we receive them.

For anyone who doesn’t know the play, Shakespeare weaves together three storylines in Elizabethan style: the Athenian nobles, the rustic craftsmen, and the fairies of the forest. Duke Theseus is preparing to marry Hippolyta, queen of the Amazons, when Egeus drags his daughter Hermia into court, demanding she marry Demetrius, even though she loves Lysander. Hermia and Lysander run away into the woods. Helena, who is in love with Demetrius, betrays the plan and follows them. In the forest, the fairy king Oberon and his servant Puck meddle with a magical flower that makes sleepers fall in love with the first thing they see when they wake up. Predictably, things go gloriously wrong. Meanwhile, a troupe of amateur craftsmen rehearses a play for the Duke’s wedding and gets pulled into the chaos too. By dawn, the spells are undone, the lovers are paired correctly, and Athens celebrates with a triple wedding, capped off by the craftsmen’s hilariously botched performance of Pyramus and Thisbe.

The cast, from left to right: Max Gorbachev, Jonathan Chhang, Jedidiah (Jedi) Alindogan, Emily Shi, Dylan King, Kayane K. Dingilian, Tina Li, Shalev Sivan Shwartz, Sara Magdalena Gomez, Solvin Sigurdson, Todd Brun, Frank Aragon, Eitan Levin, Grace Davis, Miranda Stuart, Damian R. Wilson, Arabella Camuñez, AwenRose Miller, Cara King, K. Zachary Abbott, Ankan Mukherjee, Tiffany Kim, and Christopher Girt. (Photo: Raquel Maldonado)

The cast is large, and the production leans into the play’s comedy. Dylan King brings an elegant, noble bearing to Theseus, and Arabella Camuñez (ChemE ‘27, Venerable) is dignified and lovely as Hippolyta. Cara King plays Egeus as a tyrannical, self-serving father, and brings a sharp authority to the part. Grace Davis (Ch ‘27, Venerable) gives Hermia an intense, earnest center, and Max Gorbachev — who also directs — is passionate and romantic as Lysander. The real comic engine of the lovers’ plotline, though, comes from Damian R. Wilson (Ph ‘27, Dabney) and Miranda Stuart (‘05-08, Dabney) as Demetrius and Helena. Their chemistry is wonderfully natural and authentic. Wilson, who is also one of the producers, is clumsy and bewildered, Stuart is funny and impulsive, and their scenes drew the warmest laughs of the afternoon. AwenRose Miller rounds out the Athenian court as Philostrate.

In the fairy world, Oberon — portrayed by Solvin Sigurdson (CDS G3) is intriguing and a little menacing, just as he should be. Todd Brun’s Puck holds the stage with the kind of ease that only comes from real experience. Sara Magdalena Gomez (APh G1) brings freshness and beauty to Titania, and her four fairies, Kayane K. Dingilian as Mote, Tina Li as Peaseblossom, Emily Shi (Ch G2) as Cobweb, and Jedidiah (Jedi) Alindogan (CDS G3) as Mustardseed, each find small, distinct touches in their parts. Jonathan Chhang appears as Ophrys, and Shalev Sivan Shwartz, a third-grader making his theater debut, is sweetly memorable as the Indian Boy at the center of Oberon and Titania’s quarrel.

The Indian Boy (Shalev Sivan Shwartz) is carried ceremoniously onstage, with fairy, musical, and bubble accompaniment. (Photo: EXPLiCIT)

The mechanicals are, as always, in Midsummer, where a lot of the joy lives. Ankan Mukherjee (also one of the producers and EXPLiCIT’s president) is hilarious as the bossy, self-important Peter Quince. Frank Aragon is a delightfully warm and big-hearted Bottom. Christopher Girt brings real comic timing to Flute; Tiffany Kim is endearingly anxious as Snug; K. Zachary Abbott is shy and sweet as Snout (and his Wall, in the play within the play, is a particular treat); and Eitan Levin is gentle and understated as Starveling. Their Pyramus and Thisbe is a small triumph of orchestrated chaos.

Gorbachev’s direction leans firmly into humor and well-staged comic moments, which suits both the play and the company. Linda Muggeridge’s costumes, Elena Scire’s set, and Finn Swanson’s lighting all serve the story without getting in its way, letting the language and the performances breathe. This is a student and community production, and its real currency is heart, not spectacle, and it has in abundance.

In the end, Puck leaves us with a question: was it all just a dream? For a quiet Sunday afternoon, EXPLiCIT gave us something better than a dream. They gave us a generous, laughter-filled few hours of shared joy. Congratulations to the entire cast, to Gorbachev for his direction, and to producers Mukherjee and Wilson for making it happen. As Shakespeare wrote in The Tempest, “we are such stuff as dreams are made on.” Keep dreaming on our behalf.