Directed by James Yost, with student director Kayla Fowler, and written by William Shakespeare A Midsummers Night Dream is a play about fantasy, love, and mischief. Loyola students put on the play the weekend of November 1-4. Through the play, audience members follow eight main characters on a journey into the woods.

During Act I we see the first conflict of the fact Hermia (senior Emma Samuelson) is in love with Lysander (junior Marshall Tenzer) rather than Demetrius (junior Logan Aldrich), her betrothed. Hermia and Lysander run away into the woods so they can forever be together, not knowing that Helena (senior Eva Vitonavec) who is in love with Demetrius, has told him in order to win his favor.

While the four of them are in the woods, an acting troupe enters the area to rehearse their play. They troupe decides to put on the play Pyramus and Thisbe for the Duke (sophomore Griffin Snow) and Duchess’s (senior Clare McCabe) wedding. As they are in another part of woods practicing, Puck (junior Alexia Housakos) has put on spell on Bottom (junior Kameron Rojas-Schueneman) and has turned him into a donkey during a scene change.

When a Bottom re-enters, the scared troupe runs away leaving Bottom away in the company of the fairy queen Titania (junior Ryan Margaret Lee). While she was sleeping, her husband, Oberon (senior Chase Boerke) used a flower that would make her fall in love with whatever she saw next. While Bottom was singing she wakes up and falls immediately in love with Bottom, despite him being a donkey. Act II finishes up the story where everyone ends up in the right place with the right person.

The play had lots of excellent visuals and props the actors used to help the audience understand the story much better. The set was fairly simple but well used. There were silk ropes hanging from the ceiling of many different colors mainly used by the fairies to hide themselves.

The costumes and makeup were incredibly fitting for the characters. While the acting troupe had more plain makeup, the fairies had glitter and sparkles. The costumes were bright, creative, and eye capturing to the audience. For the sound was amazing with songs of with ukuleles and a feature of the song “Look What You Made Me Do.”

Overall the play was amazing. The actors were incredibly talented. The work put into the play took lots of time and it paid off. Plays written by Shakespeare are not easy memorized, but all four performances were flawless with acting, lights, sound all combining to make the play a success.

Even for some who might not understand the play at the beginning, one will by the end. Amazing job to the actors and actresses in the play.