Midsummer Night's Music
Director's Notes
Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night's Dream owes its enduring popularity to Shakespeare’s genius and to its multi-layered, comic plot, with characters and situations to appeal to everyone. Our adaptation uses the essential parts of the play, combined with the light and elegant music of British composer, Henry Purcell, who lived from 1659-1695, nearly 100 years after Shakespeare (1564-1616). Purcell frequently composed music for the theatre, and composed two semi-operas based on Shakespeare: The Tempest, and The Fairy-Queen, adapted from A Midsummer Night's Dream. Purcell’s own sense of comedy shines through not only in the solo songs, but in his humorous “catches,” or rounds.
The full play has twenty-one named characters and other various attendants; here, with apologies to the Bard, we have pared it down to nine, focusing on two groups of characters, the rustics and the fairies. The rustics, or “rude mechanicals,” are tradesmen who, despite their lack of formal training, believe that they can put on a play to please the Duke of Athens on his wedding day. The king and queen of the fairies, Oberon and Titania, are in the midst one of their marital arguments, into which they drag their respective courts, including the mischievous sprite Puck, who lives to create as much havoc as possible. When the rustics meet to rehearse their play in the fairies’ forest, Puck can’t resist making trouble.
Our adaptation concerns a group of actors rehearsing scenes from A Midsummer Night's Dream, so when we see the Shakespeare characters, they are in a play within a play. There is also a bit of a play within a play within a play as the rustics rehearse their play, Pyramus and Thisbe!
We hope that you will be entertained by the beautiful music and classic comedy. There is no reason for younger viewers to feel intimidated by Shakespeare because of the archaic language—you may not understand every word, but seeing the dialogue performed out loud gives it context that is not available when reading from the page. For more context, you can read this scene-by-scene summary of the full play: http://www.shakespeare-online.com/plots/midsps.html The material we are using for this production is drawn from Act I, Scene 2; Act II, Scenes 1-2; Act III, Scene 1; and Act IV, Scenes 1-2.
Performer Bios
Chad Fontenot (Arthur) Receiving his associate's of music and film from San Jacinto College in Houston, Texas, Chad is a transfer student majoring in Acting/Directing with a minor in dance. He wants to wish everyone a good show!
Anastacia Islas (Sally/Snug) is a Theatre Major here at TAMU-CC and is a senior. She has been featured as the Director of “Our Lady of the Tortilla” in the 2019 40-minute play festival and in “References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot” in the 2018 Capstone festival. This is her first year participating in the Opera Workshop and she is very grateful to her professors and family for all of their support.
Joy Puumala (Emily/Quince) is a soprano voice major in her third year at Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi. Last year, Joy enrolled in Opera Workshop both semesters and performed in Pinstripe Harry's Tea Room Cabaret and Pinocchio with leading roles. She is a voice student of Dr. Ellen Denham. Her goals are to graduate from TAMU-CC with Honors and become a recording artist. She loves to write songs and sing all day. She currently performs with the University Singers choir as well as playing baritone saxophone with the Islander Jazz Band.
Sinéad Villarreal (Lavinia/Flute) is a voice major in her third year at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. She previously made her opera debut in the Pinocchio production. She is a voice student of Dr. Hope Thacker, she also performs with Camerata Isla, and University Singers directed by Dr. Ross Bernhardt, and is also a part of the choir at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church, under the direction of Dr. Meaghan King.
Dr. Ellen Denham (Director) joined the music faculty at Texas A&M Corpus Christi in 2017. Praised for her interpretive skills, clear tone, and effortless ornamentation, Denham is equally comfortable on the opera and musical theatre stage, as a concert soloist, and in multi-disciplinary, collaborative, and improvised works. Previous productions she has directed at TAMU-CC include Pinocchio, Pinstripe Harry's Tea Room Cabaret, for which she also wrote an original libretto, An Evening with Amadeus, and Hansel and Gretel. This January, she will be presenting her work on "Challenges and Solutions for the Developing Collegiate Opera Program" at the National Opera Association National Conference. She holds a DMA from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, a MM from New England Conservatory, and a BM from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts.
Dr. Sangmi Lim (Collaborative Pianist) is an active performer, appearing frequently as a soloist, chamber musician and collaborative pianist. She has performed in Republic of Korea, Japan, Italy, Bosnia and Herzegovina and throughout the United States. She earned her B.M. and M.M. in Piano Performance from Ewha Womans University in Korea and also M.M. in Collaborative Piano and D.M.A. in Piano Performance from Michigan State University. Currently, Dr. Lim teaches at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi and at New England Music Camp. Additionally, Dr. Lim is a co-director of the Piano Celebration Week at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi.
Renee Perez (Stage Manager/Production Assistant) is from Pleasanton, Texas. She is a senior Psychology major at TAMUCC and will be graduating this December. During her time at TAMU-CC, she spent 1 semester is a performer in Opera Workshop for the production Pirates of Penzance and 2 semesters as stage manager. She also played saxophone is the Islander Jazz band for 5 years, Symphonic Winds for 4 years, and Islander Pep Band for 3 years. She is also an alumnae sister and the former editor of Sigma Alpha Iota.
Opera Friends
Our opera performances would not be possible without our friends in the Department of Theatre and Dance, for lending us costume and set items, Silas Breaux, who built two of our rolling frames, and several neighbors who donated corrugated cardboard. Our students are also talented visual artists/crafters and are responsible for many of our costume and set items. We could always use more friends! We are particularly looking for donors to sponsor our season or our student opera company, so that we can continue to grow and make opera available to audiences in Corpus Christi and beyond. Contact Ellen Denham at ellen.denham@tamucc.edu. Also, we would love to be your friend on Facebook!