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The Folger Spotlight

A Midsummer Night's Dream Set Design

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Set Designer Paige Hathaway previously designed Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead at the Folger, and returns this season with A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Learn more about her design for Shakespeare’s sylvan romance below.

From Paige –

My design process for the set of Midsummer started all the way back in May; I had a two minute conversation with our director Aaron Posner at the closing night party of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead and, if I recall correctly, Aaron said something to this effect: “I like flowers. I like the color blue. And, I like pillows.” I am amazed to think that we haven’t deviated much from those ideas in the eight months that followed!

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Initial Scenic Rendering for “Midsummer”.

In our further conversations, Aaron was adamant that the shape of the play needed to be determined largely by the actors, their instincts, and their distinct personalities – not by a literal concept. This freed me to explore more abstract ideas for the set. I didn’t feel bound to create an actual forest with actual trees or to create a set that reflects a specific place or time. I was inspired by paintings, sculpture, and installation artwork.

Initial Scenic Research for “Midsummer”.

The design feels minimal, whimsical, and charming. And, just as Aaron’s direction strives to surprise and amaze, the set also offers some surprises of its own!

Mechanicals and fairies perform on the set of "A Midsummer Night's Dream". Photo by Teresa Wood.

Mechanicals and fairies perform on the set of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”. Photo by Teresa Wood.

See Paige’s work onstage – A Midsummer Night’s Dream now extended through March 13! 

Folger Theatre

Folger Theatre is the vibrant center piece of the Folger’s public programs. With a focus on Shakespeare, Folger Theatre produces plays reflecting the breadth of the library’s peerless collection. In this unique setting, with collaborations between artists and experts, Folger Theatre produces innovative stagings that have been commended as “breathtakingly original...strikingly contemporary” (The Washington Post). Led since 1991 by Artistic Producer Janet Alexander Griffin, Folger Theatre has received 135 nominations and 23 Helen Hayes Awards for excellence in acting, direction, design, and production. During the recent seasons Folger Theatre has received the Outstanding Resident Play Award for its productions of Measure for Measure in 2007, Hamlet in 2011 and The Taming of the Shrew in 2013. Other highlights from Folger Theatre’s producing history include these Helen Hayes Award recipients or nominees for outstanding production: Romeo and Juliet (2013), Orestes: A Tragic Romp (2010), Henry VIII (2010), Arcadia (2009), Macbeth (2008), The Two Gentlemen of Verona (2006), Melissa Arctic (2006), She Stoops to Conquer (2002), Shakespeare’s R & J (2001), Much Ado About Nothing (1998), and Romeo and Juliet (1997). — View all posts by Folger Theatre