I directed "A Midsummer Night's Dream" this Spring. The cast was made up of my Shakespeare students with the addition of their younger siblings as fairies and mischievous wood elves (the boys didn't like being called fairies... and who can blame them?) I can't adequately express how amazed I am at the talents of such young people, except to say that they are all such incredible scholars, dedicated to knowledge, learning, truth, and developing their minds and talents. They are all homeschooled children (ages 12 - 15) who meet together once a week (and have parties every other day, it seems) for scholar projects. Shakespeare is only one of the projects... and I can say that my cast (students) was so well versed in their Shakespeare because of spending so much time in the Fall reading, listening to, and watching Shakespeare. Half of my students experienced at least 17 of Shakespeare's works during a 3 month period, which is amazing. All of my students experienced at least 7 of his works, and a few did upwards of 30! Anyway - here's some pics taken at a dress rehearsal. Unfortunately, the flash kills the lighting, but allows us to see the actors more clearly. The pictures don't do the staging justice. It was a beautiful set.
The Duke calls for plays & masques to be performed to celebrate his nuptials.
Thisbe didn't even need to speak in order to get laughs.
Puck & Oberon
My cute fairies & woodland sprites. My Dallen is far left, and Noah is far right.
Cody (Starveling) playing Moonshine. Know what happens when you say
you don't want a speaking part in MY play?
You get THREE speaking parts!
The cutest Snug the joiner/Lion EVER!
You should hear his ROAR!!!!!!!
My Emily made a beautiful fairy!
Aubrey had a lead role as Helena! She is a great little actress.
She'd have to be to turn down such a handsome Lysander~
Cody as Egeus! I'm sorry, but I laughed EVERY SINGLE TIME he walked on stage in this.
I even got him to say "Bah, Humbug!" once.
As you can see, we had a VERY fun time. I have a million more photos. I'll post more later. My kids are already begging me to direct another show. I'm thinking about doing something for the younger kids over the summer.
Here's our little Nathan, checking out the birthday goods!
Yes! I AM the birthday boy!
Off to Laser Tag and Harry Potter movie! Birthday w/the bros!
Noah LOVE his Jar-Jar Binks doll. Brandon loved the Jar-Jar Binks kisses!
Checking out the loot they brought back from Laser Mania! 
Whoot! It was an awesome day!
Whoot! It was an awesome day!
