Shakespeare in the Park, Providence Style

“Awake the pert and nimble spirit of mirth,” Theseus urges at the start of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The Rhode Island Shakespeare Theatre (TRIST) intends to do just that, staging a rousing rendition of the popular comedy at the Roger Williams National Memorial this month. This production marks TRIST’s third at the park, the site of Roger Williams’ original settlement back in 1636. And though the Bard penned it some 40 years prior to even that date, the play’s sense of merriment remains as infectious as ever.

The plot of A Midsummer Night’s Dream sounds perplexing, but unfolds humorously and lyrically on stage. It involves a wedding between an Athenian duke and an Amazonian queen, a play-within-the-play by a troupe of amateur actors, and a tangled foursome of young lovers, all complicated by the supernatural presence of feuding forest fairies. Magic love potions go awry, mischief and mayhem ensue, and surprising couples meet in the moonlight. As the lad Lysander notes, “The course of true love never did run smooth.”

TRIST founder and artistic director Bob Colonna guides a talented cast of local actors, circus performers, theater students and children in creating the enchanted world of Midsummer. Geoff White plays the aforementioned Theseus, Duke of Athens, with Cherylee Dumas as his bride-to-be, Hippolyta. David Kane, Nicholas Thibeau, Lauren Ustaszewski and Vanessa Blanchette portray the young lovers. Lauren Annicelli and Christopher Ferreira take on the colorful roles of Titania and Oberon, rulers of the fairy kingdom. Others featured include Justin Paige as Bottom, one of the amateur thespians with a rude awakening in store, and Mark Carter as the fairy jester Puck.

Colonna founded TRIST in 1971, after staging a production of Twelfth Night for a youth arts center in Pawtucket. He recalls, “I was particularly excited about how much the young folks liked doing the material – which, of course, they had hated in school.” Building from that success, the company continued to captivate for the next 20 years. A few decades’ hiatus followed, but TRIST returned with a fun production of Henry VIII in 2010, and has been back in action ever since. Audiences can catch a new documentary film about TRIST, produced and directed by David Eliet, at the outdoor video kiosk at the Roger Williams Memorial during the half hour before each Midsummer performance.

Colonna, a veteran actor and director whose career includes over 5,000 radio commercials, first performed on stage with his famous father, the comedian Jerry Colonna. In directing TRIST shows, he credits the influence of his early days at Trinity Rep with Adrian Hall and Richard Jenkins. He explains, “I try very hard to make the shows as immediate and accessible – and entertaining – as possible. To connect with an American audience in 2013.”

Colonna considers Midsummer to be “the perfect outdoor Shakespeare,” with a script that is “funny, sexy, poetic and way charming.” While TRIST has tackled the work in years past, to great effect, audiences can expect this particular production to boast a specific Providence theme. Familiar characters range from Brown students to local politicians, city workers and the homeless. (“The latter group will constitute the fairies, by the way,” Colonna clarifies.)

Staging free, outdoor Shakespeare these days presents a unique set of challenges, including improvising costumes on a tight budget and anticipating problems of volume, traffic, sirens and even, as Colonna points out, “the occasional skateboarder or German Shepherd flying through the action.” But he and the rest of TRIST are ready and raring to go. So, as he suggests, “Bring blankets, beach chairs, picnics. Come early and sit up close.” Sounds like a dream of an evening. Thursday-Sunday at 8pm through June 16. Roger Williams National Memorial. 282 North Main Street. 331-6118.