A pop-rock Midsummer Night's Dream at City Theatre

If you have been looking for a way to get Shakespeare into your summer without the usual stuffiness, City Theatre Austin has a version that is hard to ignore. Their production of A Midsummer Night's Dream is part of the company's 20th anniversary season, and it is not your typical staging: the verse is set to a soundtrack of pop and rock anthems from the last century, with songs from Taylor Swift, Alanis Morissette, The Mamas & the Papas, and Starship woven into the story. It is a high-energy musical reimagining that runs through August 9, and with the 20th anniversary attached, it is a nice moment to catch a company that has been going since 2006.

The plot follows the four threads you will recognize from the play: the marriage of the Duke of Athens and the Amazon queen, the feud between the King and Queen of the Fairies, the love and madness of four young lovers, and the bumbling group of actors putting together a play for the wedding. Guest director Adam Adolfo also adapted the script and handled the costumes, so the look and the pacing are tied together. The cast is a large one, with Jenna Clayborn as Bottom, Juni Nguyen as Titania, Sue Breland as Quince, Sydney Crowe as Hermia, Allison Fifield as Helena, and Taylor Lueckenotte as Puck, among many others.

Practical details are worth knowing before you go. The show runs at the Genesis Creative Collective, at 1507 Wilshire Blvd., and it is about two and a half hours with an intermission. Performances are Thursday through Saturday at 8:00 pm and Sundays at 3:00 pm, so there is a weekend matinee if that fits your schedule better. Tickets run from $20 to $35, with a $20 Thursday special and discounts for groups, seniors, and students, and you can buy them at citytheatreaustin.org. The box office opens an hour before showtime, seating begins thirty minutes before the curtain, and there is no late seating, so it is worth arriving with a little time to spare. If you have advanced tickets, have your confirmation ready when you get there.

A few things make the venue easy to deal with. Parking is free on the Genesis Church campus for all shows, the theatre entrance is the side double-door, and the facility is ADA accessible. The space itself is billed as one that intersects creativity, spirituality and love, and it is listed under the LGBTQ+ and Do512 Family categories, which is a good sign if you are bringing kids or a mixed group. City Theatre is a nonprofit supported in part by the Austin Creative Alliance and the Cultural Arts Division of the City of Austin Economic Development Department, so a ticket also goes toward keeping local theatre going. With the run closing on August 9, the next couple of weekends are your window to catch it.