Herron High School’s Theatre program put on an enchanting performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare this past weekend. Even though they faced the initial setbacks of two cancellations due to rainy weather on Thursday and Friday, the directors, cast, and crew brought the magical world to life for wonderstruck audiences on Saturday and Sunday evening.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream follows the story of four Athenian lovers, a kingdom in the nearby forest where the fairy king Oberon and queen Titania are quarreling, the mischief of Oberon’s servant Puck, and a play within the play performed by the local craftsmen (including Donkey-headed Nick Bottom).

The costume and makeup designers faced a difficult task: portraying the duality of the storylines while turning regular high schoolers into whimsical fairies.

Q: Hello, Michael! We loved your part as Demetrius in this play as well as the unique makeup and face paint of the cast. What other productions have you done design for?

Michael: I created makeup designs for all the other Herron productions this year. That includes Chicago and Charlotte’s Web.

Q: What was your overall vision for this project?

Michael: Gold, Glitter, & Fun. I wanted whimsical, otherworldly designs for the fairies. I aimed for the color palettes to be earthy (because the show partially takes place in the woods outside of Athens).

Q: What designs, if any, influenced you?

Michael: I was heavily inspired by older drag. Like, the big eye looks. It was stage makeup, so it had to be dramatic to be seen by the audience.

Q: How did you create the distinct looks of the fairies?

Michael: I typically gave cast members a base with examples of ways to build off of it. I wanted them to feel comfortable and be able to add details that matched each person’s interpretation of their character.

Q: Why do you think makeup is important in storytelling?

Michael: One of my goals is to transform and immerse the actors into the story. I hope that spectators will see an actor as their character in the play, rather than going “that’s my friend.”

Ben Jones: Costume Design

We also spoke to Mr. Jones, one of directors of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and a beloved Herron theatre teacher about his choices for garment design in this production. (The below photograph is of the complete cast and crew.)

Q: We noticed that many of the costumes seemed to be more contemporary than Elizabethan. Why did you make this decision?

Mr. Jones: Well, I knew that I wanted to bring Midsummer into 2025. For the four lovers, I opted for modern clothing that would be able to reveal the differences between each person. This led to Demetrius having his “emo” look, Lysander being the “preppy” boy, and Helena adorning the “flower child” or “hippie” style. I looked at color schemes too. I wanted the mechanicals in black and white, and the Royals in gold and blue.

Q: How did you portray the duality of the two worlds, fairy and real?

Mr. Jones: I kept the fairies in their own color palettes of gold and green. We tried not to use gold or green in any of the other groups besides the Royals, who have gold because they are the top tier of the mortal world just as the fairies are the top tier of the fantasy world.

Q: What was the physical creation process like?

Mr. Jones: Both the students and I created outfits. I would buy some costumes, but some people would make their own. All the mechanicals got to do their own thing with their clothes. We made a lot of the fairy accessories, and all of them could choose to add accents like corsets or belts.

Q: Did you have any issues arise during this process?

Mr. Jones: Yes! I had to completely change Rei Garrett’s dress (Titania, pictured above in the center wearing green) a week before the show because it wasn’t going to get here until two weeks after the show. We had to get her a brand new dress and overnight it!

Q: How closely did you collaborate with the makeup designer, Michael Morrow?

Mr. Jones: Makeup and hair design goes hand in hand with costume design in theatre. It is a lot easier to change a makeup palette than it is to change fabric, so Michael usually adapted to what I did. If I needed to change a color scheme, he would just use a different shadow instead of us having to build a whole new dress or outfit. We always work closely together with that kind of stuff.

Q: Lastly, what was your favorite costume to design?

Mr. Jones: My favorite costume- well, probably Titania’s dress. I loved it. All the fairy stuff was super fun. I got to play Oberon and Puck during various points in my life, and my costumes were never this cool! I wanted to play with textures, which is why we added feathers to Kenny Pittman (Oberon, sitting above Titania in the photo). We had fun bedazzling different pieces and creating something that everyone felt good and comfortable in. However, I also have a soft spot for Macy’s (Helena, sitting to the right of Titania) outfits, because the “hippie” look fit so well to her interpretation of her character. And Teagan Payne (sitting to the right of Helena) as well was dressed how I envision a perfect Hermia. I loved the look of everything!

Special shout out to Ms. Chavez for making the Donkey Head! She hand crafted the piece to fit to Jon Sanders, who played Nick Bottom.

Michael Morrow and Ben Jones brought a fresh feeling of creativity into the spring semester. With their beautifully precise designs and playful interpretations of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the talented cast and crew of Thespian Troupe 11828 transported Shakespeare’s famous comedy into 2025 at Herron High School.