Once a year comes the opportunity of a lifetime for high school thespians. The All State show is offered to students across the state to audition for. High school students audition for this show that they work on year round, and then perform at the Minnesota State Thespian Conference. This year the students performed William Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” directed by Tyler Olsen. Junior, Jack Fischer states, “the show was really beneficial to me as an actor because we got to work in an incredibly creative environment with actors and directors we wouldn’t normally get the opportunity to work with.

This years cast featured several Edina High School students including, Becca Edgington, Ben Weiman, Henry Junker, Emily Neville, Dylan Rickard, and Jack Fischer. Their stage manager was EHS senior, Rutger Henriksen. Since these students spent most of their time at school, or rehearsing for other shows at their high schools, rehearsal time was limited. The students were required to stay home during school holidays, and committed their rehearsals to weekends and over the summer.

Although the show was the classic Shakespearean tale with a modern twist. Certain actors used their cellphones on stage in help to modernize the show. The actor who played Puck, Ben Weiman, used his phone the most throughout the show. Occasionally all of the lights would shut off, and all you could see was the flashlight from his phone on his face. As the show was set in the forest, the actors played off the darkness to create an eery and spooky feeling. The fairies that surround the show as the ensemble also used phones to pop in and out of sight creating a mystical mood.

One of the most exciting parts of the show was the audience interaction. A Midsummer Night’s Dream performed at the end of a very long day of the Minnesota State Thespian Conference. The audience was filled with about 200 exhausted thespians tired from their day of workshops and auditions. Most of the actors looked forward to sitting in the audience and dozing off. This was not the case. As the audience waited for the show to start, we realized we were in for a treat. The actors started out in the audience dancing to music. As they slowly made their way on stage, they pulled audience members along with them, for a spontaneous dance party. “We decided to bring the audience on stage because we wanted to make it very clear from the beginning that the show was meant for them to just able to have fun and let themselves go in the story,” adds Fischer. Not only did they start the show this way, but ended it with dancing as well. This addition added enthusiasm to the show, especially since most of the thespians know each other.

In past years, the All State show had performed on Sunday night, and the auditions for next year’s show have been the following day. Next year, due to lack of funds, there will not be an All State show. While the State Conference will still continue, the State show will not. This is unfortunate because the show is a wonderful opportunity for students across the state to come together and share their love of theater. The cast and crew of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” did a wonderful job, and their performance was a great display of a year of hard work. “If any kind of opportunity arises like this one, I would love to participate again,” concludes Fischer.