Scheduling Note:
The Autumn 2023 section will be skipping the class on October 17th because I will be in England seeing a few plays and celebrating the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's First Folio. That's my kind of professional development!

The author of Shakespeare's plays has been dead for over 400 years, but he lives on in his work—his plays are still performed and adapted, while his sonnets are still studied and loved.

Most scholars agree that A Midsummer Night’s Dream was written in 1595, the year following Romeo and Juliet, but is a very different play. For one thing, there are four couples struggling for love, with plenty of farcical mix-ups and romantic mashups. Despite much thwarting and many star-crossings, everyone ends up with the right mate. Plus fairies! But these fairies are neither sweet nor harmless. In fact, fairies can be pretty mean and destructive, yet nobody dies! 

In this 7 week course, among other topics, we will explore these questions:

Why has Shakespeare been translated into over 100 languages?
How might A Midsummer Night’s Dream have influenced the modern romantic comedy?
How did Shakespeare contribute to the English language?
What is iambic pentameter and why did Shakespeare love it so much?
Is there any such thing as love at first sight?
And what is love, anyway? 

Class time will be spent in reading and discussing the play, as well as supplementary work. This is the sort of class where everyone will be expected to read aloud, but fear not! My classroom is a safe and easy-going place. 

Homework will include watching clips online and writing responses to (not summaries of) the work done in class.  The final project will be chosen by each individual student (in consultation with teacher) and might include writing, performance, artwork, parody, music, etc.

We will be using the Folger Shakespeare Library text.  

There are many formats available for free download. This is the one we will be working from in class:
https://shakespeare.folger.edu/shakespeares-works/a-midsummer-nights-dream/download/

If your student is a really avid Shakespeare lover, I recommend the Folger Shakespeare Library text.  It costs around $7 new, but is loaded with very helpful footnotes. However, this purchase is not required.
To support independent bookstores: https://bookshop.org/books/a-midsummer-night-s-dream/9780743477543
or
Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-midsummer-nights-dream-folger-shakespeare-library-series-william-shakespeare/1107091518?ean=9780743477543

Folger provides the following synopsis:

In A Midsummer Night's Dream, residents of Athens mix with fairies from a local forest, with comic results. In the city, Theseus, Duke of Athens, is to marry Hippolyta, queen of the Amazons. Bottom the weaver and his friends rehearse in the woods a play they hope to stage for the wedding celebrations.

Four young Athenians are in a romantic tangle. Lysander and Demetrius love Hermia; she loves Lysander and her friend Helena loves Demetrius. Hermia’s father, Egeus, commands Hermia to marry Demetrius, and Theseus supports the father’s right. All four young Athenians end up in the woods, where Robin Goodfellow, who serves the fairy king Oberon, puts flower juice on the eyes of Lysander, and then Demetrius, unintentionally causing both to love Helena. Oberon, who is quarreling with his wife, Titania, uses the flower juice on her eyes. She falls in love with Bottom, who now, thanks to  Robin Goodfellow, wears  an ass's head.

As the lovers sleep, Robin Goodfellow restores Lysander's love for Hermia, so that now each young woman is matched with the man she loves. Oberon disenchants Titania and removes Bottom’s ass’s head. The two young couples join the royal couple in getting married, and Bottom rejoins his friends to perform the play.