The Maryland Stage Company, the professional theatre company in residence at UMBC, produces and presents William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream June 20 through July 7 in The Pearlstone Theater at Center Stage. (Previews will be held on June 18 and 19.)

The production is directed by MSC artistic director Xerxes Mehta. The cast includes MSC associate artist Wendy Salkind and Helen Hayes Award nominee Bill Largess, with a dynamic band of professional actors from New York, Chicago, Washington, D.C. and Baltimore. Sets and costumes are by designer Elena Zlotescu, lighting and sound by Colin K. Bills and William-John Tudor, voice and speech coaching by Lynn Watson, and dance movement by Ken Skrzesz.

About the Maryland Stage Company
Founded in 1987 by its Artistic Director, Xerxes Mehta, the Maryland Stage Company is the professional theatre in residence at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. The MSC has received consistent national and international acclaim for its innovative and challenging productions, and continues to act as a magnet for performers, designers, choreographers, composers and musicians from throughout the Eastern Seaboard. The MSC's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream marks the MSC's return to Center Stage, where it performed during the summers of 1997 (Tartuffe), 1998 (The Seagull) and 1999 (Six Degrees of Separation).

Of the Maryland Stage Company's performance of a trio of Beckett plays in Berlin in 2000, Peter Laudenbach of the Berliner Tagesspiegel said, "Anyone who missed these performances and who loves theatre should consider jetting to Baltimore, Maryland, to see these astounding theatre artists on their home turf."

Showtimes

• Previews: Tuesday and Wednesday, June 18 & 19, 8 pm
• Opening Night Gala, Thursday, June 20, 8 pm
• Friday, June 21, 8 pm
• Saturday, June 22, 8 pm
• Sunday, June 23, 2 pm and 7:30 pm
• Wednesday, June 26, 8 pm
• Thursday, June 27, 8 pm
• Friday, June 28, 8 pm
• Saturday, June 29, 8 pm
• Sunday, June 30, 2 pm and 7:30 pm
• Tuesday, July 2, 8 pm
• Wednesday, July 3, 8 pm
• Friday, July 5, 8 pm
• Saturday, July 6, 8 pm
• Sunday, July 7, 2 pm and 7:30 pm

Admission

• Opening Night Gala: $50 (includes post-show champagne and dessert reception)
• Regular admission: $20
• Preview performances: $18
• Groups of 10 or more: $18
• Senior Citizens: $18
• College Students: $10
• All Maryland high school students may attend for free, one ticket per student, as long as seats are available.
• Service charges may apply.
• Tickets are available through the box office at (410) 637-3618 or online at www.tickets.com.

About Xerxes Mehta, director
Xerxes Mehta is the founder and artistic director of the Maryland Stage Company. Educated at Cornell University and New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, he is widely known as a director of Beckett. He directed the MSC in a trio of plays (Not I, That Time, Ohio Impromptu) presented at the international Beckett in Berlin 2000 festival. His MSC production of Not I, That Time and Ohio Impromptu was seen at the International Samuel Beckett Festival in Strasbourg, France 1996. In 1981, he staged the world premiere of Richard Wilbur's translation of Racine's Andromache, and in 1986, the American premiere of Louise Page's Beauty and the Beast. In 1997, he inaugurated the MSC's summer seasons at Center Stage with Molière's Tartuffe, following it up with Chekhov's The Sea Gull in 1998 and John Guare's Six Degrees of Separation in 1999. His productions have five times been voted "Best of the Year" in the Baltimore-Washington area. He teaches and directs at UMBC.

Telephone
Box office: (410) 637-3618
Group sales: (410) 455-3529
UMBC Artsline (24 hour recorded message): (410) 455-ARTS
Media inquiries only: (410) 455-3529 (Kate Revelle)

Web
Maryland Stage Company website: http://www.marylandstagecompany.org/
Tickets.com (to purchase tickets): http://www.tickets.com/
UMBC Arts website: http://www.umbc.edu/arts
UMBC News Releases: http://www.umbc.edu/newsevents/oci/index.phtml?r=Art

Images for Media
High resolution images for media are available online:
http://www.umbc.edu/newsevents/arts/hi-res/
or by email or postal mail.

Directions to Center Stage
Center Stage is located at 700 North Calvert Street in Baltimore City, at the corner of Monument and Calvert Streets. Both street and garage parking are available near the theatre.

Security is posted outside the theatre before, during, and after performances.