FRANKLIN, Tenn. (WTVF) — If you love theatre, you have to respect the classics, and they don't come much more classic than this. A very familiar show is getting a beautiful new production. The beauty springs from the new friendships it's making.
In Thursday night, two crews worked together to get a show ready for the public.
"A great play must take time!" one performer said.
Some of the performers were with Backlight Productions, which works with people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Some of the performers were with the Nashville Shakespeare Festival. Together, they're doing William Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" March 1 and 2nd at Williamson County Performing Arts Center.
Devin Hunt's with Backlight. Ben Friesen's with the Nashville Shakespeare Festival. They're scene partners. In the show, Ben's this mythical creature who turns Devin into a half donkey to the shock of the other characters.
"Reason and love keep little company together!" Devin recited from under the donkey head prop. Listen, it's not easy reciting 400-year-old prose in a donkey head where you can't really see anyone.
"It's almost like doing a whole play with a bucket on your head!" Devin laughed.
Devin does get to take a little artistic license.
"Took the midnight train going anywhere!" he sang.
"Did Shakespeare write 'Don't Stop Believin'?" I asked Devin.
"No, he did not," he smiled. "I may have ad-libbed a little bit?"
Eh, Shakespeare wouldn't mind.
"And if anybody can do it, it's Devin!" Ben chimed in.
"I end up taking a nap for so long that I could technically take a nap and nobody would know!" Devin said.
"You could probably really fall asleep on stage," Ben answered.
"If you actually fell asleep, that'd be method acting," I chimed in.
"Yeah, I mean, maybe," Devin nodded. "But I don't intend to fall asleep cause then you'll have to wake me up, and I don't have the best bedside manner."
While we were talking, we found out this is Devin's first show. He said there's a confidence that comes with getting to share the stage with a good dude like Ben.
"The fun thing about working with him is he has this natural goofy energy," Devin said of Ben. "Half the time he looks like he's taking a cookie from a cookie jar that he knows he's not supposed to be taking."
By the way, Denice Hicks is in the cast. She was the longtime artistic director for the Nashville Shakespeare Festival.
"I'm a huge Backlight fan," she said. "Shakespeare is for everybody! I really love it when an inclusive community performs Shakespeare. It brings the greatest truth to the genius of the poetry. The rhythm and rhyme is so much fun in the play. It creates a really joyful show. The entire spirit of this show is joy."
"The Shakespeare actors, they're as much a part as we are," Devin said. "They allow us with disabilities to be able to thrive and not have to be pigeonholed. It actually empowers people with disabilities."
That's worth wearing a donkey head for.
"No half-donkey actors were harmed in the making of this film!" Devin said.
For tickets, visit here.
Do you have a positive, good news story? You can email me at forrest.sanders@newschannel5.com.
Breaking barriers and moving to the beat! One local dance company is making it possible for young people in wheelchairs to move and groove like everyone else. Good for your mental health, good for your physical health and good for your dose of positive news today. I hope you check out what they're doing!
-Rebecca Schleicher
