It’s one of the first warm days of the year at Pinky’s Park in Bethel. Amid the sunny day clamor of skating and pickup basketball, a quarrel is going on.
“How low am I? Thou painted maypole!” shouts Hermia, a noble woman of ancient Athens.
“I pray you, gentlemen — don’t you mock me. Let her not hurt me!” shrieks back her friend, Helena, caught in a frenemy fight.
The two are characters in the Shakespeare play “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” and are played by Bethel Regional High School (BRHS) English teacher Sara Ayaniuq Guinn and local property manager Sundi Scott.
They’re part of a story with mystical tricksters, fairies, and bamboozelment that all feel like something out of a dream.
Bethel Actors Guild’s production of "A Midsummer Nights Dream" will take place outside at Pinky’s Park in Bethel. There will be performances Friday, May 30 at 7 p.m., Saturday, May 31 at 7 p.m., and Sunday, June 1 at 3 p.m. Bring camp chairs and picnic blankets, or pay $10 for VIP seating. Otherwise, tickets are free and free Elder seating will be available.
It’s Shakespeare’s most performed work and is likely the most put-on play ever, gracing hundreds of parks and stages around the world each year.
But in Bethel, this is all happening for the first time in a while. Bethel Actors Guild, also known as BAG, has recently revamped after a several-year hiatus. This will be the troop’s first fully-staged production, making a stage out of the city’s main park.
“I think it's a fun play,” said Sundi Scott, one of the play’s two directors in addition to playing Helena. “I think it's one of Shakespeare's more playful. It doesn't take itself so seriously kind of play.”
Growing up in Bethel, Scott got her theater start in BAG productions. She would go on to get a theater degree in London, start her own theater company, and work as a theater educator.
Scott, along with technical director Taylor Finley, said that "A Midsummer Nights Dream" seemed like a good first production. It’s free to put on and can require a minimal set. But, it also had other merits worth bringing to the community.
“With a really high dropout rate in Bethel, I think looking at something like Shakespeare, something that is viewed as really intellectual, creating that access a path to feeling a part of it, to understanding it, to seeing it in a way that you could see yourself in it, I think is really powerful for literacy, for inclusion, for all sorts of reasons,” said Finley. “I think it's a great start to draw people into something maybe they wouldn't think they're interested in otherwise.”
Finley has worked professionally in productions across opera, dance, and theater in Oklahoma and Anchorage. Through their varied experience, Finley said that there’s something that continually makes Shakespeare exciting.
“I would say to someone who's like, ‘ooh, Shakespeare,’ that it really is just a bunch of silly little guys,” Finley described. “Everything is just foolish and silly and over the top. And in that over the top-ness, you have lots of heightened physicality, and lots of movement, and lots of big costumes, and those really sell the story and sort of translate for you.”
Finley said that a large part of the rehearsal process involved studying the text and helping the actors understand what they were saying to convey meaning and emotion to the audience.
Finley said that that they and Scott discussed bringing BAG back to Bethel in their earliest conversations as friends.
“I feel like that's kind of the Bethel way,” Finley said. “Like, you choose your adventure, you find your fun, you find your people, and, like, you bring the things you want to see to life.”
BAG is back in Bethel with a board of six members. After gearing up with a radio drama put on in November 2024 and a skit-filled speed dating event in February, it’s the start of what it hopes is a legacy to come. The guild is looking ahead to other productions this winter.
Scott said that what began as a way to get their friend group to create together soon took on a life of its own at the open auditions in March. It surprised them by bringing turnout from all corners of the community.
The cast of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" is composed of school teachers, library staff, and even a few radio staff from your favorite local station.
Scott and Finley said that they’ve gathered immense support for the production even beyond the stage. Scott said that the community has offered up its skillsets in painting, sewing, hair, and makeup to help the production come to life.
“I know that when everything comes together, it's just gonna be another wave of, like, gratitude and just overwhelmed with love of Bethel and community,” Scott said. “I know that sounds really cheesy, but being born here and being from here, it brings this sort of new spark of, ‘Oh, wow. Like, we really can bring this art form back, because there are people really interested in it and who want to see it come back and be a part of it in any big or small way.'”
Finleys said that support for the production has also come from a statewide level.
“People do recognize the powerful healing inspirational notion that is theater and creation, which I was like, ‘oh!’ We got money from Recover Alaska and RurAL CAP and many individual donors, and it's just been really uplifting to feel supported in that way.”
Back at rehearsal in Pinky’s Park, the production is getting legs, or rather, its wings. Fairies climb across the jungle gym when summoned by their queen. Characters zip down the green slide to make speedy exits.
Puck, a mischievous forest spirit, magically awakens the play’s main characters from a love-sick trance. He’s played by high school teacher, Will Wilson, who creeps magically across the playground.
“When thou awakes, let thine fools own fool's eyes see,” Wilson utters, evaporating a spell.
A small audience forms as curious kids meander over from the skate park to investigate. Practice is open to the community, but they’ll have to wait a few more days to see the full production.
