#school plays

[she-posts-nerdy-stuff]

I think the strangest concept for a play I’ve ever been in was probably the time that my secondary school put on A Midsummer Night’s Dream set in the 1980s and it was the most fever dream-ified imagining of 1980s you could possibly imagine.

The Mechanicals were protesting miners. There were three Pucks and they were distinguishable by their spiked blue and purple wigs. Every time Helena stepped on stage they played Kiss by Prince. The theme music of the entire show was You Can't Hurry Love by Phil Collins. We brought an actual dog on stage for the play within a play at the end, and one performace all the Athenians were so distracted by the dog backstage that Theseus had to improvise-monologue her way through a scene. Demetrius was a nerd and Lysander was a jock. There were tyres on stage at all times for no clear reason.

I was a faerie in the chorus, a role that required me to wear neon workout gear, neon leg warmers, neon fishnet gloves, a multicoloured wig, black fairy wings, and black lipstick. What social category of the 80s did they call this, you ask? Punks.

Shakespeare would be proud.

[princesssarisa]

I just took a look at Playbill's statistics for the musicals and plays most often performed by high schools. One statistic among the non-musical plays stood out for me:

The most frequently performed Shakespeare play in US high schools is A Midsummer Night's Dream.

On the one hand, this isn't surprising. It's a fantasy-comedy with easy appeal for all ages and a happy ending, and it's very much an ensemble play, not a play that revolves around just a few lead performers: it gives many different young actors with different talents a chance to shine.

But in a way it is surprising, because you wouldn't guess its popularity from fictional media. In sitcoms, cartoons, middle grade books, etc., whether in high school, middle school, or even elementary school, it seems that Shakespeare productions in schools are always Romeo and Juliet, Romeo and Juliet, and more Romeo and Juliet.

Of course this is mainly for shipping potential between the boy and girl playing the two leads: "the protagonist plays Romeo or Juliet with their secret crush as their co-star" is probably the most common variant. But even when there's no shipping, Romeo and Juliet tends to be the play of choice: for example, the Brady Bunch episode where Marcia is cast as Juliet and becomes an arrogant prima donna.

I'd like to see more sitcoms and cartoons use A Midsummer Night's Dream for their school Shakespeare productions and mine its potential for comedy and shipping.

[lancefawn]

just APPLIED for the SCHOOL PLAY. honestly i don’t think ill get an actual role.. ive been there for 2 years and still nothing but I LOVE IT!! now what’s worrying me is the audition. i feel like ill mess it up somehow

[bebe-benzenheimer]

when it comes to the trope of "playing a tree in the school play"

I have done this IRL

I have seen somebody do this IRL

I've never encountered this IRL

Voting ended onOct 6, 2025

[hometoursandotherstuff]

Yeah, but he did it like a star. (The other children's librarians are so pushy, they once asked me to write a mystery for the summer program and then cast me as the dead body! In my own damn play!)

[llamatot]

The auditions for the school play (The school-appropriate version of "Firebringer") are just around the corner and I am crossing every single one of my fingers and praying that I get Zazzalil.

[keepplayalive]

This is how school plays actually go in real life...