Timing is everything. Back in 1939, when the Harlem Renaissance was old news, the Shakespeare–meets–Benny Goodman mash-up called Swingin’ the Dream sank like a stone at Rockefeller Center. This despite the presence of the great Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong, never minus his golden trumpet, as Bottom, morphing from ham tragedian to donkey-headed boy toy for Titania, queen of the fairies. Butterfly McQueen, weeks ahead of the release of Gone with the Wind, raised hell as Puck.
Tonight through July 28, courtesy of Classical Theatre of Harlem, a Harlem Renaissance–flavored Midsummer Night’s Dream takes to Spanish Harlem at the open-air Richard Rodgers Amphitheater, in Marcus Garvey Park, and the prospects couldn’t look rosier.
Carl Cofield, whose Afrofuturistic Twelfth Night on the same stage in 2022 was light on its feet, a treat for eye and ear, and true to the text, returns to the director’s chair for this centerpiece of the company’s silver-anniversary season. As announced in June, the Mellon Foundation has awarded the company a million-dollar grant for economic and community development in connection with the production. Fortuitously, this also happens to be the summer that the Public Theater has chosen to shutter the hallowed Delacorte Theater—alfresco Shakespeare’s New York flagship on the Great Lawn of Central Park—for overdue structural upgrades.
Air mail recently dropped in on Cofield by Zoom to find out more about the company, its mission, and this season’s banner project.
Matthew Gurewitsch: I’m struck that your Harlem Renaissance Midsummer Night’s Dream overlaps with the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s landmark show “The Harlem Renaissance and Transatlantic Modernism.” Any connection?
Carl Cofield: You know, unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to see it. The aim of this production is really to celebrate Harlem in Harlem with Harlemites. A Midsummer Night’s Dream under the stars and sky of Harlem—that was irresistible to me.
M.G.: Can you say more about the Harlem Renaissance connection without spoiling the surprise?
C.C.: We start the play in an uptown social club, which could give one images of the Savoy Ballroom, the Cotton Club, and the glamour of Harlem in the golden age, which is easy to romanticize. At the same time, there was a lot going on politically and socially, so that for some New Yorkers, going above 96th Street was considered taboo. We tease into that a little bit, too. I’m always one to try to push the boundaries of my dramaturgical research. Sometimes, unfortunately, we’re confronted with “Oh, you’re a Black theater company. Are you changing something?” That’s simply not the case. We’re exercising our creativity to make the work relevant and accessible. Why would I want to go see a 400-year-old play? My process always starts with appealing to the 10-year-old version of myself.
M.G.: One of the great things about Classical Theatre of Harlem’s Uptown Shakespeare in the Park is how exclusive it isn’t. No tickets, no locked auditorium. You don’t have to plan ahead. Stroll in early if you want and watch the actors warming up. Families bring all the kids.
C.C.: Yeah, that is our ethos. We believe in community. We try and get rid of this transactional element that can creep into the arts. I know “community theater” has a negative connotation in certain circles, but not in our context. We believe that we offer something of tremendous value to the community, and we invite them in. Because without them, we can’t exist. All are welcome.
M.G.: Most of Shakespeare’s plays were written to be performed outdoors. Could that be why Shakespeare, like the Greeks, always seems so incredibly at home outdoors?
C.C.: I think you hit on two things I’m pretty passionate about—the Greeks and Shakespeare—and thirdly, the amphitheater setting. The Greeks called theater “the seeing place”—you see the actor, and the actor sees you. That’s a secret ingredient that makes Shakespeare outdoors so potent.
M.G.: The night I saw Twelfth Night, some fireflies put in an appearance. Magic! Who knew they still hang out in Manhattan!
C.C.: The fireflies were fickle! I had to talk to their agents! Just kidding. But organic nature is part of the magic of an outdoor venue, especially in New York. Don’t ask me how often we’ve been upstaged by a raccoon.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream will be on at the Richard Rodgers Amphitheater, in New York, until July 28
Matthew Gurewitsch writes about opera and classical music for AIR MAIL. He lives in Hawaii
