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Shakespearean Romance with a Same-Sex Twist

By Meredith Hoffman

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

CHELSEA — A new Shakespeare remake is coming out — and so are its characters.

A spin-off of the classic comedy "Midsummer Night's Dream," opening at the Cell Theatre at 338 West 23rd St. next Tuesday, stars two same-sex couples.

"They're saying, 'let's just be everything, let's be who we are,'"laughed Kira Simring, artistic director of the Cell Theatre Company. "'Midsummer' is about relationships, and gay equality is something we care about a lot in our community."

The colorful show runs July 5-31 as part of the Cell's theater festival Summer of Lust, exploring human relationships and conceptions of love.

"Midsummer" will alternate with a new, more somber relationship play, "Bad Evidence," written by Terry Quinn, about isolation and dishonesty in marriage.

"Bad Evidence is about these painfully failed heterosexual marriages...people have affairs, lie, and then finally bravely confront each other," said Simring, who is directing the production.

Simring called the two plays "inversions of each other," with one a lighthearted classic and the other a serious look at the disconnects caused by marital expectations.

"Theater is able to look at dynamics in relationships and present a mirror that no one else can," said Simring. "This Summer of Lust looks at how human beings form attachments...how we create our worlds."

The plays will be performed in the 60-seat Cell Theatre, with tickets running at $18. The first week "A Midsummer Night's Dream" will show Tuesday, Wednesday, and Saturday nights, with a Sunday matinee. "Bad Evidence" will run Thursday, Friday, and Sunday nights with a Saturday matinee. Each week the two plays' schedules will switch.