Over three weeks, directors, actors, designers and dramaturgs explore A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM.

The 2000 Directors Lab was devoted to a single issue-that of interpretation. Over three weeks, directors, actors, designers and dramaturgs explored the interpretation of classical plays using Shakespeare's A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM as the central text. Nine directors (Matt August, Drew Barr, Jesse Berger, Alice Gatling, Nancy Jones, Pam MacKinnon, Robert O'Hara, Ruben Polendo and Alison Summers) led nine rooms in interpreting the play.

In addition, Lab participants participated in sessions devoted to enriching a classical interpretation of A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM led by such master directors as Mark Lamos, James Lapine, Daniel Sullivan and Tina Packer (all of whom have staged productions of the Shakespeare classic), designer John Conklin, fight director B.H. Barry and dialect coach Ralph Zito on Shakespeare scansion. The work of great interpretative directors of the century such as Peter Brook, Peter Stein, Harley Granville-Barker, Ariane Mnouchkine, Giorgio Strehler and Ingmar Bergman were also examined. Guests such as actress Barbara Sukowa recalled working on classical plays with Strehler from an actress' perspective. In July, the Lab presented twelve short plays directed by Lab directors at the American Living Room Festival at HERE.