Rekindling A Neighborhood Tradition: Shakespeare On The Severn Returns To Ben Oaks

On a breezy midsummer evening, an audience of over 150 people attended a showing of William Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” But instead of gathering in a theater to watch professionals perform one of the Bard’s famous works, they congregated next to their neighborhood pond on August 1 and sat in lawn chairs to enjoy familiar faces putting on a familiar show.

Neighbors in the Ben Oaks community have been working hard since spring to breathe new life into a bygone tradition: Shakespeare on the Severn. Ben Oaks resident Catherine Thomas, a trained Shakespearean actress, first organized the project in 1997. Each year, participation grew on and off the grassy stage. Neighborhood thespians last gathered to perform in 2015, and after battling cancer, Thomas died in 2017.

The playbill for the early August performance informed attendees about why the tradition was reignited: “Shakespeare on the Severn, from its inception as directed by Catherine Thomas and her original shortened adaptations of many of Shakespeare’s original plays over her many years with us, was intended for the children and neighbors of Ben Oaks to feel the magic of Shakespeare. After an 11-year gap, and with Kevin Lyons’ persistence, we hope to rekindle that magic.”

Lyons’ persistence paid off, and in April, two neighbors – and then others – stepped up to help the Bard return to the Severn. Lyons directed the production, Carol Jones oversaw scenery, and Joe Child handled the sound and stage crews.

“We’re doing it back in the saddle, 11 years later, and it’s been interesting because there are only … about six of us who have any recollection or dealings with the original run of the play, because so many neighbors have turned over,” Child said. “So, a great majority of the neighborhood, particularly those who have moved in in the last 11 years, have no knowledge of what this is. It’s kind of like starting over again.”

Members of the 154 households in Ben Oaks started over with gusto, with 27 participating as cast members and another 15 or so assisting with tech and behind the scenes. “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” depicts multiple stories happening at once that ultimately collide in an enchanted forest. To explain the complicated storyline, Child, cast as William Shakespeare himself, set up each of the five acts as narrator.

Neighbors arrived on August 1 by foot, bike, golf cart and car, and friends and family of the cast came out to support them as well. In the end, a comedy penned around 1595 brought a Severna Park community closer together in 2026.

“Something like this really crosses the generations. A lot of the cast and the fairies call me Grandpa Joe. And, that’s kind of who I am now,” said Child, a grandfather and 37-year Ben Oaks resident.

He added, “I’ve gotten to know neighbors that I never would have known. The younger people have gotten to know these old guys and gals who are still around, and the older people have gotten to know these 6-, 7-, 8-year-olds, and they’re riding bikes and waving at you, and it’s magic.”

The Ben Oaks Cast Of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”