A dreamy Midsummer Night's Dream in NYC
"Are you sure that we are awake? It seems to me that yet we sleep, we dream" I could have easily mistaken my Friday night for a dream. By chance, I found myself at an open-air performance of William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream in downtown Manhattan. Maybe it was the historic location -- Castle Clinton -- that inspired the feeling. Over the course of its 200 year history, the circular waterfront fortress in Battery Park has served as a military post, beer garden and exhibition space. But that night, set against a glittering Manhattan skyline and warm sea breezes, I couldn't help but feel I had stepped into the Shakespeare Globe along the misty banks of the River Thames, thousands of miles and centuries away. Or maybe it was the contrast of the 16th century prose echoing against the occasional whir of passing helicopters. Maybe still, it was simply the pleasure of a balmy summer evening along the water, under a fiery sunset ...
