This summer, help us bring Shakespeare’s magically chaotic story of A Midsummer Night’s Dream to life - not on a traditional stage, but in a 19th-century church garden in the heart of New York City. After an incredibly successful inaugural production of Summer Shakespeare at St. John’s in the Village last year with Romeo and Juliet. It only felt right to follow one of Shakespeare's greatest tragedies with one of his greatest comedies and the garden at St. John’s in the Village is the perfect venue.

Resident Dilettante is back, breathing new life into a classic under the direction of Montgomery Sutton and Associate Director, Sam Besca. This site-specific production of one of Shakespeare's Classics invites audiences into a moonlit world where reality blurs into a dream.

Our approach is classically grounded, enchanted, and deeply human. This isn’t Shakespeare the way you read it in English class; it’s immersive, mischievous, and alive. Think candlelight in the trees, tangled lovers, folk ritual, fairy revelry, and the wild unpredictability of a midsummer night. 

We are staging the show in the lush garden of St. John’s in the Village, a historic landmark that feels plucked straight from a Renaissance painting. Here, audiences won’t just watch the story - they’ll walk through it, surrounded by ivy-covered stone, the hush of twilight, and the scent of summer air. It’s a romantic dream that is the perfect space to fall into a dream. 

This production is led by Resident Dilletante and a series of their close collaborators, many of whom are recent graduates or faculty of the Atlantic Acting School.

Resident Dilletante is a New York-based theater and film production company. Founded in 2023, Resident Dilettante has produced off-Broadway and international productions while cultivating a community of dedicated artists who combine ambition and compassion to create truly moving works.

We are proud to follow the needs of our community through the lens of our work, and we are devoted to discovering new stories from upcoming artists. Our productions are built from the ground up, percolating through word of mouth or offered in direct requests. We’re determined to build a troupe of incredible artists across mediums and fill the gaps we’ve found in the New York theater scene.

Montgomery Sutton (Director)  (he/him) has directed productions including Othello (Shakespeare Dallas); Murrow (Elevator Project at the AT&T Performing Arts Center); Much Ado About Nothing, Antigone, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Atlantic Acting School/NYU); Henry IV, Much Ado About Nothing (Junior Players); Othello, his play Ruins, and his original adaptations of Oedipus and Antigone (Gilbert Theater); Twelfth Night, Romeo and Juliet and The Changeling (Rude Grooms); The Soothsayer (Take Ten Festival - nominee, Best Director). His films include Between the Lines (winner, Best Screenplay; nominee, Best Director - Sparrow Film Project), Delivery Failed (Best Covid19 Short - Niagara Falls International Short Festival), Self-Love (Official Selection, Shakespeare Shorts - Shakespeare Birthplace Trust), and the web series A New York Minute (hosted and created by Patrick Toon). He is founder and Master of the Revels for Rude Grooms, a Queens-based theater creating epicly intimate theatrical experiences rooted in the actor-audience relationship exemplified by Shakespeare’s acting company. As an actor, he recently played King Arthur in Camelot (Engeman Theater); Friar Lawrence in Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeare at St. John’s); the title role in Pericles (Seven Stages Shakespeare Company); as well as productions at Shakespeare’s Globe, New York Classical Theatre, Florida Studio Theater, Casa Manana, Shakespeare Dallas, Cape Fear Regional Theatre, Trinity Shakespeare Festival, Second Thought Theatre, Theater Three, Undermain Theatre, Uptown Players. He serves on faculty for the Atlantic Acting School/NYU. BFA, NYU (Atlantic Acting School); International Actors Fellowship (Shakespeare’s Globe). www.montgomerysutton.com

Sam Besca (Associate Director/ Producer) is a New York–based actor, director, and producer. She is the co-founder and Head of Studio at Resident Dilettante, an independent production company dedicated to developing new work across film and theater, and co-founder, alongside Lena Pepe, of The Writer’s Salon, a series supporting emerging playwrights. Recent acting credits include the 24 Hour Plays Nationals (current cohort), The Wolves (SCC), and Knights of Night (upcoming). She is also on the producing team of Dad, Don’t Read This. Sam is thrilled to be on the team for the second iteration of Shakespeare at St. John’s. BA: Hamilton College, summa cum laude, post-grad Atlantic Acting School. @bamsesca

Gissel Villanueva (Producer) is an actor, singer-songwriter, and theater maker based in New York City. She is an Atlantic Acting School alum, where she discovered her love for making theater not just on-stage but off-stage. Gissel loves story-telling and is committed to the idea that it takes a village so she strives to create and be a part of the community wherever she goes. Previous projects Gissel has worked on include: Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeare at St. John’s) and Do Not Go Gentle (Teatro Latea).

Kate Low is an international actor and producer currently based in Aotearoa, New Zealand. A co-founder of Resident Dilettante and a recent graduate of the Atlantic Acting School, Kate has built a dynamic career across stage production and performance, working on acclaimed projects in both New Zealand and the United States. As a producer, her credits include You Won’t See Me on the Poster (New Zealand), Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeare at St. John’s), Codependence (The Tank, New York City), Bacchanale (Mark O’Donnell Theatre, New York City), The Cabinet of Karnovach (NZ), Too Much Punch for Judy (New Zealand Tour), The Rug (Spark Emerging Artist Festival) and How to Build a Gate (Soho Playhouse and New Zealand Tour). As an actor, Kate most recently appeared in Electra Artemis’s How to Build a Gate, performing at Soho Playhouse in New York City and at the New Zealand Fringe Festival. https://www.kate-low.com/

Our incredible cast features Katie Honaker*, Charley Layton, Patrick Toon*, Megan Piggott*, Nhat Trinh, Maya Claridge, Zoe Walgrel, Megan Malcom, Edelsa Perez, Gray Mortier*, Chelsea Inagawa, Charlotte Flatley.

*These Actors are appearing courtesy of Actors' Equity Association.