Mustardseed

Thrilled to be cast in a current production of William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, Mustardseed buckles down to read the play and memorize her lines—all four of them! But she couldn't prepare for the backstage comedy that unfolds with the other three teenage girls cast as fairies. There's Moth, the seasoned ringleader; Cobweb, her wisecracking sidekick; and Peaseblossom, the boy-crazy pretty one. Ignoring Mustardseed's insistence that they should read the play, these fairies prefer to hang out in costume in the green room, playing cards, reading tabloids and gossiping about Bottom, Puck, Titania and other grown-up actors. As the run of Midsummer progresses, the action jumps between their comical antics backstage to well-rehearsed Shakespeare in the "forest outside Athens." Although they never buckle down to read the play, each character experiences a real-life coming-of-age moment in a young girl's journey through high school that is underscored and illuminated by the themes in Shakespeare's text. Wildly funny and unexpectedly poignant, Mustardseed includes the song "(I Want to Know What You Know) When You Know," written by Cooney and composer Deborah Wicks La Puma.