Last year, New York–based performance troupe The Acting Company performed August Wilson’s Two Trains Running and William Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors at the Rubicon Theater. The company returns to Ventura this December as part of their 2025-26 national tour, presenting a new adaptation of Charles Dickens’s Great Expectations (written by Nikki Massoud and directed by The Acting Company’s new artistic director, Devin Brain) and Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (directed by Risa Brainin). These shows will share the same set on the Rubicon’s stage, meaning designer Tanya Orellana had to develop a concept that could accommodate, says Brain, both “gritty Victorian London and the delirious, flower-filled midnight forest of Athens.”
Great Expectations is Dickens’s sweeping tale of a young orphan, Pip, who is vaulted into high society by a mysterious benefactor. “At the core, both of these are coming-of-age tales,” says Brain. “We watch people find their place in the world. We watch young humans decide who to love, why to love, and what they’re willing to do for love…. That’s the center of Pip’s story (in Great Expectations), and it’s mirrored nicely (with a much brighter take) in Midsummer.”
Fronm left: Mallory Avnet, Madeleine Barker, and Tay Bass star in Rubicon Theatre Company’s 2025 “Winterfest”, presented in an encore partnership with The Acting Company of New York. | Photo: Courtesy
A Midsummer Night’s Dream tells the story of young lovers whose affections are manipulated by fairy enchantments, leading to magical mischief. Brainin’s take on Midsummer, says Brain, is about “discovering who you are.” Brainin last directed A Midsummer Night’s Dream in 2011 and is excited to continue her exploration of Shakespeare’s woodland romance. Looking to “deepen the concepts” of the play, Brainin aims to answer questions about character motivation and development.
These two shows will play on alternating days at the Rubicon Theatre. Great Expectations opens on December 2, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream opens on December 3. Both shows run through December 21. See rubicontheatre.org for tickets and more information.
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