Students walking on campus this weekend may be surprised to hear the words of William Shakespeare coming from the courtyard next to Atherton Hall instead of the usual dorm disturbances.

"Shakespeare in the Courtyard" will be presenting a free outdoor production of A Midsummer Night's Dream at 4:30 p.. today and at noon and 3 p.m. Sunday on the HUB-side courtyard of Atherton Hall.

The concept for "Shakespeare in the Courtyard" began last year when Resident Assistant Angela Single (senior-English) and Schreyer Honors College Scholar Assistant Soma Kedia (senior-English and psychology) teamed up to produce a play using residence hall space with residence hall students in the cast.

Single decided upon performing the Shakespearean play, Much Ado About Nothing, in the outdoor courtyard adjacent to Atherton Hall, a setup similar to what a theater group in her hometown does each summer.

"I've always been a fan of Shakespeare being performed outside," she said. "I thought to myself, 'We could do this here.' We have the talent theatrically, dedicated enough to Shakespeare, to acting, that we could pull it off."

Single and Kedia then searched for directors, picked a cast and got funding from various residence life associations and the honors college. The success of the production, approximately 250 people attending over three performances, lead to plans to continue the program this year, with hopes that it will become a permanent fixture in the future.

After participating in the cast last year, Michael Walkup (senior-theatre) and Kelly Sylvester (senior-theatre) were chosen as co-directors for this year's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, a Shakespearean comedy about lovers. One of their objectives as directors was to reduce the length of the play, to give the audience an "abridged version" of the play.

"One of the biggest hindrances for Shakespeare is the length. We feel streamlining our production will keep the audience interest throughout the piece and they won't be as intimidated by the language," Walkup said.

A unique aspect that sets "Shakespeare in the Courtyard" apart from other plays is that it is the only residence-hall-based theater company at Penn State. And the plays are performed outside, with the audience surrounding the actors performing on both sides of their stage area.

Actor Jack Perry (senior-theatre), who plays the part of Flute in the play, felt that performing outdoors is one of the best aspects of the production.

"You can be so laid back, and the audience can really participate, more so than indoors," Perry said. "It's a new experience."

His castmate Valerie DiMambro (senior-theatre) agreed that performing outdoors could be very different from regular theater.

"There are all these environmental factors we have to work with," she said. "The actors really have to work on projection, since we are competing with Old Main ringing, traffic on College Avenue and the Honors students dorms."

Walkup described the theatre group as very "grassroots theatre," saying the low budget and short rehearsal period make it more remarkable to pull off.

Despite problems with not having an official space to work with for rehearsals, set building or costumes, Sylvester said the play has still been a great experience.

"We've had a wonderful response from the community, buying ads for the program, posting fliers to advertise," Sylvester said. "The residents of Atherton have been very cooperative as well."

For more information about "Shakespeare in the Courtyard" or what to do in case of inclement weather, go to their Web site at http://web.shc.psu.edu/~shakespeare.