Struts & Frets: Interviews with the Cast & Crew of A Midsummer Night's Dream - Megan Greener

You know that feeling when you're alone at night and you hear a sound from the other side of the house? You tiptoe down the hall, turning on every light before entering the room. You swear you hear the laughter of a demon child echoing against the walls. Your shaking hands reach around the corner to flick on the light switch only to see...Megan Greener in polka-dotted pajamas cackling about bulldog photos on Instagram! Yeah, this blog post is something like that.

We're already open to proposals for a gritty reboot.

HID: First things first, what's your favorite color and what's your character's favorite color?

MG: Woof, not to make a very simple, friendly question more complicated, but I always feel like my choice somehow adequates to who I am as a person! Am I the only one who feels that way? I am? Great. A glimpse into my general psychology, everyone. Imagine me figuring out what to make for breakfast, or what to wear outside of my apartment. My opinions always change, but at the moment, I like anything between a nice Kelly green and a forest green (pretentious, yes?), because it's soothing... This is mainly coming from someone who needs a vacation, so anything soothing is a lovely thing. For Hermia, I think red is a general favorite of hers. Or at least anything with a lot of red in it, because she clearly lives, loves, and feels passionately - she most likely even sees some red when she doesn't get what she wants - and I think red embodies all of that.

HID: So, many HID fans may not realize that you're a third-degree black belt, which basically makes you a ninja. Do you employ any of your dojo discipline to the fight scenes or in real life?

MG: Am I a ninja? I guess that would make me the most rusty ninja in town, then. I think our Lysander (aka, Morgan Hooper, a current Kendo extraordinaire) qualifies for that title much more than I do. I began studying Tang Soo Do at around age 6 or 7, then moved onto Taekwondo not long after, and kept my training up consistently until my junior year of college, when I had earned my third degree black belt and was instructing by then. But, I was also a theatre major at that point, and doing them both at the same time at the rate I was going became too difficult, so I ultimately had to give all my focus to theatre and acting.

I think the only trace of Taekwondo you'll see from me in the show is during an interesting little moment between Demetrius and Hermia out in the middle of the woods, and then maybe the way Hermia slowly stalks Helena - like a prey, if not a sparring partner - after the lover's quarrel has just ended. As for real life, I've been lucky so far, and hope I never end up  in the position of having to use anything I've learned (knock on wood). Best case scenario, if anything ever happened, I'd probably end up using a messy combination of actual technique and just sheer animal instinct. When you've trained, certain things of course never leave you; but you've also ingrained the idea that you're not looking for anyone to fight, ever. You try to make that the last option possible, before it's absolutely needed. In the end, it's all just a practical means of self-defense and self-care - and also just happens to be a gorgeous art form to watch, which is what I was always more drawn to as a student, anyway.

HID: What does Hermia want to be when she grows up?

MG: At the moment, since I think she's a "live in the now" kind of person, she just wants to be married to the man whom she loves. That's priority number one. Once that's happened, however, the world is her oyster. Maybe she'll grow to be a quintessential aristocratic lady, with whatever responsibilities that comes with, or maybe she'll open up a chain of serious self-defense schools, or maybe even a UN Women Goodwill Ambassador for equal rights - since that whole "marry Demetrius or be put to your death" stunt that good ol' Dad pulled didn't quite go over so well. Who knows? (I'm leaning towards the third option.) With the money she already has, and the money she'll be marrying into, she might have the time and means for all three.

HID: In the show, Hermia has bad dream about a snake eating her heart. What was your most memorable dream recently and what do you think it symbolizes?  

MG: Yikes. Just this past week, I had a dream that one of my acting coaches, who is now the senior acting instructor at the studio where I trained, had attended some sort of... bad, avant-garde performance that I was apart of... I can't even describe it, mainly because I can't remember. I think I was sitting with others around a dining room table during it? With Jon Hamm? I think he was there.

Anyway, my teacher was just not having it, and was a breath way from walking out, and I could feel that as I was... doing whatever I was doing. I have no idea what that dream could mean. I've been out of acting school for a few years now, but the feeling of knowing that you're just crashing and burning in front of your acting teachers is all too familiar, and probably will never leave me. With that said - come see me as Hermia! She'll be sitting at a dining room able at some point! ...Nah, just kidding, she'll just get lost in the woods, as usual.

You heard the lady! Get on down to the woods (of the West Village) and check out Megan Greener (and the rest of the cast) in A Midsummer Night's Dream, opening June 29th!

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Tickets are available at http://hidsummer.bpt.me -- One weekend only! June 29th - July 2nd!

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