Lukas Brasherfons

Brasherfons, who graduated as an Honors Program student from Columbia College with a BFA in Acting and a Minor in Stage Combat and then received an MFA in Dramaturgy from the University of Iowa, is the resident dramaturg at the Shakespearean Youth Theatre in Saint Paul, Minnesota. SYT’s goal is to provide young artists with professional-quality theatrical experiences while still in their high school years, in addition to a world-class education in Shakespearean performance. The SYT’s Dream Project is a website devoted to annotated, interactive editions of the plays of Shakespeare. The website houses each audio drama produced by SYT during the COVID-19 pandemic, all performed by SYT’s ensemble of young artists. Each audio drama has that particular script’s adaptation available for viewing and educational purposes, as well as supplementary interviews with the cast, in addition to ensemble-generated artwork, thus making youth artistry available to a global audience. The website and all the audio productions are free, open to all, and designed to be a new way to experience Shakespeare through a digital combination of radio theatre and textual interactivity.

The Dream Project was created by SYT following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The Dream Project has so far produced audio presentations of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Hamlet, and Troilus and Cressida, with productions of Romeo and Juliet and Much Ado About Nothing coming this summer. “At SYT, we are happy that, in spite of the pandemic restrictions, we have still been able to safely create professional-quality productions that will continue to live on once our current threats are less imminent,” says Brasherfons, who will also direct the upcoming rendition of Romeo and Juliet.