Acclaimed Brustein Production May Be Televised on WGBH

The American Repertory Theatre's (ART) critically acclaimed production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" may be taped this fall for television broadcast, Rob Orchard, the company's managing director, said yesterday.

The filming--the first ever of a company production--will serve as a "pilot" to demonstrate the artistic merit and potential marketability of the theatre's productions to cable and public television stations across the country.

Robert S. Brustein, professor of English and artistic director of ART, called the production--which ran last spring at the Loeb theatre--"one of the most significant and important things we've ever done."

The ART's interpretation of the Shakespeare play, directed by Alvin Epstein, replaced Mendelsohn's traditional, romantic music with a Henry Purcell score but retained all of Shakespeare's dialogue in what Brustein described as "an extraordinary combination of fidelity and originality."

A tentative agreement between the theatre and WGBH-TV provides that the television station will use its personnel and equipment to tape the play during a regular November performance in exchange for the rights to air the production up to four times in the Boston area.

But Orchard added that complicated negotiations over actors royalties and a search for the more than $100,000 necessary to underwrite the project are still underway.

Orchard said part of this funding may come from an independent production company which he would not identify.

Although negotiations concerning additional ways to distribute the film have resulted in no firm agreements, Brustein said he is "optimistic" the play will appeal to cable and public television as well as the growing video-cassette market.