Stacked with Boston Conservatory Talent, Shakespeare on the Common Celebrates Its 30th Anniversary

Commonwealth Shakespeare Company (CSC) wants all Bostonians to enjoy great theater brought to life in the city’s backyard: the Boston Common. The company strives for accessibility in every sense of the word, with free performances in public spaces that welcome families and accommodate audiences of all abilities. But, “accessible” here also means culturally relevant. Which is why—for 30 consecutive summers—CSC’s Shakespeare on the Common has been reimagining the Bard’s plays with inventive productions that find resonance with the present day. 

This year’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, for instance, has the play’s four lovers running away not to an enchanted forest but to a distinctly twenty-first-century fairy playland: a pop music festival, à la Burning Man. To get the gist, picture the fairy Puck—“that merry wanderer of the night” played by Boston Conservatory alum Nick Cearley (BFA ’23)—rocking a black leather skirt and harness while cavorting on a stage lit with pulsing neon.

This cheeky update is the vision of Midsummer’s director, Steven Maler, who cofounded Commonwealth Shakespeare Company 30 years ago with a mission to keep the Boston public engaged with—and loving—classical theater. Equally as important to Maler, however, is that CSC trains Boston’s emerging theater artists in the intricacies of Shakespeare, ensuring they have the skills and opportunity to embody English literature’s foundational plays. 

“For us, it’s a mission. Just as we’re trying with our work to build the audiences of tomorrow, we’re also trying to build the artists of tomorrow,” Maler says.

This credo has been a godsend for Boston Conservatory students, alumni, and faculty over the last few decades. And, as the company celebrated its 30th anniversary season of Shakespeare on the Common in summer 2026, Boston Conservatory artists made significant contributions to the production. Six Conservatory actors were featured: Cearley as Puck, De’Lon Grant (MFA  ’09, assistant professor) as Oberon, Meghan Carey (BFA ’24) as Hermia, John Kuntz (associate professor) as Tom Snout, Alex Leondedis (BFA ’22)  as Snug, and current student Evan Danyliw (BFA ’28) as Moth. And, two additional Boston Conservatory faculty members helped shape the pop-focused production, with David Reiffel composing original music and John Lam choreographing dance scenes.

Boston is an ideal place to study and perform Shakespeare, according to Maler. “We have world-class theater companies, and we have world-class learning institutions, and the ecosystem that comes out of that allows for people to both teach and perform,” he says. “BoCo, in particular, is such a great place for us to go to and seek out because of the rigor and focus and intentionality around theater training.”

BoCo, in particular, is such a great place for us to go to and seek out because of the rigor and focus and intentionality around theater training.

—Steven Maler, Founding Artistic Director of Commonwealth Shakespeare Company

Over the years, many Boston Conservatory students and alums have participated in CSC’s developmental company known as Stage2, where they’ve learned the ropes and performed matinees of the Bard’s plays for school groups at the Strand Theater in Boston’s Dorchester neighborhood. Select Stage2 actors also get the chance to play ensemble roles in mainstage productions on the Common. For Boston Conservatory students and alums, this typically means performing alongside their Conservatory teachers, who often play leading roles in CSC productions.

This is exactly how Danyliw and Leondedis found themselves on stage alongside faculty members Grant and Kuntz. In spring 2026, CSC’s Stage2 production featured Danyliw as Romeo and Leondedis as Lord Capulet in matinees of Romeo and Juliet at the Strand. Both then “graduated” to Shakespeare on the Common in July. 

For Danyliw, who was cast as Moth in the ensemble of fairies, the experience brought real-world relevance to his musical theater studies, leading him on “the journey of learning how to audition, and learning what to audition for, and how to find auditions, and building up the confidence to even go in the room.”

Although Danyliw’s training at Boston Conservatory is based in musical theater, he felt up to the challenge of Shakespeare because “I’ve been fortunate that my teachers have been so focused on just truthful acting,” he says, adding that creative risk taking—giving oneself permission to “fail constructively”—is a guiding principal of the Conservatory’s Theater Division.

Recent alum Carey, who is based in the Boston area, found her way into the Midsummer cast through her growing network of local theater professionals, an artistic community she calls “small but mighty.” While acting in the Huntington Theatre Company’s 2025 production of Hills of California, she forged connections that led to a successful audition with Commonwealth Shakespeare Company for Midsummer. “You can build a network here pretty easily after or even during school,” Carey says.

Working with “different generations” of Boston Conservatory folks, Carey has experienced the simpatico of costars who come from the same place: “Even though we graduated at totally different times ... there’s such an energy and charisma about BoCo people,” she says. 

Shakespeare on the Common wrapped up Midsummer on August 9, and is poised to carry on the summer tradition for decades to come. Maler says he is optimistic about the future of Shakespearean theater—at least as far as Boston is concerned. 

“It’s really encouraging—as we think about where performance is going—that you see bright young talent so enmeshed and immersed in the material. And every day—every rehearsal—[they’re] bringing something fresh and new to it,” he says. “That discipline and rigor is just deeply, deeply inspiring to see in young artists.” 

Learn about Boston Conservatory’s musical theater program, and see more photos from Shakespeare on the Common’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.