Shakespeare’s popular comedy “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” will conclude the season for Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre this week.

Performances are May 15, 16 and 17 at the Benedum Center in Downtown Pittsburgh.

The play was originally adapted for ballet in 1962 by George Balanchine for the New York City Ballet. For the Pittsburgh performance, the performers will be doing the choreography of Ben Stevenson, a British ballet dancer who worked for numerous ballet companies, featuring music by Felix Mendelssohn, the German composer and pianist.

Dawn Scannell, stager for the production, described Stevenson’s goals for the play performed through ballet dancers. “He wanted it to be easy for audiences,” Scannell said. “He wanted it to be understandable for audiences to see what’s going on.”

Scannell noted that Steven’s style of mime worked well for this particular adaptation. In ballet terms, “mime” means a system of gestures or expressions that communicate a specific idea in a piece. The goal is that even without spoken words, the message of the play still comes across to the audience.

The Shakespeare comedy intertwines four plots in the setting of an enchanted forest in Athens. The plots feature the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta, the romantic involvements of four young lovers, the quarrel between fairy king Oberon and queen Titania, and a group of amateur actors rehearsing a play.

Act one focuses on the conflict within the enchanted forest, as Oberon and Titania argue in the enchanted forest and Hermia, Lysander, Helena and Demetrius chase and misrecognize each other. Puck moves between said lovers through casting spells that leave the lovers further disoriented.

Act two discovers an inevitable solution, while still preserving the whimsy and magic of the story’s tone.

Barbara Bears, rehearsal director at Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, believes people should experience to the show whether they’re ballet fans or not. Bears is aware of what she called the “misconception” that ballet isn’t for everyone.

“There’s intimidation to it,” Bears said. “But honestly, we spend a great deal of time in the studio going, ‘is the audience going to understand it?’ I mean, that’s a whole objective.”

What sets this apart from other ballet productions is the focus on the comedic relief it brings, Bear said.

“Most ballets are tragedies … it’s nice to have a comedic ballet,” Bears said. “It’s fun for the dancers to have the opportunity to be funny, and I actually think it’s harder to be funny than it is to be melodramatic or dramatic.”

For more information and tickets, visit pbt.org

Bridget Pohl is a student at University of Pittsburgh and a staff writer at The Pitt News.