My Life, the Theater, and Other Tragedies

In this lively romantic dramedy, Zadoff (Food, Girls, and Other Things I Can't Have) uses a high school production of A Midsummer Night's Dream as a backdrop for one teenager's coming-of-age. Ever since his father's death, sophomore Adam Ziegler has sought refuge in his school's theater department. As a techie, responsible for set construction and lights, Adam is part of a small but tight-knit group, forbidden by unwritten custom from interacting with the actors, "unless it's absolutely necessary." Then he meets Summer Armstrong, an actress willing to defy the rules, and an unlikely friendship slowly develops into something deeper. But in true Shakespearean fashion, Adam may have to choose between friends and romance. As the production descends into chaos, courtesy of a tyrannical student designer and a director in the throes of a midlife crisis, Adam struggles to keep it all together. Zadoff captures the confusion, torn loyalties, and overwrought drama of teenage life%E2%80%94not to mention student theater. All the world's a stage, indeed, and these players earn their applause. Ages 12%E2%80%93up. (May)