As an orchestra strikes up a light, bouncing tune, a motley company of prancing maniacs races down the aisles of Johnson Chapel and takes the stage. It could be your typical Zumbyes concert, until Amanda Crocker '03 and Geoffrey Walter '04 step on-stage and begin bellowing in iambic pentameter. The scene is the fairy dance from "Midsummer Night's Dream," and it comes courtesy of the Atelier Shakespeare theater group.

Johnson Chapel, one of the College's most venerable buildings, will bring to life a very different tradition this Thursday. Utilizing not only the front stage but also the aisles, balconies and corridors, 14 students will fill the Chapel with scenes from "As You Like It," "Midsummer Night's Dream," "Titus Andronicus," "Measure for Measure," "Henry IV," "Hamlet," "Macbeth" and "Othello."

"The Chapel is a very playful space," said Levy-Despas Fellow Florent Masse, the founder and director of Atelier Shakespeare. "It has a very special feel to it."

Masse conceived of "The Rest is Silence" (the recital takes its title from Hamlet's dying words) as an extension of his previous collaborations with Shakespeare classes taught by Professors David Sofield and Leslie Katz.

Masse carefully selected all the actors, many of whom he knew through his work with Shakespeare classes and some of whom he knew through their on-stage work for the theater department, and assigned them scenes that he thought would complement their personalities.

"Casting is something you know instinctively," explained Masse. "For instance, I felt that Zach Yorke ('01) had a real-life sensuality that would make him a great Angelo. I felt that Sarah Dasher ('03) could really be Hamlet's mother. She has a certain gravity, which I first saw when she played the servant in 'Miss Julie' last year. And Brett Lentz ('01)-he's playing Falstaff, and he has that exuberance, even in real life."

"Atelier" is French for "workshop," and the dress rehearsal that I saw stayed true to that spirit. The fast-talking, constantly getisculating Masse was definitely in charge of the show, but even with the performance just four days away, he remained open to suggestions from his actors. The fairy dance from "Midsummer," in fact, was choreographed on the spot with input from all the actors.

I only saw two of the nine scenes, but they were impressive. In "As You Like It," which will open the recital, Dasher and Diana Buirski '02, as Celia and Rosalind, were plotting on the second-floor balcony when Jim Decker '03 (the Duke) came charging down the aisle with his company of guards. The combination of exuberant acting, a unique space and dependably brilliant dialogue promises for a great show this Thursday.