‘Midsummer in Newtown’ is ‘Beautifully Uplifting’ – The Seattle Times

‘Midsummer in Newtown’ review: Sandy Hook students find healing, beauty on stage

The Seattle Times – February 1, 2017

By Moira Macdonald

“Midsummer in Newtown,” a haunting and lovely documentary, is about something very simple: a group of kids, with the help of some talented adults, putting on a play. But it’s not just any play — Shakespeare’s gossamer masterpiece “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” turned into a kid-friendly musical with the addition of original songs — and these aren’t just any kids. They are the children of Newtown, Conn.; many from Sandy Hook Elementary School, where just a year earlier a young gunman entered one of their classrooms and killed 26 people, including 20 first-graders.

It’s one of the most emotionally charged documentaries you’ll ever see (I’m tearing up at my desk just at the memory of it, so you can imagine how many tissues it took to actually watch it). But “Midsummer in Newtown” is also beautifully uplifting; a quiet, gentle demonstration of how art can help souls heal. Read more.