• Theseus, Duke of Athens, and Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons, plan and prepare for their impending wedding.

• Egeus interrupts to accuse his daughter Hermia of disobedience, because she has fallen in love with Lysander and won’t marry Demetrius. Theseus orders Hermia to obey her father and marry Demetrius; if she refuses, she will be killed or sent to a convent.

• Hermia and Lysander plan to escape to the woods that evening, elope, and seek refuge with Lysander’s wealthy aunt. Hermia reveals the scheme to her best friend Helena, who, harboring unrequited love for  Demetrius, promptly reveals the elopement plan to him.

• Nick Bottom and his fellow blue collar workers (“rude mechanicals”) meet to cast a play to perform at  Theseus and Hippolyta’s wedding celebration.

• Hermia and Lysander have lost their way in the dark woods, and decide to rest for the night. Demetrius searches for Hermia and Lysander, and Helena chases after Demetrius.

• Elsewhere in the woods, Puck, who is a sprite and hobgoblin as well as jester/lieutenant to the fairy king, recounts the conflict between King Oberon and Queen Titania. The pair arrive and cross paths, quarreling
over the custody of a human boy. Unable to reconcile, Titania leaves with her fairy attendants.

• Oberon sends Puck to find an ingredient for a love spell, in order to use it on a sleeping Titania so that she will fall in love with the first creature she sees when she awakes.

• Having witnessed the lovers’ chase and Helena’s despair over unreturned feelings, Oberon also commands Puck to put a spell on Demetrius so that he will fall in love with Helena. However, Puck mistakes Lysander for Demetrius.

• The mechanicals gather in the woods to rehearse their play, unknowingly near where Titania sleeps. During the rehearsal, Puck places a donkey’s head upon Bottom. His fellow castmates run away in fear, and Titania wakes and promptly falls in love.

• Chaos, confusions, corrections, celebrations, and  play-going ensue.