The Bard is back - the Elizabethan boards are beckoning.

Bard in Your Own Backyard, the local Shakespearian society, has targeted the end of May, or early June, 2012, as the date for a production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream," the society's first production since the raucous "Bowdlerization of the Bard," earlier this year. Drew McGowan, director of both, said the society is looking forward to mounting a traditional Shakespeare play again. Auditions are set for next week.

"It's going to be a very interesting presentation in modern dress," he said. The various groups within the play will be costumed according to modern sub-culture fashions. The Athenians will be hipsters, the faeries will be candy ravers (white face paint, lots of neon, glowsticks), and the actors in the play within the play (Bottom, Nick Weaver, et al) - the Mechanicals - will be literally semi-mechanical, as "Steampunk" (a style with its roots in science fiction - Victorian era fashion meets the rocket age, as McGowan described it).

A cast of upwards of 20 actors is required to give life to the tale of lovers and bumbling actors lost in an enchanted forest, manipulated by faeries. Two evenings of auditions are arranged, for Monday, Dec. 5, at 7 p.m. and Wednesday, Dec. 7, at 7 p.m. Both evenings take place at the Studio Stage Door on 11th Avenue in downtown Cranbrook.

McGowan aims to incorporate some of the community's veteran actors, but is especially interested in bringing a more youthful presence to the cast, bringing some "new blood" into the local theatre community.

"I'm really pushing the music and style," McGowan said. "Too often, when you think of Shakespeare, you think of the grand old ethics and these terrible tragedies. But he was probably one of the best comedic writers who ever lived. I really want to do justice to the comedy, while putting on a good show - hide the negative and accentuate the positive."

While the costumes will be spectacular, McGowan is planning for a fairly minimalist set - the play, after all, takes place in a forest. "Instead of building a set, I want to build a world around the actors," he said.

Justin Ball is producing the play, and McGowan said he's done "an incredible job in only the two weeks we've been going at it." He's also reaching out the community and local businesses for support. "We really want to get the community involved," he said.

For more information on 2012's "A Midsummer Night's Dream," call 250-417-5655.