From Queen of the Amazons to Queen of the Fairies, local actress shows her strength in

As an actress who has been on stage since she was 5, Avondale/North Center resident Caitlin Jackson has played everyone from Abigail in “The Crucible” to Bette Davis in Hell in a Handbag's production “Christmas Dearest.”

But for her latest turn on stage, she has stepped into not just one, but two roles from out of mythology. In her third production of William Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” Jackson has taken on Hippolyta, the famed Amazon Queen who lost a war and her heart to Theseus, as well as the Fairy Queen Titania, whose eternal battle for love and supremacy with her Fairy King, Oberon, puts them in the path of four young lovers lost in the woods outside of Athens.

“I think Titania and Oberon are in an eternal back-and-forth where they play with each other – for good and bad – and this night in the woods just happens to fair in Oberon's favor,” Jackson said. “I don't think it's always that way.”

Though Oberon is ultimately the victor in this play, Jackson thinks Titania is as tenacious as her male counterpart and equally interesting, if not more so.

“I like that she's strong,” Jackson said of why she is drawn to the role. “I like that she's powerful and to be perfectly honest, I like that she's so confident in her sexuality that she uses it to get what she wants with no shame.”

Her biggest challenge with the role hasn’t been the complexity of the character or connecting with her fellow actors, instead it’s been a more utilitarian problem – coughing.

“I have a nervous tick that makes me cough at inopportune moments onstage,” she says, laughing. “Like when Oberon is an inch away from my face while I'm supposed to be ‘sleeping,’ and I'm all of a sudden overcome with a coughing fit.”

Jackson stays busy. Though Midsummer has not yet closed, she already has two more shows lined up – “Dark of the Moon” with her company New American Folk Theatre and “Coraline” with Black Button Eyes Productions at City Lit Theatre.

See Jackson on stage in Strangeloop Theatre’s production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” running on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. through May 25 at The Side Project Theatre. More information is available at www.strangelooptheatre.org.