Beneath a waxing moon, fairies are afoot on Belfast’s waterfront.

They flit and fly across the lawn, making merry with each other and wreak havoc on young lovers pursuing passion in the starlight.

They all are fools, mortal or not, but they frolic, dance and sing with a purpose – to mark the 20th anniversary of the Belfast Maskers Theater with 10 performances of William Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” in Steamboat Landing Park.

“I wanted to do something special, an outside show,” director Aynne Ames said Tuesday at intermission during the 40-member cast’s only dress rehearsal. “It’s so beautiful here, the perfect spot.”

Ames, in the midst of her third year as the Maskers’ artistic director, thought a performance on the city’s waterfront would be the perfect way to mark the theater company’s two decades of productions.

The Maskers’ board of directors, however, was a bit skittish about doing another show outside since their last outdoor production cost them more than $50,000, lost money and drew noise complaints from neighbors.

In July 2001, the theater put on “The Boys from Swanville,” an original rock ‘n’ musical, on the deck outside their theater on Front Street.

The show ran nearly three hours and the second nightly performance that began at 11 p.m. was attended sparsely and also disturbed residents living nearby.

Board members agreed to Ames’ plans if she raised the money up front and promised the show would not run longer than 21/2 hours. She succeeded on both counts with donations from Mathews Brothers Co., Union Trust Co., The Unity Foundation and the Waldo County Fund of the Maine Community Foundation and a bit of judicious trimming of the Shakespeare play’s script.

Profits from “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” will be used next year as seed money for a similar outside show, according to Ames.

The director turned to an old friend to compose original music so some soliloquies could be sung. She also took a former member of the Boston Ballet up on her offer to choreograph dances for the fairies. Their contributions raise the Maskers’ production up a notch.

A. Martin Smith composed the music for “Midsummer.” A resident of Cornwall, N.Y., he worked with Ames when she taught in the area in the 1980s and ’90s.

“She asked me to compose music in the tone of [Felix] Mendelssohn’s score,” he said. “I used his music, especially the Overture, to key into melodies that relate to different characters. The audience will be hearing Mendelssohn’s lines, but some of them will be inverted or with just a few notes different.”

Mendelssohn wrote an overture to the play in 1825 when he was 19. Sixteen years later, he wrote incidental music including “The Wedding March” that has been the traditional recessional played at formal weddings since 1858, 11 years after the composer’s death.

Deirdre Miles Burger created delightful dances that showcase the talents of local young dancers and work well on the lawn. Burger, who summers in the Belfast area, retired last year as principal of the Boston Ballet School.

The costumes, designed by Nell Moore, who has worked with the Maskers for more than a decade, won’t keep the actors warm on a chilly night but they add to the enchantment of the evening. Her fairies are drenched in gossamer, the lovers clad in layers of airy voile, the kings and queen draped in glitzy lame.

Although locals dominate the show, Ames cast out-of-state actors as three of Shakespeare’s four young lovers and as Oberon, the fairy king. Bill Army of Westerly, R.I., brings to life an almost threatening fairy king. To portray him as a stalker is a choice few actors or directors make.

“I like a dark Oberon,” Army said as dress rehearsal ended. “He’s attempting to control love, but he finds out that he can only control lust. That’s the discovery the fairy king makes in this show.”

Erik Perkins of Belmont plays Puck, the elfin creature who does Oberon’s dirty work. Perkins, a graphic designer, spends much of the show scampering up the scaffold that serves as the fairies’ home base. He jumps 4 feet to the ground in many scenes or zips down a slide to fill the sleeping lovers’ eyes with potions.

“I’m getting used to it,” he said of the scaffold that had been set up for less than a week. “I feel pretty confident on it now and I think it’s a spectacular idea for the show outside.”

Most challenging for Lee Parent, a Belfast native who owns a graphic arts business in the city, was Shakespeare’s language.

“Making the language feel comfortable has taken some time,” she said. “I hope it sounds natural.”

No matter their pasts, the many individuals who come together on Belfast Bay to bring to life one of Shakespeare’s most loved plays create an enchanted evening that will be remembered long after their names have faded from memory. Masker’s production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” captures the joy and magic of a Maine midsummer’s eve in equal measure to the Bard’s.

When you go

Dates: Today through Saturday, Aug. 4

Show time: 7 p.m. Site opens at 5:45 p.m.

Place: Steamboat Landing Park on Belfast Waterfront

Running time: Approximately 21/2 hours with one 15-minute intermission

Seating: Bleachers and folding chairs on site

Facilities: Portable toilets on site.

Cost: $15, for adults; $10 for teens; $5 for children 12 and under

Tickets: Call 338-9668 for reservations. Available on site.

Rain info: Tickets will be honored for subsequent performances.

Don’t forget: Jackets, lap blankets, bug spray.