Although the play was cut a weekend short, senior Lily Cichon found that the opening night had a substantial audience turnout compared to plays and musicals before it.
“We had a really successful opening night and closing house. We tied in the audience, and all were very responsive,” Cichon said. “The energy from the audience made it even more impactful.”
The drama department reined their talents in for this wildwind time period of Shakespearean comedy from Apr. 23 – 27.
Not only did audience’s vitality increase, but so did the visual aspects of the show.
“[To add a Shakespearean effect], we put three to four layers of green [paint] on one of the doors to make it look older, we used this stuff called Stucco to make the walls have a bumpy texture and we used Rosco which added a watercolor effect,” senior Amanda Brainard, scenic charge artist for the show, said.
Director Sara Dempsey decided to omit the usual second weekend and celebrate Shakespeare’s 450th birthday on a Wednesday night instead. Brainard states that this decision pulled in a larger audience.
Shakespeare productions are known for their confusing language, but the actors and actresses here made sure to understand their lines so that the audience could too.
“When you know people aren’t going to understand the words, you have to show it through body language,” junior Julia Brenner, an assistant director of the play, said.
Much Ado About Nothing starred senior Angie Hahn as Hero and junior Brandon Bailey as Claudio, the two betrothed lovers that plot to get confirmed singles Beatrice, played by senior Cichon, and Benedick, portrayed by Devin Bailey to wed as well.
During the actual presentation of the play, the closeness shown by the entirety of the cast was evident due to the content of Much Ado, according to Cichon.
“The nature of this play was tighter knit because [the play] is all about family and caring about each other by taking care of each other,” Cichon said.
According to Brainard, another interesting dynamic was the overall enthusiasm for the production.
“It’s pretty cool to know we performed Shakespeare’s play on his 450th birthday since it’s been five to six years since we did A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream,” Brainard, smiling gleefully, said.
Overall, Much Ado About Nothing provided the cast and the audience with an intimate and heartwarming experience, according to Cichon.
“It [was] definitely an experience I will never forget and a different kind of team due to the collaborative art product. I will never lose that love for those people that I worked with in this play,” Cichon said.