Much Ado about Nothing
By William Shakespeare
LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The Department of Theatre acknowledges the land we are on in Tennessee is the original homeland of the Cherokee, Yuchi, Shawnee, and Chickasaw tribal nations. We honor these indigenous people, their heritage, culture, and legacy.
DIRECTOR'S NOTE
My grandfather left me a portion of his record collection. Not Miles Davis or Chet Davis or anything like that. He left me a stack of Royal Shakespeare Company recordings from the 40s. It feels good to be seen like that. (Still wouldn’t have minded the jazz records…) Anyway, there is a stately and dignified recording there of Sir John Gilgud reciting a Benedick monologue from Act II scene iii of Much Ado About Nothing that has lived in my head for years now.
The unfortunate thing about living in my head, though, is that it’s cluttered in there. It turns out that my love for Shakespeare lives pretty close to my love for Looney Tunes. I love a thoughtful comedy of witty repartee… but not as much as I love spit takes, pratfalls, and giant underpants. It turns out that Much Ado About Nothing is wonderfully suited to such comedy! We’ve got lovers who annoy each other, mistaken identity, lies, disguises, and everything else you need for a knee-slapping good time. (Yes, there’s some serious matter as well, but… you’ll see.) Anyway, we’ve set our tale in the Gold Rush of 1849. It marries the colorful characters of the American westward expansion with the lively ones Shakespeare gave us and offers a backdrop of limited oversight and loose social customs.
A final word about this production: WH Auden has an essay in which he speaks broadly about comedy. In it he delineates the difference between what he terms pagan comedy as typified by the Greeks and Christian comedy as typified by Shakespeare. The basic point of his argument is that in Greek comedy there is a fool in tears with everyone else pointing and laughing at him while in Shakespeare everyone is foolish and we all laugh together. I couldn’t put it better myself. One of the best things to love in Shakespearean comedy is the way it reminds us, as Puck said, “Lord, what fools these mortals be.”
Enjoy the show, and let’s all try to take ourselves less seriously.
-Scott Baker, M.Div., MA
CAST LIST
Benedick: Nathan Price Mann
Beatrice: Claire Pals
Don Pedro: Connor Adair
Claudio: Dawson Wise
Leonata: Isabella Wickham
Antonia: Elanah Bruce
Hero: Sofía Hernandez Morales
Don John: Rachel Penner
Borachio: Jude Williams
Conrade: Bowen Sellers
Margaret: Makenzie Cogswell
Ursula: Knoelle Antley
Dogberry: Tiger Dulaney
Verges: Sophia Haasevoort
Watchmen: Grace Mullins, Ashlyn Sears, Katarina Kell, Maya Mezgel
Friar: Nylah Watts
Sexton: Sarah Cooper
Ensemble, et. al.: Allie Andres, Madelyn Jones, Battle Loyd, Maegan Kirkland, Aleyah Williams
Understudies:
Beatrice u/s: Allie Andres
Claudio u/s: Battle Loyd
Hero u/s: Maegan Kirkland
Don John u/s: Sarah Cooper
PRODUCTION TEAM
Producer: Beki Baker
Director: Scott Baker
Production Manager: Andrew J. Bleiler
Scenic Designer: Andy Bleiler
Costume Designer: June Kingsbury
Asst. Costume Designer: Emma Stanard*
Lighting Designer: Coleton Wood
Sound Designer: Saidee Hannel*
Technical Director: Hendrick Shelton
Stage Manager: Erynn Barrett*
Assistant Stage Managers: Lin Lescalleet*, Justin Littrell*
Assistant Director: Peyton Lewis*
Props Assistant: Makinley Smith*
Text Coach: Nat McIntyre
*denotes students
STUDENT RUN CREW
Stage Crew: Kaden Kinney, Lawson Karber
Wardrobe: Heidi Thomas, Sara Kovich, Madison Hickey
Light Board Operator: Berkley Landreth
Sound Board Operator: Saidee Hannel
STUDENT PRODUCTION CREW
Costume Shop Staff: Emma Stanard, Lin Lescalleet, Arianna Miller, Allie Andres, Ella Haganman, Jaidyn Smart
Costume Practicum: Erynn Barrett, Elanah Bruce, Makenzie Cogswell, Sophia Hassevoort, Kaylee Johnson, Rachel Penner, Heidi Thomas, Phoebe Countryman, Mackenzie Curle, Maya Mezgel, Channing Smith, Nylah Watts, James Wier, Lillian Brown, Madison Hickey, Anna Jones, Sara Kovich, Ashlyn Sears, Elly Kate Smith, Abigail Clark
Scene Shop Foremen: Peyton Lewis, Phoebe Countryman, Sophie Simmons, Nate Mann, Makinley Smith, Maegan Kirkland
Scenic Practicum: Maegan Kirkland, Nathan Mann, Grace Mullins, Luna Range, Kaelyn Rozgony, Sarah Blair, Erin Crandall, Aleia Eagleton, Kenses Garabito, Lawson Karber, Kaden Kinney, Regan Mills, Jaidyn Smart, Allie Andres, Isabella DeCesare, Jackson Martin, Dawson Wise, Sh'Ahr Blackburn, Gunnar Cowden, Téa Doherty, Alyssa Freeze, Hayley-Kate Nelms, Hayden Smith, Jude Williams
Lighting Foremen: Nylah Watts, Justin Littrell
Lighting Practicum: Connor Adair, Allie Andres, Knoelle Antley, Kayla Dunn, Katarina Kell, Berkley Landreth, Lin Lescalleet, Brock Loyd, Claire Pals, Samantha Scattini, Bowen Sellers, Jonah Smith, Emma Spillman, Emily Stephens, Isabella Wickham
SPECIAL THANKS
Nashville Shakespeare Festival
SUSTAINABILITY STATEMENT
The show you are seeing has been created with a mindfulness toward our environmental impacts and carbon footprint. Approximately 80% of the set you see on stage has been created from recycled or repurposed scenery pieces, which have been on stage in many other productions. All of the lumber and other building materials used for the set are sourced from certified sustainably harvested mills. The paints used are water-based, low or zero VOC, and almost all of the set will be recycled after the last performance to be used on future productions. The costumes as well, are over 75% reused or reclaimed and will also be saved after the show for future use. The lighting we employ is over 70% LED or low wattage fixtures, greatly reducing the energy needed to light the show as compared to conventional lighting fixtures. In rehearsals, every effort is made to avoid single use plastics, plastic water bottles, and other waste generating items.
Lipscomb University Theatre is the only university in Tennessee that is recognized as an educational theatre member of the Broadway Green Alliance.