A recipe for hilarity and disaster: The Shattered Glass Project presents “Much Ado About Nothing”
For Immediate Release
5/13/2021
The Shattered Glass Project presents “Much Ado About Nothing”
A recipe for hilarity and disaster: love and trust, truth and lies, gossip, fake news, and unwilling romance dissolved in social media, and baked in a Zoom box for 120 minutes.
Opening May 28, 2021 and running for 3 performances, The Shattered Glass Project presents a digital take on the Shakespeare classic, “Much Ado About Nothing”, streaming live on YouTube. Performances take place at 7 p.m. on Friday, May 28 and Saturday, May 29, and at 2 p.m. on Sunday, May 30th. All tickets are Pay-What-You-Will. Tickets are available at https://www.shatteredglassproject.org/much-ado-about-nothing.
Directed by TSGP founding artistic director Rebecca O’Neil, “Much Ado About Nothing” looks through the unsparing lens of the digital camera and online media at a classic Western theatrical story reframed with strong women at the center. A perennial audience favorite, “Much Ado About Nothing” examines love and relationships from two perspectives - a trusting love that breaks under the pressure of lies and mistrust and a humorously cynical antagonism which grows stronger as it passes through the deceit of well-intentioned friends and relations.
O’Neil says, “This is one of my favorite Shakespearean plays because it looks carefully at so many different kinds of relationships. By casting central characters against type, the cast and creative team have been able explore those relationships very differently. For example, if the ‘villain’ Don John is an older sister, deprived of agency and power because of her gender, how does that impact the course of the story? If Leonato, the angry parent who turns on their daughter Hero because of a lie, is a mother instead of a father, how does that change the parent-child dynamic, and what does it say about internalized misogyny in our society? And if social media and fake news are used as a tool to wedge apart a blossoming romance between two uncertain twenty-somethings, what does it show us about what we think we know about the world and how we know the people in it?”
O’Neil, who is playing Beatrice, also cast characters against age types, working with actor Bob Downing as Benedick. “I mean, in the 21st Century, who ever heard of a man or a woman being made fun of for being unmarried at 25? As a middle aged woman actor, getting to explore the character of Beatrice as a mature adult and looking at the possibility of love in later life is irresistible. What I enjoy is having the battle be not only between the sexes but between middle-aged folks who are set in their ways, but can still be tricked into falling in love by the thought of having someone in love with them.”
“Much Ado About Nothing” is directed by Rebecca O’Neil and co-directed by Wiley Basho Gorn. Scenic design is by Bella Rivera and costume design is by Sydney Haas. Sound design is by Alison Kozar and stage management and intimacy coordination is by Maycee McQuin. Caitlin McGown is the streaming manager, Molly Hall is the choreographer, and Sadie Gingold and Peter O’Neil composed original music for the production.
Along with Rebecca O’Neil as Beatrice and Bob Downing as Benedick, the cast includes: Molly Hall as Don John; Carolynne Wilcox as Leonato; Monique Aldred as Friar Francis; HanaSara Ito as Hero; Ivan Guillermo as Claudio; Nolan P. Chapa as Don Pedro; Marissa Wyll as Margaret; Hannah Coleman as Borachio; and Sadie Gingold as Balthasar.
The Shattered Glass Project is a theatre company with a mission to amplify the voices of theatre artists who have been marginalized on the basis of their gender or sex by offering unique opportunities to create and to grow professionally. All of The Shattered Glass Project performances are pay-what-you-will to ensure that theatre is accessible to all interested parties. Tickets and additional information are available at https://www.shatteredglassproject.org/much-ado-about-nothing
For any questions please contact theshatteredglassproject@gmail.com
#####################################################################################