ADRIAN — After a successful inaugural run last summer with “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” the Adrian Shakespeare Company returns with another often-performed comedy by the Bard of Avon, “Much Ado About Nothing.”
Performances are at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, July 31, Friday, Aug. 1, and Saturday, Aug. 2; and 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 3 at Adrian’s Trestle Park. Admission is free.
The production is directed by Stephen Kiersey, with John MacNaughton serving as production manager. Kiersey and MacNaughton are the Adrian Shakespeare Company’s co-founders.
Kiersey has adapted the play to a much more modern era than when Shakespeare wrote it, bringing the setting forward to the 1970s and making the soldiers of the original story into a boy band instead.
“We’re testing the waters to see if people will accept Shakespeare as non-Shakespearean,” Kiersey said. “We’re trying to make Shakespeare more approachable.”
In keeping with the play’s new time frame, audiences can expect to see 1970s fashion and hear disco music. And when the characters dance, it’s not some courtly Renaissance dance, it’s the Hustle.
“That’s going to be kind of fun, I think,” Kiersey said.
As the play opens, Don John has gotten fed up with being in the band and storms off, so the band has to go on hiatus and the men end up in Messina, Italy.
There, the plot thickens when Claudio meets Hero and falls in love with her. Meanwhile, Claudio’s friend Benedick and Hero’s cousin Beatrice swear they will remain unmarried despite clearly being attracted to each other.
Don Pedro, who’s Don John’s brother, and his friends try to trick Benedick and Beatrice into falling in love while Don John, still disgruntled, plots to stop Claudio’s and Hero’s wedding. Mistaken identities and plenty of hijinks ensue, but ultimately everything works out and the play ends with a double wedding.
“This play really is the original rom-com,” Kiersey said, noting the plot device so common to that genre: having people who start out as mere acquaintances — and perhaps even hate each other — fall in love by the end of the story.
The cast includes Scott Leake as Benedick, Emily Gifford as Beatrice, Max Ruff as Claudio, Kylie McElrath as Hero, Samuel Spaulding as Don Pedro, and Justin Kohlruss as Don John.
Also in the production are Mark Hyre (Leonato), Maria Portaro-Mohler (Antonia), Jessica Dougherty (Margaret), Meg McNamee (Ursula), Conner Raymond (Borachio), Makana Luana (Conrade), Bryan Shane (Dogberry), Tori Bruce (Verges), Jonah Hiatt (George Seacoal), AJ Landingham (Hugh Oatcoke), Mark Schersten (the Sexton), Aaron Treadway (Friar Francis), and Nic Trevino (the Messenger).
In addition to Kiersey and MacNaughton, the artistic team includes scenic designer Doug Miller, costume designer Pam Adair, and choreographer Jessica Briggs. Sound design is by Red Letter.
The Adrian Shakespeare Co. grew out of Kiersey and MacNaughton wanting to both bring a different kind of entertainment to Adrian and give local actors the chance to do plays rather than musicals.
“We’ve always felt that there are actors in this community who want to do things other than musicals,” Kiersey said. “Not everyone can sing and dance.”
He and MacNaughton were both quite pleased with how last year’s production went both in terms of quality and the way audiences turned out to see the show. Between three and four hundred people attended the production’s three performances, even with the rain that occurred opening night and a heat index of 100 degrees for Sunday’s show.
“I was happy with [the attendance], considering it was our very first show and we were kind of flying by the seat of our pants,” Kiersey said.
Of course, they also learned what needs to be changed for this summer’s production. “We knew parking would be a challenge,” Kiersey said, and to that end there will be better signage this time indicating there’s a dropoff site for audience members with disabilities and noting where parking isn’t allowed.
Plans are also in the works for ways to help get people from the parking area to the venue. And, in contrast to last year’s three shows, this summer there’s a fourth show in case bad weather forces a cancellation.
Although attendance itself is free, the Adrian Shakespeare Company welcomes donations, which can be made through the Lenawee Community Foundation at lenaweecommunityfoundation.org.
Additionally, the Adrian Chipotle restaurant, 1421 S. Main St., is hosting a fundraiser from 5-9 p.m. Saturday, July 19. Diners who bring in the fundraiser flyer, which can be downloaded from the Adrian Shakespeare Company’s Facebook page, will see 25 percent of their purchase donated to the troupe.
For more information on the production, go to adrianshakespeare.org or follow the group on Facebook.
