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   from the issue of February 17, 2005

     
 
Shakespearean romantic comedy opens spring theater season

University Theatre opens its 2005 spring season with one of William Shakespeare's most popular romantic comedies Much Ado About Nothing. Performances are at 7:30 p.m., Feb. 18, 19, 23, 24, 25, 26 in Howell Theatre, first floor Temple Building. The Feb. 17 performance is reserved for the UNL Honors Program.

The plot of this timeless play features Shakespeare's typical cast of characters befuddled by trickery and passion. Don Pedro, Claudio and Benedick arrive in Messina to visit the governor, Leonato. Claudio quickly becomes enamored with and pursues Hero, Leonato's lovely daughter. Benedick, a sworn bachelor, can't understand the concept of being love-struck but does find the time to exchange witty insults with Beatrice, Leonato's niece. Borrachio, a follower of Don John the brother of Don Pedro, spreads the news of Don Pedro's plan to help Claudio in his quest for Hero. Don John plots to destroy this intended marriage.

A masked party creates plots and schemes, not only to connect Hero and Claudio, but also to trick Beatrice and Benedick into falling in love with one another. Dogberry and Verges, two comic officers, establish a night watch prior to Hero and Claudio's wedding. Don John pays Borrachio to seduce Margaret outside of Hero's window so that Claudio and Don Pedro will witness this display, thinking Margaret is Hero. Through a series of mistaken identities and plot twists, it is "much ado about nothing."

This production of Much Ado About Nothing introduces G. Valmont Thomas, director assistant professor of Theatre Arts. A member of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival for seven years, Thomas worked with acclaimed directors. In 20 years of performing Shakespeare, Thomas has played the title roles in Macbeth, Hamlet and Othello and role in Pericles, Twelfth Night; Henry V; Henry IV Part 2; and Much Ado About Nothing. He also has appeared on productions of August Wilson's The Piano Lesson, Athol Fugard's Sizwe Bansai Is Dead, The Colored Museum, The Rocky Horror Show, and Blues For An Alabama Sky.

Thomas says of Much Ado About Nothing, "When William Shakespeare wrote comedies, he always seemed to shape them with an eye towards providing a lesson or two about the foibles of being human and usually, being in love. The play uses disguise and deception as central devices in a society poised on the brink of great change. There is a party scene wherein the characters are masked and speak to one another unaware (or are they?) of just who they are addressing at the time. It is under cover of these disguises that Don Pedro secures the affections of Hero for his friend Claudio. The lessons that Shakespeare offers us tend to resonate, not with a certain generation, or time, but rather throughout each generation, and about each time."

Much Ado About Nothing also introduces UNL Theatre's new class of Master of Fine Arts students in the Professional Actor Training Program, as well as undergraduate theatre students.

New UNL Scenic Design faculty member Guowen Fang designed the production. Costumes are by graduate student Mandy Parmeter Eilers, who designs Much Ado About Nothing as her thesis project. Graduate students Cassie Vorbach and Jeff O'Brien design lighting and sound, respectively. Faculty members Heath Lane and Alisa Belflower are technical director and musical director, respectively. Undergraduate Taylor Bendgen is stage manager.

Tickets are $14 regular, $12 faculty/staff and senior citizen, and $10 student/youth. Tickets are available at the Lied Center Ticket Office, 301 N. 12th Street, 472-4747 or 800-432-3231, 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m Monday through Friday and one hour prior to performance in the Howell Theatre lobby.


GO TO: ISSUE OF FEBRUARY 17

ARTS HEADLINES FOR FEBRUARY 17

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Shakespearean romantic comedy opens spring theater season
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Undergraduate art exhibition opens Feb. 18

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