“MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING”
A Comedy by
William Shakespeare

• Director: Barbara Ridenour
• Assistant director: Jen Goheen
• When: 7 p.m. Thursday, April 3
  7:30 p.m. Friday, April 4
  7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 5
• Where: North Attic Playhouse

Note: Throughout this week the Gargoyle will present a series of diary entries by five members of this year’s spring play, Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing.” The opening performance will be 7 p.m. Thursday at the North Attic Playhouse, followed by 7:30 p.m. shows Friday and Saturday. Senior Michelle Gao (Leonata, governor of Messina) kicks off our series with reflections on the start of tech week.

YESTERDAY AT NOON, the thirty-some members of the spring play congregated at Uni for our first tech rehearsal for “Much Ado About Nothing.” We wouldn’t leave until 5 p.m., and fatigue would hit us about halfway through.

However, at noon, everyone was generally bouncy and excited. We started off with warm-ups, which consisted of tongue-twisters and shaking the tension out of our bodies. After wondering where the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked were a couple of times, rehearsal began.

Junior Lauren Piester had brought lots of yummy snacks, and I had donated a bag of chips; the table in the South Attic that held all of the food was almost constantly surrounded until everything was gone.

Costume director Mary Stasheff had also set up in the South Attic, and there was a constant stream of people getting fitted for costumes throughout the entire rehearsal.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Everything is 10 times more amazing when the stage lights are actually on.

At the workday on Saturday, juniors James Smith and Natsuki Nakamura had worked positioning the lights to cover the entire stage (while the rest of us watched and hoped and prayed that they didn't fall). Sunday’s rehearsal began with everyone onstage, and the lights added a feeling of excitement.

In addition to that, the set had been finally finished — and let me tell you, it’s amazing what people can do with flats and some lights. Really. Senior Aliisa Rantanen and junior Lor Sligar really stepped it up as the set designers.

Despite all the magic, though, it was still the first complete run-through of the show, which meant that there were lots of mishaps. Lines were fumbled, and sometimes completely forgotten. Multiple people missed cues, and no one seemed to know when they were supposed to go onstage.

The unfortunate part of performing a Shakespearean play is that if you forget your lines, everyone else goes down with you; none of us feels confident enough to improvise "Shakespearean" lines, and we stand awkwardly onstage until the mistake is fixed.

But despite that, there were a few very positive things.

First of all, we ran through the entire show in three and a half hours, including repeats of forgotten lines and a few blocks of time where nothing happened because the people who were supposed to be in scenes had gone missing.

Second, everyone is working hard, and there is an early feeling of excitement.

I can’t wait.

CAST & CREW: “MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING”

• Don Pedro, Prince of Aragon: Carl Zielinski
• Don John, his bastard brother: Daniel McNamara
• Claudio, a young lord of Florence: Julian Hartman
• Benedick, a young lord of Padua: Grant Loos
• Leonata, governor of Messina: Michelle Gao
• Antonio, her brother: Rob Diehl
• Balthasar, attendant on Don Pedro: Zack Goldberg
• Conrade, follower of Don John: Dillon Price
• Borachio, follower of Don John: James Smith
• Friar Frances: Tianna Pittenger
• Dogberry, a constable: Deren Kudeki
• Verges, a headborough: Daniel Wilson
• Sexton: Anna Gooler
• Hero, daughter to Leonata: Jamie Weiser
• Beatrice, niece to Leonata: Hannah Lake-Rayburn
• Margaret, gentlewoman attending on Hero: Anna Cangellaris
• Ursula, gentlewoman attending on Hero: Sarah Lake-Rayburn
• Messenger: Jeremy Kemball
• Watch: Hannah Leskosky, Lauren Piester, Brittany Scheid
• Ensemble (watch, attendants, musicians, singers, etc.): Will Erickson, Katherine Floess, Maria Gao, Maia Gersten, Hadley Hauser, Rodney LeNoir, Marie Lilly, Diana Liu, Sierra Marcum, Aramael Pena-Alcantara, Elizabeth Russell, Serena Schatz, Ethan Schiller, Lisa Sproat, Richard Wang
• Musicians: Claire Johnson, Alan Liang (violin); Katherine Floess, Serena Schatz (recorder); Teddy Zamora-Mills (guitar); Zack Goldberg (voice)
• Costume design: Mary Stasheff
• Lighting: Natsuki Nakamura
• Set design: Aliisa Rantanen, Lor Sligar
• Stage managers: Lor Sligar, Tianna Pittenger
• Set crew: Entire cast and Stefanie Senior, Lor Sligar, Aliisa Rantanen
• Stage crew: Stefanie Senior, Stephanie Overmier, Karen Han, Lor Sligar
• Choreography: Jonathan Sivier, Anna Cangellaris, Zack Goldberg