“MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING”
A Comedy by
William Shakespeare

• Director: Barbara Ridenour
• What: 2008 Spring Play
• When: April 3, 4, 5
• Where: North Attic Playhouse
• Poster design: Anna Cangellaris

Note: This is the concluding installment of our 2008 spring play diary. Last week the Gargoyle presented a series of diary entries by five members of this year’s spring play, Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing.” Our diary began with Michelle Gao, followed by Lauren Piester, Anna Cangellaris, Anna Gooler, and Carl Zielinski. Michelle brings us full circle with reflections on her final performance as a Uni High thespian.

IT IS ALWAYS hard when a show ends to come back down to earth. It's always hard to realize that there is nothing to do after school anymore, no group of people that you can automatically assume you will see.

A huge part of yourself is just missing, and it's a very sad feeling. After spending months and months of effort on a show, after dedicating yourself to it completely — there's an emptiness when it's just gone.

For me, that emptiness is more profound now than it has ever been before. After this year's fall play — “The Diary of Anne Frank” — I looked forward to auditions for Student Productions. After StudProd, I had auditions for “Much Ado About Nothing” to worry about.

But I'm not going to be part of Big Show. “Much Ado About Nothing” was my last big, true Uni show. And the three nights that I had with it were much too short.

Saturday was a lovely muddle of relaxation and homework and music before I left for school with my sister to get ready for the Shakespearean stage one last time. It hadn't sunk in, at that point, that it would be the last show.

I knew it was the last show, certainly — I was looking forward to the cast party, among other things — but I didn't feel anything yet. I was too busy running around and getting dressed and having Anna Cangellaris (the Hair Goddess) pin up my unruly tresses. I was too busy getting pumped up and running through lines in my head; they were fuzzy after an entire day of sleepiness.

Senior Michelle Gao gets into character as Leonata, governor of Messina. Gargoyle photo by Linda Song (click to enlarge).

When I was smiling and widening my eyes at Rob Diehl, Jamie Weiser, and Hannah Lake-Rayburn as we walked across the stage for the first scene, though, it occurred to me that this would never happen again. It took a bit of surreptitious throat-clearing before I could say my first line and begin the show.

The show kept going like that. I would fall into character in my scenes, and forget entirely that it was closing night. I would get caught up in the scenes and forget myself. When I got offstage, I was all right if I stayed away from the flats and ran lines through my head.

When I watched the show from the sidelines, though, everything came crashing down on me again. As Jamie Weiser and I waited backstage for intermission to end, she turned to me and said, "Last intermission!"

I nearly cried.

I got back into character when I went onstage next, and stayed there. I watched with eyes wide open from the flats on the side, not wanting to miss any detail. I saw scenes that I'd only heard vaguely during rehearsals when I was doing homework.

I was amazed at how many people stepped up to the challenge — as scenes unfolded before my eyes, I was caught up in them. Shakespeare is difficult to speak, never mind convey with emotion. A feeling of intense pride in our cast grew inside my chest, and made it hard to breathe (er … harder, since I was already laced into a corset).

I was supposed to be happy for the last scene; and I was, because I was still in character. I was euphoric through the last dance and the la la las, and I smiled through the bows.

While I was helping with risers during strike, though, and while I was prying tape up from the floor, nostalgia swept over me. Looking around at all the people, hurrying back and forth, I thought, Wow. This is never going to happen to me again.

Unfortunately, I was swept back into the hustle and bustle of moving things, and then I was rushed out to my car by Dillon Price and my sister, and we drove over to Brittany Scheid's house for the cast party. There was a sort of bittersweetness to the whole thing, but I enjoyed myself immensely. There was pingpong, lots of food, games of Mafia and 10 Fingers, and entertaining stories from subfreshman Rodney LeNoir.

I feel like something very big has ended, and I am, quite frankly, very sad. Three nights just doesn't seem long enough. Can't the run of a show go on for as long as the rehearsals do? I'd probably die of exhaustion if that happened, I know, but still.

I guess it shows how much it impacted me, and how much I loved it, that I miss Uni theater this much already. I'm a better person for experiencing it. I can't believe that I will never perform on the North Attic stage (floor) again.

Seniors Michelle Gao (Leonata), Julian Hartman (Claudio), and Carl Zielinski (Don Pedro) rehearse in full costume and show off the final product of months of hard work. Gargoyle photo by Linda Song (click to enlarge)

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)
• Assistant director: Jen Goheen
• Costumes: Mary Stasheff
• Lighting design: Natsuki Nakamura, James Smith
• Lightboard operator: 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
• Music consultants: Frances Harris, Rick Murphy
• Dance captains: Anna Cangellaris, Zack Goldberg
• Poster design: Anna Cangellaris
• Program design: Lauren Piester