Much Ado

Directing Honors Thesis, March 2024

Rose Palmieri ’24 presents this new exploration of Shakespeare’s classic play, excavating the traditional story to find a newer, more uncertain love story quietly hiding behind the brouhaha of the comedy’s original courtship. “Much Ado” takes the text of “Much Ado About Nothing” and reframes it to explore ideas about womanhood, motherhood, and queer love. Beginning with lingering questions about the original play- Why doesn’t the heroine stand up for herself? Why are some characters silent and others bombastic? When do you fight tradition, and when do you succumb to it?- Palmieri strips down the cast to highlight what remains: a mother, a daughter, a fiancé, a lover, a friend, and two affectionate fools.

ASL interpretation at every performance.

Ivy Hoffman '27 - Beatrice
Madeline “Joe” Fox '27 - Benedick
Daniel Sun '27 - Claudio
Fiona Stewart '24 - Hero
Genine Collins '27 - Leanata
Sophia Pereda-Echeverry '25 - Margaret
Nikhil Tignor '24 - Pedro

Director - Rose Palmieri '24
Stage Manager - Eilis Skamarakas
Assistant Stage Manager - Prerna Karmacharya '26
Set - Victoria Gill-Gomez
Sound - Liz Atkinson
Lights - Isabella Gill-Gomez
Costume - LeVonne Lindsay
Intimacy - Colleen Hughes
Dramaturgy - Jack Pryor
Music - Whitney Grinnage-Cassidy '24

Sign Interpretation provided by SIGNINterpreting Services, LLC.