The story follows Beatrice and Benedick, two quick-witted and sarcastic individuals who are happily single, but whose friends believe they would make a great romantic match. Set in the Early Modern world, an era of ever-changing attitudes towards marriage and power, the play presents a society at once filled with progressive feminist impulses and countervailing forces rooted in traditional patriarchal values. With his astonishing wit and insight, Shakespeare explores the complexities that underlie these growing social tensions.

Setting: Southern Italy, Elizabethan period.

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING
By William Shakespeare
Additional Text by Erin Shields
Directed for the Stage by Chris Abraham
Directed for Film by Barry Avrich
Set and Costume Designer - Julie Fox
Lighting Designer - Arun Srinivasan
Composer and Sound Designer - Thomas Ryder Payne

Graham Abbey as Benedick
Maev Beaty as Beatrice
Michael Blake as Don John
Austin Eckert as Claudio
Allison Edwards-Crewe as Hero
Patrick McManus as Leonato
Anthony Santiago as Antonio
André Sills as Don Pedro
Anousha Alamian as Sexton
Akosua Amo-Adem as Ursula
Richard Comeau - Understudy
Déjah Dixon-Green as Margaret
Jakob Ehman as Borachio
Ijeoma Emesowum - Understudy
Andrew Iles - Understudy
David W. Keeley - Understudy
John Kirkpatrick as Verges
Kevin Kruchkywich as Seacoal
Josue Laboucane as Dogberry
Cyrus Lane as Conrade
Devin MacKinnon - Understudy
Jonathan Mason - Understudy
Jameela McNeil as Member of the Watch
George Meanwell - Violin, Guitar and Accordion (onstage)
Danté Prince as Hugh Oatcake
Glynis Ranney as Member of the Watch
Jamillah Ross - Understudy
Jonathan Rowsell - Tuba and Recorder (onstage)
Stephan Szczesniak - Percussion and Jaw Harp (onstage)
Jennifer Villaverde - Understudy
Gordon Patrick White as Friar Francis
Rylan Wilkie as Balthasar
Micah Woods as Messenger

Supervising Fight Director - Geoff Scovell
Choreographer - Adrienne Gould
Intimacy Director - Alix Sideris
Assistant Director - Christopher Manousos
Assistant Designer - Ariel Slack
Assistant Lighting Designer - Sruthi Suresan
Dance Captain - Kevin Kruchkywich
Fight Captain - Rylan Wilkie
Stage Manager - Melissa Rood
Assistant Stage Managers - Bruno Gonsalves, Corinne Richards
Apprentice Stage Manager - Kelsey Jensen
Production Stage Managers - Krista Blackwood, The. John Gray
Production Assistant - Conner Bustamante

Technical Director for the Festival Theatre - Robbin Cheesman