Lily Blouin and J.C. Luxton in the Prenzie Players' Much Ado About Nothing" at the Village Theatre -- August 3 through 6. (photo by John R. Turner)
Thursday, August 3, through Sunday, August 6
Village Theatre, 2113 East 11th Street, Davenport IA
Returning to the stage for the first time since 2019, and with their new production finally being staged after a forced delay this past March, the area's much-missed verse-theatre troupe the Prenzie Players is set to make a romantic-comedy splash at Davenport's Village Theatre with their August 3 through 6 presentation of Much Ado About Nothing. The William Shakespeare classic enjoyed a Tony-winning Broadway run in 1985, a 1993 movie showcase for Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson, and a 2011 black-and-white film modernization by pop icon Joss Whedon, and will be produced this summer with its full original cast and creative team intact.
In this timeless tale of love, laughs, and mistaken assumptions, the war is over, and Pedro, Prince of Aragon, with his followers Benedick and Claudio, visits Leonato, Duke of Messina, who is also the father of Hero and uncle of Beatrice. While Claudio falls in love with Hero and their marriage is agreed upon, the verbally warring Beatrice and Benedick claim to despise love, which no one around them believes. Those in their orbit consequently plot to make them fall in love with each other through means of a trick in which Benedick will overhear his friends talking of Beatrice's supposed secret love for him, and vice versa. Meanwhile, Don John, the prince's misanthropic illegitimate brother, contrives a more malicious plot with the assistance of his follower Borachio, and Claudio is led to believe that he has witnessed Hero in a compromising situation on the night before her wedding day. What follows turns into one of Shakespeare's most accessible and beloved comedies as everything that could possibly go wrong with this love story does, and the ways in which disaster is defeated are more than half the fun.
Directing Much Ado About Nothing is longtime Prenzie Players veteran Jarrod DeRooi, who portrayed the title character in the company's 2017 production of Coriolanus, and also enjoyed roles in such Shakespeare titles as The Comedy of Errors, Macbeth, and Lear. Benedick is played by Prenzie co-founder JC Luxton, a veteran of Caesar and Antony & Cleopatra, with Beatrice enacted, in her Prenzie debut, by Lily Blouin, whose recent area appearances include roles in the Spotlight Theatre's The Producers and, as Maria von Trapp, The Sound of Music.
Additional members of DeRooi's cast include Jen Brown, Ryan Elgin, Mark Garden, Mattie Gelaude, Ben Graham, Mischa Hooker, Milo Houdyshell, Kitty Israel, John Smick, Noah Stivers, Jessica White, Denise Yoder, and area singer/songwriter Jenny Lynn Stacy. And with Liz Sager serving as Much Ado About Nothing's stage manager, additional members of the creative team include producer Cait Bodenbender, producer and Reader employee Mike Schulz, scenic designer Jeremy Mahr, costume designer Kate Farence, and lighting designer and Reader theatre reviewer Roger Pavey Jr.
Much Ado About Nothing will be staged in the Village of East Davenport's Village Theatre from August 3 through 6, with performances Thursday through Saturday at 7:30 p.m., and added matinees on Saturday at 2 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. Admission is “Pay What It's Worth” ticket pricing, and more information and reservations are available by calling (563)362-2899 and visiting PrenziePlayers.com.
