The Old Globe's MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING Opens Tonight

The Old Globe presents The Old Globe/University of San Diego Graduate Theatre Program presentation of William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, running tonight, Nov. 9 - Nov. 17 in the Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre, part of the Globe's Conrad Prebys Theatre Center. Opening night is tonight, Nov. 9 at 8:00 p.m. Directed by James Newcomb, Much Ado About Nothing tickets can be purchased online at www.TheOldGlobe.org, by phone at (619) 23-GLOBE, or by visiting the Box Office.

Weaving wit, romance, and comedy, Much Ado About Nothing is a whirlwind race to the finish line of "happily ever after." Everyone can see that confirmed bachelor Benedick and headstrong Beatrice are meant for each other-except for Benedick and Beatrice themselves. Love may conquer all, but not without a few battles along the way, and the verbal sparring between these two lovers has never been so much fun to watch.

"The Old Globe's M.F.A. program is one of the jewels in this theater's crown, and I'm as proud of the work we do training the next generation of American actors as I am of anything else in the institution's life," said Artistic Director Barry Edelstein. "The talent that thrives in our venture with USD is top-notch, and in the delightful Shakespearean confection that is Much Ado About Nothing, that talent will be on dazzling display."

The cast features Erin Elizabeth Adams (Margaret), Meaghan Boeing (Beatrice), Lindsay Brill (Antonia, Verges), Charlotte Bydwell (Ursula), Lowell Byers (Don Pedro), Jamal Douglas (Conrade, Messenger), Adam Gerber (Don John, Dogberry), Kushtrim Hoxha (Leonato), Stephen Hu (Claudio), Tyler Kent (Friar, Sexton), Allison Layman (Hero), Robbie Simpson (Benedick), Megan M. Storti (Bazira, Watch), and Patrick Zeller (Borachio).

The creative team includes Sean Fanning (Scenic Design), Elisa Benzoni (Costume Design), Chris Rynne (Lighting Design), Kevin Anthenill (Sound Design), Jan Gist (Vocal Coach), Brian Byrnes (Movement), Amanda Penaloza (Choreographer), Nicole Ries (Stage Manager), and Jesse Buck-Brennan(Assistant Stage Manager).

A joint venture of The Old Globe and the University of San Diego, the Master of Fine Arts in Dramatic Arts program nationally recruits seven students each year to participate in an intensive two-year, year-round course of graduate study in classical theatre. Private funding for the Master of Fine Arts in Dramatic Arts program is contributed through an endowment established by Donald and Darlene Shiley. For additional information, visit www.globemfa.org.

Director James Newcomb previously directed The Old Globe/USD Graduate Theatre Program's A Midsummer Night Dream and the Summer Shakespeare Intensive production of Much Ado About Nothing. He recently played Juror 7 in Twelve Angry Men and Stephano in The Tempest (Utah Shakespeare Festival), and this last spring he played The Duke in Robert Falls' acclaimed production of Measure for Measure (Goodman Theatre). His other recent credits include playing Appomantus in Timon of Athens opposite Ian McDiarmid as Timon (Chicago Shakespeare Theater), and George in Zoot Suit (San Diego Repertory Theatre). He spent 14 seasons with Oregon Shakespeare Festival, seven with Denver Center Theatre Company, two with Utah Shakespeare Festival, three with Shakespeare & Company, and four with Shakespeare Santa Cruz, and he has worked with Arizona Theatre Company, South Coast Repertory, Intiman Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Geva Theatre, New York Shakespeare Festival, and Syracuse Stage. His Shakespeare roles include Iago, Richard III, Coriolanus, Oberon, Puck, Bolingbroke, Laertes, Touchstone, Feste, Dogberry, Benedick, Romeo, Grumio, Tranio, Caliban, and Thersites. His other roles include Treat in Orphans, Hero in The Rehearsal, Gary in Noises Off, and Leslie in The Hostage (Drama Logue Award, Denver Theatre Critics Award, and Oxford Society Award for Artistic Excellence). He has directed Found a Peanut, Lone Star, and True West(National Theatre Conservatory at Denver Center). He served as resident fight director for seven seasons at Oregon Shakespeare Festival and fight director for The Old Globe, Denver Center, La Jolla Playhouse, San Diego Opera, four seasons at Shakespeare Santa Cruz, Idaho Shakespeare Festival, and Chicago Shakespeare Theater.

Tickets to Much Ado About Nothing can be purchased online at www.TheOldGlobe.org, by phone at (619) 23-GLOBE, or by visiting the Box Office at 1363 Old Globe Way in Balboa Park. Performances at the Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre begin tonight, Nov. 9 and continue through Nov. 17. Tickets are $19. Performance times: Saturday, Nov. 9 at 8:00 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 10 at 2:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 12 at 7:00 p.m., Wednesday, Nov. 13 at 7:00 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 14 at 8:00 p.m., Friday, Nov. 15 at 8:00 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 16 at 2:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m., and Sunday, Nov. 17 at 2:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. Discounts are available for students, seniors, and groups of 10 or more.

The Old Globe is located in San Diego's Balboa Park at 1363 Old Globe Way. There are numerous free parking lots available throughout the park. Valet parking is also available ($10). For additional parking information, visit www.BalboaPark.org.

The Tony Award-winning Old Globe is one of the country's leading professional regional theaters and has stood as San Diego's flagship arts institution for over 75 years. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Barry Edelstein and Managing Director Michael G. Murphy, The Old Globe produces a year-round season of 14 productions of classic, contemporary, and new works on its three Balboa Park stages: the Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage in the 600-seat Old Globe Theatre and the 250-seat Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre, both part of The Old Globe's Conrad Prebys Theatre Center, and the 605-seat outdoor Lowell Davies Festival Theatre, home of its internationally renowned Shakespeare Festival. More than 250,000 people attend Globe productions annually and participate in the theater's education and community programs. Numerous world premieres such as The Full Monty, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, A Catered Affair, and the annual holiday musical, Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, have been developed at The Old Globe and have gone on to enjoy highly successful runs on Broadway and at regional theaters across the country.

CAST BIOGRAPHIES:

ERIN Elizabeth Adams (Margaret) was last seen in the Globe's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Merchant of Venice, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, and Pygmalion and The Old Globe/USD M.F.A. production of Measure for Measure and reading of Once in a Lifetime. She has worked in New York City on Gated (Midtown International Theatre Festival) and regionally on Heist!, A Midsummer Night's Dream and Post Wave Spectacular (Actors Theatre of Louisville), Henry IV Parts I and II (Actors' Shakespeare Project) and Done (Providence Black Repertory Company).

MEAGHAN BOEING (Beatrice) was most recently seen in the 2013 Old Globe Shakespeare Festival. She has also appeared in The Old Globe/USD M.F.A. Program productions of Measure for Measure and Tartuffe. Her regional credits include Imagine (South Coast Repertory), Master Class (The Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum), Man of La Mancha (A Noise Within), Surf Orpheus (Getty Villa), and various productions with The Antaeus Company, as well asKing Lear, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, As You Like It, The Misanthrope, Sunday in the Park with George, The Pirates of Penzance, The Sound of Musicand a world premiere translation of Don Juan. Boeing has appeared in national commercials and independent films, performs vocal music of various styles and is a teacher of piano and voice.

LINDSAY BRILL (Antonia, Verges) most recently appeared in the New Jersey premiere of Font of Knowledge (Art House Productions). In New York, she has originated roles in several plays including The Bear (Theatre Row), The Big Not Knowing and Doppelganger (The Actors Studio), and Four Better or Worse (Theatre for the New City). Brill performed in the solo show Testify! at The Payan Theatre and won the Festival Award for her performance. She has also worked in various other theatres in New York City including The Ensemble Studio Theatre, Prospect Theater Company, Nora's Playhouse and New York Theatre Workshop. Last year, she performed in the Chicago Women's Funny Festival. Brill has appeared in several independent films and web series including the feature film Dragonchaser and the new web series Annie and Brie.

CHARLOTTE BYDWELL (Ursula) began her career as a dancer with Monica Bill Barnes Company and Keigwin + Company, performing at Jacob's Pillow Dance, American Dance Festival, La Jolla Playhouse, and The Joyce Theater, among others. She went on to join the resident Acting Company at The Flea Theater and played an important role in their highly acclaimed production of Sean Graney's These Seven Sicknesses directed by Ed Iskandar. Bydwell was also a resident actor at the 2012 Williamstown Theatre Festival where she appeared in The Importance of Being Earnest directed by David Hyde Pierce and as Vera in A Month in the Country directed by Richard Nelson. She was most recently seen in New York City performing her one-woman show, Woman of Leisure and Panic, as part of the New York International Fringe Festival. After its debut in the eighth annual soloNOVA Arts Festival, Woman of Leisure and Panic was nominated for a New York Innovative Theatre Award for Outstanding Performance Art Production and was translated into Spanish for productions in Mexico.

Lowell Byers (Don Pedro) has appeared Off Broadway as Dr. Jake in Night Float (Playwrights Horizons), Montano in Othello (Theatre Row), Bob inBalm in Gilead (New York Innovative Theatre Award for Outstanding Production of a Play), and Valentine in You Never Can Tell and Fielding in The Changing Room (T. Schreiber Studio). His regional theater credits include Sal Morella in North Shore Fish (Gloucester Stage Company), Orlando in As You Like It (Vermont Stage Company), and Lieutenant Jake Rowan in SMILE: The Musical (Deane Center for the Performing Arts). He has appeared on television as Caligula in Caligula: 1400 Days of Terror (History Channel) and on film in Chilling Visions: 5 Senses of Fear (Chiller/NBC Universal), Brewsie and Willie (RoCAM Productions), and Things I Don't Understand (Best Dramatic Feature Film, Burbank International Film Festival; Best Feature, Philadelphia Independent Film Festival). This past August, Byers' new original play, Luft Gangster, had its world premiere at Abingdon Theatre Company directed by Austin Pendleton.

JAMAL DOUGLAS (Conrade, Messenger) has previous appeared in The Lysistrata Project (Simpatico Theatre Project), A Midsummer Night's Dream(Delaware Shakespeare Festival), Joe Turner's Come and Gone (Plays & Players), Superior Donuts (Arden Theatre Company), Living News (National Constitution Center), and others.

Adam Gerber (Don John, Dogberry) was last seen in The Old Globe's productions of A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Merchant of Venice, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, and Pygmalion and The Old Globe/USD production of Measure for Measure. His New York credits include As You Like It and the Off Broadway revival of Lebensraum (Harold Clurman Lab Theatre). He has also worked in Tokyo, Japan on Hikobae (The Actors Clinic, Will Do). Gerber has performed in numerous other productions including Sex and the Holy Land (New York International Fringe Festival) and Much Ado About Nothing,Macbeth, Twelfth Night, In the Boom Boom Room, and Dancing at Lughnasa (Stella Adler Studio of Acting), and he has been featured in various national commercials.

Kushtrim Hoxha (Leonato) was recently seen in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, and The Merchant of Venice at The Old Globe's 2013 Shakespeare Festival, as well as Tartuffe and Measure for Measure with The Old Globe/USD M.F.A. Program. He has appeared inRock 'n' Roll, King Lear, Sun Monkey, The Glass Menagerie, and Hamlet (National Theater of Kosovo), Senior Carrar's Rifles and Scapin's Deceits(Professional Theater of Gjakova), Patriotic Hypermarket (Bitef Theater, Belgrade), Yue Madeline Yue (Multimedia Center, Kosovo and Volkstheater, Vienna), and Hamlet (Children's Theatre of Charlotte). He has performed in numerous theater festivals such as Festival Iberoamericano in Columbia, Mess Festival in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ex-Ponto Festival in Slovenia, VIE Scena Contemporanea Festival in Italy, ASSITEJ Festival in Sweden, Dezire Festival in Serbia, Durban Theatre Festival in South Africa, Skupi Festin Macedonia, and SKENA UP Festival in Kosovo. He is the cofounder of Teatri Urban Theater Company in Prishtina, Kosovo. His film and television credits include Human Zoo, I Need You, and "Familja Moderne."

Stephen Hu (Claudio) was last seen in A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Merchant of Venice, and Rosencrantz and Guilderstern Are Dead for The Old Globe's 2013 Shakespeare Festival. He also recently appeared in The Old Globe/USD M.F.A. Program's Tartuffe and Measure for Measure. His other credits include Los Angeles productions of Macbeth and Richard III (The Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum) and in the title role of Ching Chong Chinaman(Artists at Play). His Bay Area credits include Over the Asian Airwaves (Ferocious Lotus Theatre Company), Concerning Strange Devices from the Distant West (Berkeley Repertory Theatre), and Beijing, CA (Asian American Theater Company).

TYLER KENT (Friar, Sexton) recently appeared as Trofimov in The Cherry Orchard for the Eugene O'Neill Foundation. His other credits include Mary Zimmerman's The Arabian Nights (Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Kansas City Repertory Theatre), Much Ado About Nothing in Central Park (Extant Arts Company), A Doctor in Spite of Himself and The Lieutenant of Inishmore (Berkeley Rep), Seymour in Little Shop of Horrors (Broadway By the Bay), Stephen Schwartz's Snapshots and Auctioning the Ainsleys (TheatreWorks), Vera Wilde (Shotgun Players), Finian's Rainbow (Woodminster), Twelfth Night (The San Francisco Shakespeare Festival), and What the Butler Saw (Pacific Repertory Theatre). He is a regular collaborator with PlayGround, Northern California's foremost playwright incubator. This spring Kent originated the role of Pierre in the New York workshop of Kim Sherman and Darrah Cloud's musicalMakeover (Demos Bizar Entertainment). His cabaret shows, Nobody's Hart and Give Me the Simple Life, directed by Karen Lynn Carpenter, toured China in 2009 and 2011.

Allison Layman (Hero) was a member of the Globe's 2013 Shakespeare Festival company and appeared indoors as Parlor Maid in last season'sPygmalion and as Francisca in the Globe/USD M.F.A. production of Measure for Measure. She spent two years as a company member of The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, performing in The Comedy of Errors, Timon of Athens, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Julius Caesar, and Macbeth. Her other regional work includes Petra in An Enemy of the People (Playhouse on Park) and a wide range of roles in productions at the Monomoy Theatre in Chatham, Massachusetts.

Robbie Simpson (Benedick) was most recently seen in The Old Globe's 2013 Shakespeare Festival productions of A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Merchant of Venice, and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead directed by Adrian Noble. His other Globe credits include Freddy Eynsford Hill in the 100th anniversary production of Pygmalion directed by 2013 Tony Award nominee Nicholas Martin. Simpson's Old Globe/USD M.F.A. Program credits include Measure for Measure and the staged reading of Once in a Lifetime. His U.K. and New York credits include Orlando in As You Like It (Shakespeare's Globe), A Class Act directed by Bob Moss (Playwrights Horizons) and Hanschen in Spring Awakening (Roy Arias). Simpson's selected regional credits include A Class Act (Berkshire Theatre Festival), Rent and Almost, Maine (Papermill Theatre), The Sisters Rosensweig and The House of Blue Leaves (New Century Theatre) and Miss Saigon, Inherit the Wind, The Sunshine Boys, and Lost in Yonkers (The Majestic Theatre). He has appeared on television in NBC's "30 Rock" and "Smash," Syfy's "Can You Survive a Horror Movie?" and numerous commercials.

MEGAN M. STORTI (Bazira, Watch) has appeared in ChicaGo Productions of The Liar (Writers' Theatre), As You Like It (Chicago Shakespeare Theater),The Woman in White and The City & the City (Lifeline Theatre), A Christmas Carol (Metropolis Performing Arts Centre), Marat/Sade (The Right Brain Project), Romeo and Juliet (Glass Onion Theatre), and Titus Andronicus (DreamLogic Theatreworks). Her other regional credits include Shakespeare Festival St. Louis, Illinois Shakespeare Festival, Heartland Theatre Company, Phoenix Theatre Ensemble, and Putnam County Playhouse.

PATRICK ZELLER (Borachio) previously appeared at the Globe in Richard Greenberg's The American Plan in 2008. Zeller's classical theater credits include The Mysteries (Shakespeare & Company), The Comedy of Errors (New York Classical Theatre), Edward II (Pet Brick Productions), Hamlet (Maine Shakespeare Festival), and Romeo and Juliet and Midsummer Night's Dream (Shakespeare Now! Theatre Company). Zeller has appeared on "Law & Order," "Medium," "All My Children," "One Life to Live," and "The Young and the Restless." He also co-starred in the award-winning feature film Virgin Alexander. His other film credits include No Reservations, End of the Spear and A Totally Minor Motion Picture.

Pictured: Director James Newcomb. Photo courtesy The Old Globe.

To post a comment, you must register and login.