Signal Ensemble Theatre continues its inaugural season with Shakespeare’s comedy of wittily warring lovers, deception, and public humiliation, MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING. This production will be staged at the Athenaeum Theatre Studio, 2936 N. Southport Ave., Chicago, 60657. Tickets are $15 and can be reserved by telephone at 312-902-1500 or online at www.ticketmaster.com.

Signal Ensemble Member Ronan Marra directs this production. He wrote and directed Signal Ensemble’s first production: the world premiere of Learning to Fly. He also directed the New York one-act version of Learning to Fly, as well as Say Goodnight, Gracie; The Swan; and The Messiah. As a playwright, Ronan’s plays have received productions, workshops and readings every year since 1997, when his first play, Off the Hook, debuted at Kent State University. The play was last seen in September at New Leaf. Ronan has been seen onstage in Chicago in Twelfth Night at First Folio and Life Is a Dream and Hamlet at Chase Park. Ronan is a Network Playwright with Chicago Dramatists.

“It’s Shakespeare’s most human comedy,” says Marra. “Each character has a very real fault that gets exploited by another character.” Unlike many of Shakespeare’s comedies, Much Ado does not have a supernatural or magical element. The Signal Ensemble was drawn to the play because of its very realistic relationships and the clarity of the language.

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING features a cast of eighteen Chicago actors: Signal Ensemble Members Christopher Prentice and Joseph Stearns play Benedick and Don Pedro; Prentice last played Picasso in New Leaf Theatre’s Picasso at the Lapin Agile, and Stearns last appeared in Learning to Fly. Melanie Keller plays Benedick’s witty sparring partner, Beatrice. Aaron Snook, who last appeared in Chicago Dramatists’ Only the Sound, and Meredith Bell, last seen as Rosaura in Life Is a Dream, play the young lovers Claudio and Hero. Vincent Lonergan plays Hero’s father Leonato. Brandon Bruce, last seen in WNEP’s Pretty Things will play the malaproptic master constable Dogberry; with Ron Kuzava, who played Dracul for WNEP's Renfield, is Dogberry’s second banana, Verges. Charles Shoenherr plays Don Pedro’s bastard brother Don John; and his followers Borachio and Conrade are played by The House Theatre’s Michael E. Smith and Christopher Clementson, last seen in BS; Shawn Yardley and Tiffany Carter play Hero’s ladies-in-waiting. The cast also includes Jennifer Faletto, Len Hoover, Dave Lykins, Eric Paskey, and Bob Wilson.

The Design/Production team for MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING includes Nancy Freeman (Setting), Laura M. Dana (Costumes), Whitney Buchman (Lighting), Jeremy Dobbins (Sound/Stage Manager), Lara Maerz (PropsProduction Manager), and Joseph Stearns (Music).

Signal Ensemble Theatre is dedicated to telling great stories well. Through clean, clear, and interesting staging of classic, modern, and new works, we seek to engage and entertain the audience by inviting them to celebrate the human condition.

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