Chesapeake Shakespeare Company MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING in June and July

Chesapeake Shakespeare Company (CSC) announces the beloved Shakespeare romantic comedy Much Ado About Nothing as its 2022 outdoor show at Patapsco Female Institute (PFI) Historic Park in Ellicott City, with performances June 15 through July 24, 2022. Previews are June 15 and 16 and press night is June 17. This is the 19th season of Chesapeake Shakespeare Company In-The-Ruins, held at the enchanting PFI Historic Park, home to 19th century-era ruins overlooking Historic Ellicott city.

"Much Ado About Nothing is one of Shakespeare's most popular comedies and Beatrice and Benedick are everyone's favorite romantic couple," said CSC's Producing Executive Director Lesley Malin. "It is the perfect pairing with the beautiful PFI Ruins which delight audiences summer after summer. Settled under the trees, with a picnic and a bottle of wine, you will find no more magical place to watch Shakespeare."

CSC's production is set in late 1944 at a villa in the French countryside after World War II and the liberation of Western Europe; Shakespeare's characters become Allied soldiers and French townspeople. The production will feature a live band and singing, including music by Edith Piaf, Woody Guthrie, and Jacques Brel, as well as Shakespeare's masterful wordplay, comedy, and mistaken identities.

"It's set in a time when everyone has just gone through something traumatic and is learning how to come together again and relate to one another again, which I'm certain our audiences will identify with after the last couple of years," said Much Ado About Nothing Director Séamus Miller, who most recently served as assistant director of CSC's well-received Henry V. "The whole community of characters in Much Ado teams up in support of the two couples and their troubles."

Much Ado About Nothing is a family-friendly show, and tickets are free for children 18 and younger (up to two free tickets per adult ticket purchased by reservation). Weekly Family Fundays with story-time explaining the plot of Much Ado About Nothing, face-painting, and crafts like mask making and coloring will start at 4:30 p.m. before each 6 p.m. Sunday performance. Chesapeake Shakespeare In-The-Ruins has introduced over 10,000 children to Shakespeare through its Free Shakespeare For Kids program.