Shakespeare Theatre Company Presents Mock Trial, 4/30

The Shakespeare Theatre Company presents its annual Mock Trial at Sidney Harman Hall (610 F Street NW) on Monday, April 30, 2012. The Mock Trial begins with dinner at 5:30 p.m., followed by the trial, Ado, I do, Adieu: Claudio v. Hero at 7:30 p.m. A special session of the Supreme Court of Messina will convene at Sidney Harman Hall to hear the case of Count Claudio of Florence (Appellant) v. Lady Hero of Messina (Appellee), based on characters in the play Much Ado About Nothing. Tickets which include both the dinner and trial are still available. All available tickets for the trial have been sold to the theatre’s donors, subscribers and Bard Association members, who received early access to purchase tickets to this extremely popular event as a benefit of their membership.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will preside with Justice Samuel Alito, Justice Elena Kagan, Judge Merrick Garland, Judge Douglas Ginsburg, Judge Brett Kavanaugh and Judge David Tatel. Sanford K. Ain, Esq. of Ain & Bank, P.C. will serve as counsel to the appellee, and Reid H. Weingarten of Steptoe & Johnson LLP will serve as counsel to the appellant.

Since 1994, the Shakespeare Theatre Company has hosted a Mock Trial based on one of the season’s plays. This season’s Mock Trial focuses on the characters of Much Ado About Nothing, which ran in Sidney Harman Hall from December 25, 2011, through January 7, 2012. The Trial aims to examine the links between classical works and contemporary legal thought in a way that is both thought-provoking and entertaining. Past Mock Trials have explored whether Malvolio (Twelfth Night) was entitled to damages for wrongful imprisonment; whether Iago (Othello) was guilty of the murders of Desdemona and Othello; whether Hamlet (Hamlet) was insane when he murdered Polonius; and whether Sir John Falstaff (Henry IV) should have been compensated for his services to Prince Hal and reinstated as a member of the royal court.