Burning Coal Theatre Company Presents MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING 12/3-20

Burning Coal Theatre Company of Raleigh, NC will present Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing December 3 - 20, 2009 at Meymandi Theatre at the Murphey School, 224 Polk Street, Raleigh. Performances are Thursdays through Saturdays at 7:30 pm and Sundays at 2 pm. Tickets are $20 or $15 for students, Seniors and Active Military. Thursday tickets are $10. Sunday, December 6 at 2 pm is Audio Described for the Hearing Impaired and ‘Pay What You Can' day. For reservations, please call 919-834-4001 or visit us at www.burningcoal.org.

ABOUT MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING
Shakespeare's classic comedy features a knock-down, drag-out battle of the sexes between the returning war hero, Benedick and the wickedly witty Beatrice. It contrasts their verbal sparring with the romantic though shallow "love" of the betrothed Hero and her Claudio. It mixes these light-hearted couples up with the sinister Don John and his diabolical sidekick, Borachio, the lovelorn uncle of Beatrice, Don Pedro, and the dimwitted, malapropism-spewing constable, Dogberry and his even dimmer-witted assistant, Verges. In this midst of this frolic, Shakespeare has crafted a fable for all times: a story of what is versus what seems to be, a story of real love versus feigned love, a story of goodness beneath the surface versus the insincerity of selfishness.

ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
Emily Ranii, a recent graduate of Cornell University's theatre program, has directed The Lovesong of J. Robert Oppenheimer for Burning Coal, Nine Parts of Desire for PlayMakers' PRC2, The Body Project for Cornell University, Proof for the Temple Theatre and, as assistant director, Carnage by Tim Robbins for Robbins' Actors' Gang in Los Angeles.

ABOUT THE TEAM
E. D. Intemann (Scenery and Lighting) has lit Burning Coal's productions of Way to Heaven and The Lovesong of J. Robert Oppenheimer, at 59e59, Dancespace at St. Marks, and La MaMa in New York City, the Eastman School in Rochester, NY, the Charlotte Repertory Theatre in North Carolina, the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, and internationally for the Confrontations Theatre Festival in Lublin, Poland. He is currently the Resident Lighting Designer at Cornell University, where he has designed over 50 shows, and was previously Associate Professor in the University of South Carolina's MFA program.

Kelly Farrow (Costume Design). For Burning Coal: Twelfth Night, 1960, Hair. Kelly studied fashion design at the Melbourne School of Fashion and costuming at Swinburne University, both in Melbourne, Australia. Since 2003 she has been a part of CLOC Musical Theatre as staff designer and wardrobe coordinator. Her CLOC shows include Steel Pier, The. Boy From Oz, Blood Brothers, CATS, Shout, Hot Mikado, Jekyll and Hyde and The Scarlet Pimpernel. She has also designed costumes for the 2006 Commonwealth Games Arts Festival, The Melbourne Cup, Heidelberg Fancy Dress, Myer Christmas Parade and with Allegro Music Australia

The production stage manager is Melissa Ricketts of Asheville, NC. Properties Design is by Elsbeth Turner or Raleigh and Rachel McCrain of Chapel Hill, NC. Elijah Vick of Raleigh will design sound. Kylie McCormick, recently of Fairbanks, Alaska is Assistant to the Director. Curtis Jones of Raleigh is Technical Director and Simmie Kastner is graphics designer. Shelby Smith of Raleigh is ASM.

ABOUT THE CAST

The cast of Much Ado About Nothing will include thirteen actors from all over the state of North Carolina and beyond. They include Jeff Aguiar (Durham), James Anderson (Raleigh), Fred Corlett (Raleigh), Jason Durst (Greenville), Mark Filiaci (Durham), Jonathan Fitts (Boone), David Klionsky (Chapel Hill), Lori Mahl (Raleigh), Julie Oliver (Raleigh), Emilie Stark-Menneg (Ithaca, NY), Jenn Suchanec (Raleigh), Catori Swann (Greensboro), and Byrd Wilkins (Louisburg).

Reservations recommended. For further information, please contact Burning at 919.834.4001.