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Jeri Frederickson calls Chicago home as a theater director and curator of new work. Jeri creates and directs with sharp focus on oratory skills and organic movement. She is Associate Artistic Director at Irish Theatre of Chicago. Recent directing has been seen at Whiskey Rebellion, Artemisia, ITC, Trellis and 10-4 Truck Stop. As a writer and freelance editor, her recent poems have been published in print and online for Thought Collection and Vine Leaves. She edited Frederic Leon by Antony Pebbles and continues to support on the fringe writers. She received the Brad Williams Memorial Award 2010 just prior to graduating from Hope College with a B.A. in Theatre and Creative Writing.
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Speak low if you speak love |
Director's Notes
Much Ado About Nothing is the RomCom that started them all, and in the best
kind of way; we get to see the battle of the sexes, loyalty to friends and
family, and what happens when others outwit us. I come back to this story over
and over again because it delights and tickles my funny bone while also showing
me just how outrageous perfectly rational people can be. Today we still enjoy
playing with words - sarcasm and puns are the cornerstone of friendships and
keep families talking at holidays, being some unassuming friend’s "wingman" is an
evening’s adventure, and whole communities turn on each other when they think
someone has been wronged. It’s all right here in this play, and it’s certainly
been in my life and those around me.
There is a camaraderie among Don Pedro’s men and in Leonato’s family that bring out the teasing and picking on each other while remaining undyingly loyal. It is a joyful thing until one person (and there’s always that one isn’t there) tips the balance of sarcasm and puns into lies and deceit. Can those who are less conniving save our friends? The Watch are Sherlock and Holmes in the grand CSI: Messina of their own imagining. We’ve all had neighbors like this and what a joy and a pain they are, and sometimes, they are even right.
We’ll be asking you what happened to the bride, what happened to the rascals escaping the fortitude of Dogberry and to help us with the excellent matchmaking, "wingman" skills of both genders. So I invite you to cheer on each character’s wittiness, and join us as the unlikely cupids for two lovely people insistent on hating only each other. We wouldn’t have much to do without you here.
There is a camaraderie among Don Pedro’s men and in Leonato’s family that bring out the teasing and picking on each other while remaining undyingly loyal. It is a joyful thing until one person (and there’s always that one isn’t there) tips the balance of sarcasm and puns into lies and deceit. Can those who are less conniving save our friends? The Watch are Sherlock and Holmes in the grand CSI: Messina of their own imagining. We’ve all had neighbors like this and what a joy and a pain they are, and sometimes, they are even right.
We’ll be asking you what happened to the bride, what happened to the rascals escaping the fortitude of Dogberry and to help us with the excellent matchmaking, "wingman" skills of both genders. So I invite you to cheer on each character’s wittiness, and join us as the unlikely cupids for two lovely people insistent on hating only each other. We wouldn’t have much to do without you here.
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The 2015 tour is partially supported by the Carbondale Community Arts Southern Arts Fund and by the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency.
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