Project Description

“Some cupid kills with arrows, some with traps.”
BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE | DIRECTED BY KYLER TAUSTIN
Indiana: July 21-31 | Massachusetts: August 6-29 | Delmarva: September 2-26
Upon their return from war, a group of soldiers are reminded that life and love are not so black and white. Trickery, jealousy, deceit, and masquerade each play a role in challenging Benedict and Beatrice’s scorn for love (and each other) as well as the seemingly unassailable love of Claudio and Hero. Through witty banter and dastardly deception, Shakespeare’s beloved comedy, Much Ado About Nothing debates the preconceived notion of how to love and the value of trust.
All Much Ado About Nothing performances are free, outdoors, and open to all audiences; no tickets are needed. Lawn seating, blankets, and lawn chairs welcome.
Funding for Brown Box Theatre Project’s 10 Annual Free Shakespeare tour of Much Ado About Nothing is provided in part by the Maryland State Arts Council, the Massachusetts Cultural Council, Worcester County Arts Council, Fall River Cultural Council, Webster Cultural Council, the Delaware Division of the Arts, the Salisbury Wicomico Arts Council, and Somerset County Arts Council – organizations dedicated to cultivating a vibrant cultural community where the arts thrive.
To bring Brown Box Theatre Project to your community please call us at 443.808.1215, or email contact@brownboxtheatre.org
For media inquires, please contact rachel@rlucaspr.com.
Cast

Debbie Aboaba (Hero)

Margaret Clark (Beatrice)

Drew Cleveland (Don John)

Abuzar Farrukh (Borachio)

Christopher Ho (Claudio)

Emma McGill (Margaret)

Bree Perry (Dogberry)
Bree Perry [They/Them] (Dogberry) is ecstatic to be hopping into their first show with Brown Box Theatre Project! A recent Theatre Arts graduate from Boston University, Bree is joyously bounding into the world! Previous credits include Sometime When Everything Has Changed (Boston University), Gooney Bird Greene and Her Real Life Adventures (Wheelock Family Theatre), and The Poets (InMotion Theatre). When not acting, Bree is usually found scuffing up a dance floor or awakening new worlds through playwrighting. Bree cannot wait to share this wonderful world created by this bountiful ensemble of artists! Enjoy the show!

Spencer Parli Tew (Don Pedro)

Chelsea Titchnell (Leonata)

Cam Torres (Benedick)
Crew
Kyler Taustin – DIRECTOR
Kyler Taustin (Director) is the co-founder of Brown Box Theatre Project and has served as the Executive Artistic Director since its founding. Originally hailing from the Eastern Shore of Maryland, Kyler has first hand knowledge of challenges faced by those living in areas where cultural opportunities are limited and distance is a barrier to access of the arts. Kyler received his Bachelor of Arts in Theatre Studies from Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts and soon thereafter founded Brown Box Theatre Project to return home to invigorate a culturally vibrant community in his hometown. For Brown Box, Kyler directed all 9 previous installments of Outdoor Free Shakespeare (Measure for Measure, As You Like It, Hamlet Cymbeline, The Taming of the Shrew, Macbeth, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Romeo and Juliet, and Twelfth Night). Contemporary productions Kyler directed include both Jukebox musical cabarets, Songs for a New World, Brilliant Traces, Lab Rats, Echoes, Two Wrongs, The Nina Variations, Some Explicit Polaroids, and Two Rooms. As part of the Boxer Shorts series, Kyler directed Capricho, Play, and Talk to Me Like the Rain. Kyler was the co-director for both devised bi-lingual collaborations with Brown Box’s Mexican sister company Ícaro Compañia Teatral (When We Lived Together in the Belly of the Whale; No Soy Lo Que Soy). Kyler is honored to lead Brown Box as it strives to serve communities up and down the east coast as it has his home region.
Spencer Parli Tew – SCENIC SUPERVISOR
Spencer Parli Tew (Scenic Supervisor) holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre Arts from Boston University, received in May of 2015. He began his work with Brown Box as an Actor in their production of Brilliant Traces. Since then he worked in that capacity for three consecutive years of Summer Shakespeare tours. In that work he has found an incredible amount of passion for the company’s mission and is ecstatic to be joining the administrative staff to take a more proactive role in helping to bring Brown Box’s beautiful work to even more communities in the years to come.
Angela Dogani- PRODUCER & ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER
Angela Dogani (Producer & Assistant Stage Manager) is ecstatic to be working on her first show with Brown Box Theatre Project! Originally from New York, Angela is a recent graduate of Boston University’s College of Fine Arts where she received a degree in Stage Management with a concentration in Performance/Directing. Recent credits include Tsunami, Appropriate (Boston University’s STAMP); BEASTS (Boston Playwrights’ Theatre & Boston University), and The Life and Death Of (The Vagrancy). She is immensely grateful for all the friends and family who constantly support her in all of her endeavors. More information at adogani.com
Angela Harrington – PRODUCTION STAGE MANAGER/MASTER CARPENTER
Angela Harrington (Production Manager/Stage Manager/Master Carpenter 2020-21) is thrilled to be back for a fifth time working with Brown Box! Angela also serves as the Associate Managing Director for Brown Box. Her recent Stage Management credits include Antigone Ablaze, The Totalitarians, Constellations, The Bald Soprano (Bridgewater State University) Mox Nox, Jukebox 2.0, As You Like It (Brown Box Theatre Project), We are Proud to Present… (Brandeis University), Bare Stage (Boston Center for the Arts.) She worked as an Assistant Stage Manager for The Murder on the Orient Express (The Lyric Stage Company.) She will be attending the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign for her MFA in Stage Management in the fall. She would like to thank Will and her family for their love and support.
Surrey Houlker– COMPANY MANAGER/TEACHING ARTIST
Surrey Houlker (Company Manager/Teaching Artist) is a Boston-based actor and educator with an undeniable love for clam chowder and Kevin Kline. A recent Emerson College graduate with a BFA in Theatre Education & Performance, she has worked as a Box Office Manager with ArtsEmerson and with The CORE Org, Tiverton Public Schools, and Moses Brown. Previous credits include: ‘Love & Information’, ‘Girl in the Machine’, ‘Twelfth Night’ (Emerson College); ‘Hysteria’ (Neo-Political Cowgirls). In her everyday, human life, Surrey also likes to paint and go for long walks. Much love and gratitude to her sweet family as she travels about!
Samuel Biondollio – LIGHTING DESIGNER
Samuel J. Biondolillo (Lightin
Chelsea Kerl – COSTUME DESIGNER
Chelsea Kerl (Costume Designer) is pleased to be back with Brown Box for her 11th show, having designed Measure for Measure, As You Like It, Hamlet, Cymbeline, Brilliant Traces, The Taming of the Shrew, Macbeth, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Romeo and Juliet. Chelsea has been freelance designing in the Boston area since receiving her MFA in Costume Design from BU in 2014; she previously attended the University of Maryland. Her work has been seen at the Lyric Stage Company of Boston, Wellesley Repertory Theatre, and Greater Boston Stage Company, among others. Chelsea is the costume shop manager, designer, and professor at Wellesley College, and she is a staff costume technician at ART. www.chelseakerl.com.
Abby Shenker – SCENIC + PROPERTIES DESIGNER
Abby Shenker (Scenic Designer and Props Master) is happy to be returning to Brown Box for her fourth show this summer. Her previous Brown Box Theatre Project credits include Measure for Measure, As You Like It and Hotel Nepenthe. Other scenic design credits include The View Upstairs (Speakeasy Stage Company), Heritage Hill Naturals (Fresh Ink Theatre); The Revolutionists (The Nora Theater Company); An Education in Prudence (Open Theatre Project); Enter Laughing (Salem State University). Props Design credits include: Allegiance, Every Brilliant Thing, Shakespeare in Love, Men on Boats (Speakeasy Stage Company); Man of La Mancha (New Repertory Theatre); Much Ado About Nothing, Exit the King and Julius Caesar (Actors’ Shakespeare Project). Abby is a graduate of Emerson College.
Cassaundra DiGregorio – AUDIO ENGINEER
Cassaundra DiGregorio (Audio Engineer) is thrilled to be back with Brown Box for the third time as the Audio Engineer. Cassaundra is a graduate of Salem State University. Her recent Assistant Engineer credit includes Measure for Measure (Brown Box Theatre Project). She most recently worked with Brown Box Theatre Project as the Audio Engineer for Patrick Gabridge’s “Mox Nox”. Her most recent FOH/Audio Engineer credit includes Elephant and Piggie’s: We are in a Play! (Wheelock Family Theatre) and Little Women, a Musical (Wheelock Family Theatre). Since graduating in 2018 Cassaundra has been working on cultivating her craft. Cassaundra is continuing her working recording a friend’s EP. She would like to thank her family and friends for their love and support.
Brittany Meehan- ASSISTANT COSTUME DESIGNER
Brittany Meehan (Assistant Costume Designer) is excited to be working on her first production with Brown Box. Previously she has Costume Designed for The Addams Family (Greater Boston Stage Company), We Are Proud To Present..(Brandeis University), and The Little Prince(NEMPAC Opera). She has Assisted on Don Pasquale (Boston Conservatory), Dolly Parton’s A Smoky Mountain Christmas Carol (Red Tail Entertainment), and Parade (Moonbox Productions). She is also the Wardrobe Supervisor at Wheelock Family Theatre and Central Square Theatre, and a graduate of Boston University.
Emmett Buhmann- TECHNICAL DIRECTOR
Emmett H. Buhmann (Technical Director) is the Lighting Design and Technical Direction Faculty Member for the Bridgewater State University Department of Theatre. Freelance Design: Peerless (Company One), Carrie: The Musical (Un-Common Theater Company), Dancing in the Streets (The City of Somerville, MA), Les Misérables (Ballet Lubbock, Flatlands Dance Theatre, Seattle’s Balagan Theatre). His design work has been seen in Massachusetts, Texas, California, Wyoming, Seattle, New York, and Prague, CZ. Emmett works as a designer and TD for the Arts for Teens program and the Capachione School of the Performing Arts. Emmett holds a BFA from the University of Wyoming and an MFA from the University of California-Irvine.
Erin Washington- CHOREOGRAPHER
Erin Washington (Choreographer) began her dance training studying classical ballet under the direction of Deena Laska Lewis in Evansville, IN. Erin attended Florida State University, where she majored in Psychology and minored in Dance. In 2010, Erin moved to New England where she graduated from Antioch University New England with her Masters in Dance/Movement Therapy and Counseling. Currently, Erin is the Studio Director at Brookline Academy of Dance, under the direction of Mellissa May Rando. After six years of dancing with Anna Myer and Dancers, Erin is currently a freelance choreographer, dancer, and assistant to Adrienne Hawkins.
Will Sexton- Master Electrician
William Sexton (Master Electrician/Carpenter)