BERLIN — Brown Box Theatre Project, a Boston-based outdoor Shakespeare touring company, announced this month its 10th year of free Shakespeare with the troupe’s largest tour to date.
After a 2020 postponement, Brown Box returns in 2021 with an extended U.S. tour featuring the comedy Much Ado About Nothing. Under the direction of Executive Artistic Director and Co-Founder Kyler Taustin, Brown Box will tour Shakespeare’s beloved comedy of trickery, jealousy, deceit and masquerade for 10 weeks to three regions across the country including Indiana (July 21-31 with eight all new outdoor destinations); Massachusetts (Aug. 6-29 with 10 outdoor locations); and the Delmarva region (Sept. 2-26 with 18 outdoor performances.
All Much Ado About Nothing performances are free, outdoors and open to all audiences; no tickets are needed. Social distancing through lawn seating, blankets and lawn chairs are welcome.
Since 2010 the Brown Box Theatre Project has been committed to reinventing the way theatre is created and consumed, by transforming public spaces into vibrant cultural and tourist destinations. Brown Box has perfected the art of the tour, delivering outdoor programming that offers audiences a free theater experience in an outdoor setting while maintaining safe social distancing.
Brown Box Theatre Project’s touring Shakespeare events include professionally designed sets, lighting, costumes and props, performed by skilled regional actors. Each program is built, performed, and packed away at each individual location.
“For the past 11 years, Brown Box has been on the cutting edge transforming public spaces into creative destinations, inviting audiences to enjoy the performing arts in an outdoor, safe, and accessible way,” said Taustin. “We are more than ready to pack up and hit the road again to new destinations across the country, bringing communities together for a night under the stars, to experience the works of William Shakespeare. We hope that Shakespeare’s hilarious Much Ado About Nothing will allow audiences from Indiana to Massachusetts to Delmarva some much-needed escapism while offering the Bard’s brilliant take on a changing post-war society where preconceived notions of love, trust, and compassion are changed through understanding and empathy.”
Much Ado About Nothing will feature professional artists, designers and actors including Debbie Aboaba as “Hero,” Margaret Clark as “Beatrice,” Drew Cleveland as “Don John,” Abuzar Farrukh as “Borachio,” Christopher Ho as “Claudio,” Lorraine Kanyike as “Leonata,” Emma Meyerson as “Margaret,” Francis Xavier Norton as “Dogberry,” Spencer Parli Tew as “Don Pedro” and Cam Torres as ‘Benedick,”
Much Ado About Nothing is about a group of soldiers, upon their return from war, 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 debates the preconceived notion of how to love and the value of trust.
The Delmarva performances will include the following shows, all beginning at 7:30 p.m. unless noted:
Sept. 2: The Freeman Arts Pavilion, 31750 Lake View Dr, Selbyville, Del., 7 p.m. curtain
Sept. 3: Sturgis Park, Snow Hill, 100 River St, Snow Hill, Md.
Sept. 4: Pitts St., Berlin,
Sept. 5: Robert Reed Waterfront Park, Main Street, Chincoteague, Va.
Sept. 9: Sunset Park, 1 S. Division Street Ocean City
Sept. 10: Seaford Jay’s Nest. 490 North Market Street Ext., Seaford, Del.
Sept. 11: Wilmington State Parks, Rockford Park, 2000 Lookout Drive, Wilmington, Del.
Sept. 12: Lewes Public Library, 111 Adams Ave, Lewes, Del.
Sept. 15: Holts Landing State Park, 27046 Holts Landing Rd, Dagsboro, Del.
Sept. 16: First Heritage State Park, 102 S State St, Dover, Del.
Sept. 17: Teakle Mansion, 11736 Mansion St, Princess Anne, Md.
Sept. 18; Muskrat Park, 207 Willow Green St, St. Michaels, Md.
Sept. 19: Pohanka Riverwalk Ampitheater, 210 S. Salisbury Blvd, Salisbury Md.
Sept. 22: Long Wharf Park, 2 Yacht Club Drive, Cambridge
Sept. 23: J. Millard Tawes Museum, Somers Cove Marina, 3 Ninth St, Crisfield
Sept. 24: Exmore Town Park, 3386 Main St, Exmore, Va.
Sept. 25: Avalon Park, 7 Louisa Lane, Charlestown
Sept. 26: Northside Park, 200 125th St., Ocean City
Visit www.brownboxtheatre.org for more show information.