Culture
OU Theater Presents Bard Classic, Offers Outreach to Schools
< < Back to ou-theater-presents-bard-classic-offers-outreach-to-schoolsThe Ohio University Theater Division in the School of Dance, Film and Theater is presenting Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare, directed by Dennis Lee Delaney, Head of the Professional Director Training Program, Nov. 11-21 in OU’s Elizabeth Evans Baker Theater.
Two love stories play out as victorious soldiers returning from war set their sights on the peacetime pleasures of merrymaking and romance. In Shakespeare’s powerful comedy, false information leads one proud nobleman to cruelly denounce his beloved on their wedding day, bringing laughter and heartbreak, and magically putting it all back together again as if it were all “much ado about nothing!”
This year, the Division of Theater brings a renewed interest in building connections with area high schools, by providing a free student matinee showing Tuesday, Nov. 17, at 9:30 a.m. Reservations are required.
This high school matinee will offer a custom study guide, created by theater students and faculty involved in the making of Much Ado About Nothing. These new materials provide educators with an interactive tool to be help activate dialogue and learning in the classroom before and after viewing the theater production.
“We’d like to deepen the learning experience for students by providing these study materials to schools,” said Matthew Cornish, assistant professor of Theater History, referring to the Athens, Logan, Alexander, Warren, Federal Hocking and Meigs county school districts.
Designed to meet the most recent Ohio University Learning Standards, as developed in 2010, the study guide provides a means of integrating theater arts experiences into the curriculum of area high schools.
The concepts and content in the study guide were developed by theater students, under Cornish’s guidance, as part of a graduate level theater dramaturgy class. Layout and graphic design was supported by staff at the College of Fine Arts, and Wang Qing, graduate student in the graphic design program in the School of Art + Design.
“Community education and outreach projects, like this one, benefit our own students by giving them the opportunity to develop an abstract idea into a tangible, completed project, while opening them up to a whole spectrum of arts employment,” said Cornish.
Cornish added that education is one way that theaters stay relevant and engaged in communities, and that education departments in arts institutions often play a vital role in the success of those organizations.
Regularly scheduled performances of Much Ado About Nothing are Nov. 11–14 and 18-21 at 8 p.m. in the Elizabeth Evans Baker Theater, located in Kantner Hall on South College Street. Talkbacks are scheduled for Nov. 14 and 18 after the shows.
Tickets are free for OU students with a student ID, courtesy of Arts for Ohio. Regular tickets are $10 for adults and $7 for other students and seniors.
For more information and reservations, phone 740-593-1780vor stop by the Fine Arts Ticket Office, located at the East Union Street entrance of Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium, Monday through Friday, 12-5 p.m.
