AsidesLIVE Symposium: Much Ado About Nothing

For the intellectually curious, there are a variety of ways to connect with a Shakespeare Theatre Company production. One can study the text, read Asides Online, buy the tickets, see the production and discuss it on your ride home. In addition, AsidesLIVE gives audiences the opportunity to take a crash course in classic theatre. The morning-long symposium provides a multi-dimensional look at the current play, Much Ado About Nothing. An esteemed assembly of noted scholars and special guests share their insights and provide refreshing ways to contemplate Shakespeare’s work.

The AsidesLIVE for Much Ado About Nothing, which will be held at Sidney Harman Hall on Sunday, December 11, will feature a discussion on the role of gender in the play with Holly Dugan, whose scholarship focuses on gender, sexuality, and the boundaries of the body in late medieval and early modern England at The George Washington University, and Latoya Peterson, Editor of Racialicious.com.

We are excited to have scholars of Cuba and Cuban American art joining our panel on the impact of moving the play’s setting from Sicily to Cuba. Ana Serra, author of The New Man in Cuba: Culture and Identity in the Revolution and Ricardo Ortiz, author of Cultural Erotics in Cuban America , will discuss the location of the play with director Eleanor Holdridge, whose all-female production of Much Ado recently ran at Taffety Punk Theatre Company.

Much Ado About Nothing choreographer Marcos Santana will speak with Latin American music scholar and historian Brian McCann about the role of music in Latin America and in this production.

The symposium will also feature an in-depth look at the play by Professor Elizabeth A. Charlebois of St. Mary’s College of Maryland.

The AsidesLIVE for Much Ado About Nothing will be held on Sunday, December 11, 2011, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. in The Forum in Sidney Harman Hall. The ticket prices are $20 regular price, $15 for subscribers and donors and $5 for students with a valid ID. Symposium events have sold out in the past so be sure to reserve your tickets in advance.