PORT TOWNSEND — Olympic Peninsula HomeConnection will perform “Much Ado About Nothing” at 7 p.m. Thursday and Friday as well as 7 p.m. performances on Thursday through Sunday, May 2-4.
The production will be staged at San Juan Baptist Church, 1704 Discovery Bay Road. Admission is by a suggested donation of $5.
This year’s cast includes: Zephyr Beil, Isabella Bertucci, Cricket Douglas, Hudson Douglas, Ruby Groussman, Daniel Hales, Emily Hales, Gideon Hales, Alivia Halverson, Evelyn Halverson, Kaylee Klebanow, Lila Mahan, Thomas Mahan, Belen Martinez, Joaquin Martinez, Gabi Palenik, Leif Staley, Ayla Leonard-Stephens, Ariana Stewart and Tristan Stewart.
This year is HomeConnection’s 11th year producing Shakespearean plays starring home-schooled students from the North Olympic Peninsula.
Lat spring the program suffered the tragic death of Consuelo Brennan, one of its longtime co-directors, just weeks after completing its production of “Coriolanus.”
Carla Powell, another co-director and Brennan’s teaching partner for 12 years, was not sure if she could do another play or how the students would feel about it.
“I could tell that they didn’t want to pressure me, but it was very apparent that they wanted to do a play this year,” Powell said. “I knew if we were to do a play, it should be a comedy. And Consuelo had told me that her husband Marshall always said, ‘Once you get to 10 plays, you can start over.’ We reached 10 plays exactly, so I thought maybe we could start over.”
HomeConnection will revisit “Much Ado About Nothing,” which the group previously performed in 2012.
The comedy is co-directed by Carla Powell, Franco Bertucci, Rowan Powell and Maggie Kelley. The music is provided by HomeConnection alumnus Rowen Powell and Chloe Leonard-Stephens, a sister of cast member Ayla Leonard-Stephens.
Other HomeConnection alumni, Kai Campell, Peter Sanok and Anna Munn, have returned to help coach the new performers.
