Cast of Much Ado About Nothing. (Not shown in order) Victoria: Kacie West; Henry: Devin Bontreger; Hero: Bri
Wisler; Beatrice: Kiersten Reeve; Claudia: Jessica Castle; Claude: Drew Sumwalt; Benedict: Tristan A. Good; Don: Keenan
H. Crotty; Captain: Dan Parks; Peter: Takota Bennett; Dogberry: Ben Cramer; Margaret: Jeanie Miller; and Ursula: Samantha Anderson. Members of the ships crew: Bill Hites, TerriAnna Mishler, Alesia Hilligoss. Group One: Erika Byler, Bronte
Fry, Jessica Mishler, and Julie Hostetler. Group Two: Sarah Brugger and Tennelle Flowers. Group Three: Gavin Pelfrey and
Sarah Astling. Group Four: Masha Vedyastkina, Tiffani Tefft, Mariah Mast, and Lexie VanDeMark.
Photo by LaGwana Printing, Inc.
“Much Ado About Nothing”
A Modern Adaptation on a Cruise Ship
by Dan Byler
A modern adaptation of William
Shakespear’s play Much Ado About
Nothing is the result of the theater
students wanting to do a Shakespeare
piece, but wanting the audience to be
able to easily understand it.
Director Shilo Flowers had agreed
to the students’ request to do a Shakespeare piece, but insisted on a comedy
instead of one of his many tragedies.
Senior Tennelle Flowers had already
asked, and been granted permission,
to be student director of her last
production at Westview. Tennelle felt
that since there had been a number of
productions using “Old English” over
the last several years, and since she
wanted it to appeal to a larger audience, she asked if the play could be
rewritten. Director, and sister, Shilo,
responded with, “Sure, go for it.”
As far as any of the Flowers (Tennelle, Shilo, and their mother Pam who
is the assistant director) know, this is
the first time a student has rewritten a
theatre production at Westview.
The play is scheduled for Friday
pg 4 · The Hometown Treasure · Apr. ‘12
and Saturday, April 27 and 28. As Pam
put it, “We want people to know that
this will not be the Shakespeare they
can’t follow, but instead a comedy that
will have them rolling in the aisles,
laughing! This is a big opportunity
for the creative kids we have. Right
now we have a lot of them!” Tennelle
said, “So often when I’ve been in plays
in the past I would find myself saying, ‘Oh, it would be great to have my
character do this … or say that!’ This
is what this is all about. Not only did
I get to write my own jokes, we’re also
letting some of the students write
their own supporting dialog to give
them a lot of freedom to be creative.”
One of Tennelle’s favorite jokes
that will be in the play is between one
of the main characters Benedict and
one of his friends.
Friend: “I thought you were over
Beatrice … new pastures … and all
that!”
Benedict: “Yes, new pastures! But
she’s still the same old cow!”
Anyone that has attended the
Tennelle Flowers, a senior at Westview, gets the opportunity to be
student director and playwright.
annual
variety
shows over the last couple of years can
attest to the creativity of the current
students at Westview.
The basic story line is still of a
wedding where the maid of honor and
the best man can’t stand each other.
The plot revolves around everyone trying to convince both of them that the
other is perfect for them. According
to Tennelle she kept most of the same
characters, just put them in a modern
setting on a cruise ship.
One advantage of writing their
own script has been a situation where
a couple of students dropped out of the
play. Instead of worrying about having
to find someone to fill those vacated
roles, like one would have to do with a
copyrighted script … they just rewrote
the script!
In opposition to normal casting, it
can be seen as an honor in this production to be given the role of an extra.
Those were given to some of the more
creative students. Then they were told
to write their own lines!