Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing" Comes to Wildcliff Mansion June 20, 21, 27 and 28

Got weekend plans? What could be lovelier than enjoying beautiful views of Long Island Sound while listening to live music, then finding a seat inside Wildcliff Mansion for a FREE production of Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing"?

On Saturday and Sunday, June 20 and 21 (and the following weekend, June 27 and 28) the New Rochelle Council on the Arts presents the Red Monkey Theater Group's production of Shakespeare's classic comedy. Enjoy live music before the show from 5 pm to 5:45 pm, followed by "Much Ado" at 6 pm: Admission is free, with a suggested donation of $10.

The Shakespeare performances kick off the New Rochelle Council on the Arts Summer Sounds Concert Series at Hudson Park, which begins Wednesday night, June 24th and continues every Wednesday and Friday night at 7:30 pm through August. For a complete Summer Sounds calendar visit newrochellearts.org/summer-sounds/

Wildcliff Mansion, also known as the Cyrus Lawton House, has a rich history dating back to 1852. It was designed by the renowned architect Alexander Jackson Davis in the Gothic Revival style, built on a hill with stunning views of Echo Bay. Unfortunately, in 2018 a fire destroyed the mansion. The City decided to keep the mansion's stone walls: Today, Wildcliff Mansion stands as an open ruin that has been stabilized and reimagined for special events through the New Rochelle Department of Parks & Recreation.

Written circa 1598, Much Ado About Nothing is a comedy set at the end of a war, at a time when people are allowing themselves to believe they have a future. Their emotions are thawing out after a period of national trauma. Soldiers are struggling to re-enter the civilian world; survivors are struggling to re-form the bonds of family and friendship. Like any Shakespeare play, this is a piece that reaches across time to shake us by our collective cultural lapels. It confronts us with a wealth of ideas that couldn't be more current - gender roles, infidelity, generational divides - and hope.

“Much Ado is mostly remembered by audiences for the wit of Beatrice and Benedick, the bickering couple whose brilliant language hides their vulnerabilities,” said Red Monkey Theater Group Artistic Director Tal Aviezer. “But above all, this play is about a struggle of love, trust, and forgiveness against pride, fear, and envy. In this struggle, wit is sometimes a delicious poison – a tool we use to speak to each other without listening. And the moments when characters in this play really listen to each other are the moments when hearts - and lives – can be won or lost."

“I think it is, at heart, a play about finding a way forward after an enormous cultural divide,” said Writer-in-Residence Amy Frey. “It’s figuring out how to love and trust again after a country has been ripped apart, and all of the heart-ache, awkwardness, and humor that can go with that.”

The play is directed by Amy Frey and Tal Aviezer, who also play Beatrice and Benedick. The cast also includes Yannik Encarnação, Nick Leshi, Derek Tarson, Margaret Gorrell, Sean Demers, Sean Coffey, and Ariel Francoeur. The stage manager is Grace Terdoslavich and the choreographer is Danielle Aviezer.

Founded in 1999, the Red Monkey Theater Group (RMTG) is the resident theater company at historic Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum and Gardens in the Bronx’s Pelham Bay Park. They are a non-profit performing arts company dedicated to enriching local communities through the cultivation, creation, and presentation of live classical and contemporary theater. In 2016, they began regular partnerships with an ever-expanding network of cultural organizations and historical sites, including Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum and Gardens, the New Rochelle Council on the Arts at Wildcliff Mansion, Van Cortlandt House Museum, and others, serving a growing audience of local New York residents from the surrounding Bronx neighborhoods and beyond.