When it was decided that this rag-tag crew of former Shakespeare students were going to put on a show, they figured they had to do a Shakespearean classic! The only question was: which one? Thus came the democratic process; everyone pitched a couple titles they wanted to perform, and those titles were put into one master Google Form to be voted on (honorable mentions being King Lear, Henry IV Part 1, and the infamous As You Like It, which were all instant no's). They whittled it down to just three options: Comedy of Errors, A Winter's Tale, and Much Ado About Nothing. Much Ado was the fan favorite, despite multiple local theater companies performing it at the time, but there's a reason its a classic! It has everything: enemies to lovers, fake death, mischief, shenanigans, what's not to love?
Photos by Juan Torres
You may be asking yourself, what the hell is "groundlings night"? In Shakespeare's time, outdoor theaters like The Globe had standing room in front of the stage (ye olde mosh pit). These were really cheap tickets sold to the common folk, and they became known as the "groundlings"! These were very rowdy and unruly patrons of the theater, but they were what made it so much fun; they would heckle, they would throw things, etc. Throwing and yelling things at actors is often frowned upon these days, but the Student Production Club had a plan. We bought hundreds of cotton "snow balls" and gave them to all the audience members to throw at the actors throughout the show. All the actors were cool with it, with the condition that first they would get to throw snowballs at the people behind the idea: the directors. This video, featuring directors Logan Witthaus and Lizzy Bies, advertises the one-night-only Groundlings Night.