Directed by: Mr. Drew Keddington

February 1st thru February 18th
Show times: Monday, Friday and Saturday
    evenings at 7:00 pm - Doors open at 6:30 pm
Matinee: Saturday February 2nd, 9th & 16th at 2:00 pm

SPECIAL VALENTINES PERFORMANCE!!
Thursday, February 14th at 7 pm.
All Ladies will receive a Valentine's Rose!

The Story:
Leonata, a kindly, respectable noblewoman, lives in the idyllic Italian town of Messina. Leonata shares her house with her lovely young daughter, Hero, her playful and clever niece, Beatrice, and her elderly brother, Antonio. As the play begins, Leonata prepares to welcome some friends home from a war. The friends include Don Pedro (a prince who is a close friend of Leonata) and two fellow soldiers: Claudio, a well-respected young nobleman and Benedick, a clever man who constantly makes witty jokes, often at the expense of his friends. Don Jon, Don Pedro’s illegitimate brother, is part of the crowd as well. Don John is sullen and bitter and makes trouble for the others.

When the soldiers arrive at Leonata’s home, Claudio quickly falls in love with Hero. Meanwhile, Benedick and Beatrice resume their now routine war of witty insults. Claudio and Hero pledge their love to one another and decide to be married. To pass the time in the week before the wedding, the lovers and their friends decide to play a game. They want to get Beatrice and Benedick (who are clearly meant for each other) to stop arguing and fall in love. Their tricks prove successful and Beatrice and Benedick soon fall secretly in love with each other.

But Don Jon has decided to disrupt everyone’s happiness. He has his companion Borachio make love to Margaret (Hero’s look alike serving woman) at Hero’s window in the darkness of the night and brings Don Pedro and Claudio to watch. Believing that he has seen Hero being unfaithful to him, the enraged Claudio humiliates Hero by suddenly accusing her of lechery on the day of their wedding and abandons her at the altar. Hero’s stricken family members decide to pretend that she died suddenly of shock and grief and hide her away while they wait for the truth about her innocence to come to light. In the aftermath of the rejection, Benedick and Beatrice finally confess their love to one another. Fortunately, the night watchmen overhear Borachio bragging about his crime. Dogberry and Verges, the heads of the local police, ultimately arrest both Borachio and Conrad (another of Don Jon’s followers). Everyone learns that Hero is really innocent though Claudio still believes she is dead and grieves for her.

Leonata tells Claudio that, as punishment, she wants Claudio to tell everybody in the city how innocent Hero was. She also wants Claudio to marry Leonata’s “niece” — a girl who, she says, looks much like the 'dead' Hero. Reluctantly, Claudio goes to church with the others, preparing to marry the mysterious masked woman he thinks is Hero’s cousin. When Hero reveals herself, Claudio is overwhelmed with joy.

Benedick then asks Beatrice if she will marry him and after some arguing, they agree. All ends well, as the joyful lovers all have a merry dance before they celebrate their double wedding.