This past weekend I had the privilege of watching my friend, former Statesman member and LHS alum Joe Hiatt perform in USF’s most recent play, “Much Ado About Nothing.” Hiatt, a freshman, was given one of the lead roles in his first college play production, an impressive feat for the aspiring actor. The play, written by William Shakespeare, consisted of five scenes telling the story of Hero and her groom-to-be Claudio and their plan to matchmake their friends Beatrice and Benedick.

The scene is set in Messina, a port on the island of Sicily. The trio of Don Pedro played by Damon Brown, Benedick played by Hiatt, and Claudio played by Abraham Kalovsky are set on marrying Claudio to the young Hero played by Lily Satterlee. Everything seems to go as planned and a romance even began to spark between Benedick and Hero’s cousin Beatrice who is played by Alecia Martinez. However the plan is foiled when Don John played by Donovan Minor decides to stage an affair framing Hero as disloyal.

The play was full of cheesy jokes, evil schemes and romantic love stories. Comedic relief was provided by Dogberry played by Micha Abraham and Leonato played by AJ Krumholz. The acting crew as a whole was very animated and did a good job at telling the story and evoking emotion from the audience. Benedict even scored a smooch from Beatrice in the closing minutes. The directing seemed to be on point, there were no lapses or miscues, everything went smoothly and lines were recited with clarity and no hesitation.

The set was quite impressive. It consisted of a balcony area, two story windows and a garden area, considerably most complex and grander than local high school plays. The costumes were quite entertaining and seemed accurate to the time period. Lighting and sound did not seem to be a problem or hinder the play in any way.

I am not a play guru but I have attended my fair share of plays and musicals over the years although they usually are not my first choice for a Friday night leisure activity. However, I really enjoyed the production, even in its 16th century early modern english. I did struggle to understand the first 30 minutes of the play due to a very confused and curious 8-year-old sitting behind me. Nevertheless as the play continued and the plot thickened, I began to understand and appreciate the story line. Overall it was a positive experience and if you are a play enthusiast I would recommend checking out of of USF’s upcoming shows at their website: http://www.usiouxfalls.edu/index.php?id=813&option=com_content&task=view .