Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing" is a comical take on the game of courting, with villains who want to ruin a perfect love match and friends who appear too skittish for commitment.
"Hip-Hop Much Ado About Nothing," an AU professor's modern adaptation of the comedy, entices audience members to come and learn that Shakespeare's truths are timeless. AU's Department of Performing Arts will open their 2004 season with a writer that commands respect, a show that is sure to intrigue spectators and two concepts that are universal: comedy and romance.
Professor Caleen Sinnette Jennings - director of the show and of the AU theatre and music theatre programs - adapted it to another of today's universal phenomena: hip-hop culture.
"Many people of my generation don't understand this phenomenon of hip-hop, so it has really been a learning experience for me to do this and it has also made a nice bridge between myself and my sons, who play hip-hop in the house from morning until midnight," Jennings said. "I have a deeper understanding for the culture, and it is important when you are directing something to have a personal connection with it."
And naturally, the music, provided by local DJ Moose, and dancing go hand in hand with the club atmosphere to keep the stage jumping.
Other present-day aspects in this Shakespeare adaptation include the use of cell phones, equipped with text messaging that serves the exchange of flirtations. For example, "Much Ado" characters Benedict and Beatrice confess their love for one another via the phone.
"Shakespeare has always been transformed, even during his own time, so it's not just a recent phenomenon," said AU literature professor and Renaissance scholar Anita Sherman, who teaches Transformations of Shakespeare and Shakespeare After 1600 this semester, and is also moderating a post-show panel.
Indeed, there is a regular output of Shakespeare updates and transformations in a variety of media, all mostly aimed at attracting a younger audience. A good example is the 2001 film "O," based on "Othello" and adapted into a modern-day story of a black high school NBA hopeful who dates a white girl in an all-white school.
"Hip-Hop Much Ado About Nothing" might be a thoroughly modern update of an age-old play, but one main piece - the Shakespearean language itself - stays true to the original work.
"Since the language is still there, we spend a lot of time before break reading the play, working on how to deal with the language and incorporating certain breathing techniques into it, since the words demand a lot of vocals," cast member Erin Kaufman said.
"I want people to understand that there is not that big a leap from Shakespeare to the kinds of rhymes out there today," said Jennings. "It is poetry, it is social commentary, it is youthful, it is energetic."
Jennings also had to choose the right cast to communicate this youthful and energetic message.
"The hip-hop appeal drew in a lot of the cast members who would otherwise not have been seen in AU theatre productions," said head stage manager Thom Ferlisi about the diverse cast.
Cast member Stacey Berkowitz agreed that much of the appeal of "Hip-Hop Much Ado" is the diversity, not only racially but experience-wise too; 14 out of the 22 cast members have never before performed on stage.
"It shows our generation that Shakespeare can be applicable to today and it is great to give everyone the experience of the stage," Berkowitz said.
In doing the show, Jennings wanted it to be a learning experience for both student and teacher.
"I did 'A Midsummer's Night Dream' two years ago and I actively disliked the play," she said. "But in doing it, I discovered what was wonderful about it. I have a feeling that not until closing night will I really know how the elements came together. But, if you have a gut feeling about something and everyone is into it, it seems to work."
The performance turnout is expected to be positive given the unique and upbeat appeal of the show, as well as the advertising techniques, which include handing out postcard-sized ads for the show at local D.C. clubs.
More important to Jennings than the success of the show, however, is the excitement of bringing both the hip-hop purists and the Shakespeare purists "together in the same room."
The Feb. 6 performance will be followed by DPA's First Friday discussion series, which includes a panel moderated by Professor Sherman and featuring Dr. James Carroll, a former Helen Hayes Award Judge, Dr. Jeanne Addison Roberts, a Shakespeare scholar, and Dr. William Smith, an ethnomusicologist and musician.
The Feb. 7 performance includes a "Shake 'N Saturday" youth matinee at 2 p.m., which will feature a post-show discussion with Jennings and some of the actors.
Other notable transformations of Shakespeare
"Endgame" (1957), the book by Samuel Beckett about the last four people on earth, inspired by "The Tempest."
"Season of Migration to the North" (1991), the book by Tayeb Salih, about cultural dissonance between East and West in the context of England and Sudan, based on "Othello."
"10 Things I Hate About You" (1999), the film starring Julia Stiles and Heath Ledger as two lovers caught in a web of dating etiquette, based on "The Taming of the Shrew."
"Scotland, Pa." (2001), the film starring James LeGros and Maura Tierney as Joe and Pat McBeth, a couple who climbs the ladder of power in a fast-food joint, based on "Macbeth."
"Melissa Arctic" (2003), the play by Craig Wright, inspired by "The Winter's Tale" and running at the Folger Theatre in D.C. until Feb. 29.
- LOREN BONNER and DAN ZAK
