Much Ado About Nothing

Arial shot from PBS Great Performances

Billy Eugene Jones, Grantham Coleman, and Jeremie Harris

Chuck Cooper and Erik LaRay Harvey

Olivia Washington, Tiffany Denise Hobbs, Margarette Odette, Chuck Cooper, Tyrone Mitchell Henderson, Danielle Brooks, and Company

Denzel Fields, Jazmine Stewart, and Company

Danielle Brooks, Olivia Washington,Tyrone Mitchell Henderson, Tiffany Denise Hobbs,Chuck Cooper, and Margarette Odette.

PBS Great Performances broadcast

“The production is set in 2020, on the eve of an election in which, as some prominent banners on Beowulf Boritt’s set suggest, Stacey Abrams is running for president. (Ms. Abrams was herself in the audience on Friday evening.) At a manse in what appears to be an upper class black suburb of Atlanta.” ~Jesse Green, The New York Times

“Scenic designer Beowulf Boritt has decked out the Delacorte stage with a manicured lawn and a big lavish house of the Better Homes and Gardens variety.” ~Sara Holdren, New York Magazine

“The show is one big party — literally: a party staged at the vine-covered country mansion designed by Beowulf Boritt for the nobleman Leonato.” ~Marilyn Stasio, Variety

“The stately mansion set by Beowulf Boritt.” ~Raven Snook, Time Out

“Leonato’s estate (the set is by Beowulf Boritt, the burnished lighting by Peter Kaczorowski) resembles a Federalist mansion in Georgetown, its red brick façade bedecked with banners proclaiming “Stacey Abrams 2020.” If Don Pedro and his regiment are returning from battle, it’s unclear where, exactly, the war is. Perhaps the front is in the Capitol, for the troops arrive by Lincoln Continental, which, rolling on stage, draws cheers from the audience.” ~Jeremy Gerard, Theatre News Online

“Beowulf Boritt's lush backyard set is a lovely rendition of gracious Southern hospitality.” ~ Barbara Schuler, Newsday

“Leon’s fleet and thoughtful telling takes place an affluent African-American community in Georgia in the spring of 2020: Peaches hang from the trees and Stacey Abrams campaign banners wave from Leonato’s brick manor house… it makes a virtue of its contemporary touches, from the nearly on-stage SUV that brings the soldiers home (the realistic scenic design is by Beowulf Boritt), to the rich party sequence costumes (by Emilio Sosa), to status signifiers such as a La Perla lingerie bag.” ~Allison Adato, Entertainment Weekly

“On stage in front of us is an impressively sturdy-looking red-brick house (designed by Beowulf Boritt), emblazoned with a banner, “Stacey Abrams 2020,” which makes the play’s location, political affiliations, and desires for a dream entrant to the 2020 election pretty clear. Characters dart into its doors, appear on its balconies, and hide and play in its patio and on its grassy garden. The gorgeous stage is used in its fullest; a car even draws up at the beginning.” ~ Tim Teeman, Daily Beast

“The first thing you notice as you take your seats for director Kenny Leon's Shakespeare in the Park debut with Much Ado About Nothing are the "Stacey Abrams 2020" banners plastered on the walls of set designer Beowulf Boritt's fancy pile of bricks. The Georgia manse of a family of well-heeled, African-American Southern Democrats is trimmed with pretty magnolia trellises and sits on a manicured lawn edged with peach trees.” ~David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter

“The walls of the suburban mansion that dominates Beowulf Boritt’s set duly feature two large campaign posters that read: “Stacey Abrams 2020”. That cue signals that the action has been shifted to Georgia.” ~Max McGuinness, Financial times

“The setting is modern-day Georgia, complete with peach trees and a brick estate with a “Stacey Abrams 2020” sign on prominent display… Beowulf Boritt’s impressive set “ ~Thom Geier, The Wrap

“We know their politics because scenic designer Beowulf Boritt festoons the upstairs veranda of their imitation Tudor mansion (a visual marriage of Shakespeare to the suburban South) with a campaign banner. Georgia peaches grow in Leonato's perfectly manicured yard, with fancy lawn furniture tastefully dotting the estate.” ~Zachary Stewart, Theatremania

“Draped on the handsome brick villa supplied by designer Beowulf Boritt, and displayed before the audience for the entire production, are banners pushing "Stacey Abrams, 2020." ~Michael Dale, Broadway World