Junior Players will present Much Ado About Nothing at the Samuell-Grand Park Amphitheatre stage, in collaboration with Shakespeare Dallas. This production takes Shakespeare’s well-known and beloved comedy and adds a telenovela twist. The production is created by Director Lisette Sandoval Perez and Assistant Director Alejandro Saucedo.
Performances will be July 30 – August 4 at the Samuell-Grand Park Amphitheatre (1500 Tenison Parkway in Dallas). The gates will open at 7:30 p.m. and the show will begin at 8 p.m. each night.
Junior Players Production Draws from 12 DFW High Schools
The Junior Players’ production features 25 of North Texas’ most talented high school students from 12 different high schools across DFW. In Shakespeare’s play, Much Ado About Nothing, power defies legacy. Throughout the show, we see greed, jealousy, and deception make a valiant effort to foil the love of young courtship. This comedic play unfolds as Leonato, leader of Spain, awaits the arrival of Don Pedro of Aragon and his victorious army of Portuguese soldados (soldiers). “Donde hay poder surgen la codicia, los celos, el engaño y el amor.”
In an effort to make access to the arts more equitable for the members of our DFW community and beyond, and for the first time in the 34 years of this productions’ existence, Junior Players has removed ticket prices and has instead shifted to a donation or ‘pay-what-you-can’ model for all six performances of Much Ado About Nothing.
Donations can be made online by visiting juniorplayers.org/tickets, or at the door with cash or card. Junior Players encourages those with ADA needs to donate ahead of time so that accommodations may be submitted through the online portal and set up in advance.
Much Ado About Nothing Sponsors
Sponsored, in part, by City of Dallas Office of Arts and Culture, George Family Foundation – Next Generation Fund, Harold Simmons Foundation, Holloway Family Foundation, TACA, Fichtenbaum Charitable Trust, Diane and Hal Brierley Foundation, Dallas Afterschool, Emily Javadi Foundation, Edward W. Rose III Family Fund at The Dallas Foundation, WFAA, Louise W. Kahn Endowment Fund at The Dallas Foundation, and individual donors.
Now in its 34th year, the Junior Players’ Discover Shakespeare program, produced in collaboration with Shakespeare Dallas, has become a mainstay in the North Texas cultural scene. This production of Shakespeare, performed entirely by young adults ages fifteen to nineteen, has provided hundreds of students with real hands-on professional theatrical training, at no cost to the participants, and has introduced thousands of young audience members to Shakespeare.
Junior Players was founded in 1955 and is the oldest non-profit children’s theater organization in Dallas. Over its existence, the group has striven to meet the changing needs of the community. From 1955 to 1989, they presented traditional children’s theater productions performed entirely by children and teenagers. In 1989, the Board of Directors changed the focus of Junior Players activities, deciding they can best serve the youth of Dallas by providing free programming accessible to all the children of North Texas. Junior Players therefore exclusively provides free arts education programs in local recreation and cultural centers, housing projects, elementary and middle schools, and through social service agencies serving youth at risk.
