Story by ADIA REYNOLDS Photos by ABIGAIL SHEARER
Tiger Media Network
Last Saturday evening was alive with fairy lights, carnival games, and souvenir stand employees hawking their wares at the Flint Hills Shakespeare Festival. This was the 13th annual iteration of the town’s iconic tourist attraction. The official site advertises The Flint Hills Shakespeare Festival [as] a…community-based initiative focused on providing small-town, classical, outdoor theater and a village festival experience to local and regional patrons under the stars of northeast Kansas. Each fall, local volunteers transform a wood on the edge of town, affectionately known as Sir William’s Hollow, into a rustic outdoor Shakespearean amphitheater and family-friendly village festival.
The Shakespeare Festival in Saint Marys. 
Vendors selling stained glass. 
The King’s Players playing outside of the outdoor theater. 
Part of the crowd getting ready to watch Much Ado About Nothing directed by Andrew Clarendon. 
The set for Much Ado About Nothing. 
Director Andrew Clarendon greets everyone and makes announcements before the play starts. 
Act One of Much Ado About Nothing. Cast from left to right Peter Stamos as Friar Francis, Patrick Murtha as Leonato, Therese McFarland as Beatrice, and Trinity Smalley as Hero. 
Act One of Much Ado About Nothing. Cast from left to right Brett Broadbent as Benedick, Robert Trudeau as Claudio, Gerard Pryor as Don Pedro, Patrick Murtha as Leonato, Trinity Smalley as Hero, and Therese McFarland as Beatrice. 
Act One of Much Ado About Nothing. Cast from left to right Deven Garcia with his debut as don John, Robert Trudeau as Claudio, Brett Broadbent as Benedick, Therese McFarland as Beatrice, Trinity Smalley as Hero, Gerard Pryor as Don Pedro, and Patrick Murtha as Leonato,. 
Act Two of Much Ado About Nothing. Cast from left to right Devan Garcia with his debut as Don John, and James Meuwissen with his debut as Conrade. 
Act Two of Much Ado About Nothing. Cast; Devan Garcia with his debut as Don John during a monologue. 
Act Two of Much Ado About Nothing. Cast from left to right, Robin Bonsall as Antonia, Patrick Murtha as Leonato, Therese McFarland as Beatrice, Trinity Smalley as Hero, and Emilie Jackson as Margaret.
For the last 13 years, the town of St. Marys has hosted a Shakespeare Festival complete with stalls, activities, cosplayers, and a live performance for an affordable price. Medieval and modern food and beverage options were sat side by side. Likewise, people wearing everything from graphic tees to capes and armor wandered the wood chip paths. Stalls carried stock that varied from t-shirts to stained glass ornaments. Above all else, everything at the Flint Hills Shakespeare Festival was cheap, but never cheaped out on the quality of experience provided to attendees. The perfect event for college students this fall, especially for one section of the humanities in particular: the Fort Hays English Department.
Fort Hays State University’s English Department funded a trip for 11 students and teachers combined to attend the festival and share in their common love for Shakespeare. Many of these students already had contact with the show being performed this year, “Much Ado About Nothing.” But one student had not only engaged with Shakespeare before, but had a significant portion of her life molded by the historic playwright.
“I’ve been in theater since I was 12. Dad would explain the Shakespearean language to help with my performances,” history and English double major Tirzah Howery said.
As such, Howery’s engagement with the text could further clue in less aware audience members of more subtle jokes and jabs made by the characters. “Much Ado About Nothing,” while a more modern performance in terms of costume design, remained true to the original text in terms of dialogue and plot. This was a unique blend, but it was a choice that paid off.
Directed by Andrew Clarendon, the 2024 Flint Hills Shakespeare Festival’s performance of “Much Ado About Nothing” was a smashing success. Despite minor errors with the sound system, the actors and actresses on stage pulled off their performances flawlessly. The protagonists, Beatrice and Benedick, were played by long-time Flint Hills stage performers Brett Broadbent and Therese McFarland respectively. The playbills distributed prior to the performance also included prior plays the actors had played a part in.
McFarland has also played roles in “The Winter’s Tale,” “The Merchant of Venice,” “Twelfth Night,” “Othello,” and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Broadbent could be found in the prior productions of “Macbeth,” “Something Rotten,” and “Book of Will.” The pair knew their way around the conventions of Shakespearean dramas and comedies alike, but they brought particular chemistry to the two rivals at the crux of the play’s conflict. Both characters iconically bemoan marriage, while Benedick later admits that, “when I said I would die a bachelor, I did not think I should live till I were married.” (Act 2, Scene 3).
“Much Ado About Nothing” was met with much ado indeed, with avid chatter after the performance regarding the quality of the actor’s performances and hope the Flint Hills Shakespeare Festival will go on to receive far more acclaim as time goes on.