Riverwalk Arts Festival

For Immediate Release
Contact: Kate Foreman, Watershed Public Theatre
watershedtheatre@gmail.com
 
Riverwalk Arts Festival
Watershed Public Theatre hosts free community arts event featuring Much Ado About Nothing
(COLUMBIA, TN) August 25, 2025 – For the second year in a row, Watershed Public Theatre will open their season of performances at Columbia's Riverwalk Arts Festival with another Shakespeare classic. This year's play will be Much Ado About Nothing, a comedy often cited as being the mother of all "rom-coms." While much ado has been made about the weather, the end-of-summer timing of this play lends a chance for some beautiful Tennessee evenings. The festivities take place on September 11-13 and 18-20, 2025, at Riverwalk Park, 102 Riverside Drive, Columbia. The Riverwalk Arts Festival offers free admission, as well as food trucks, face-painting, and other local art and attractions. Donations are encouraged to support the continuation of the festival and more fun, creative events presented by Watershed Public Theatre.
 
Shakespeare in the Park is the kind of tradition that threads together many different eras and places all over the world. Small towns and big cities both celebrate the works of Shakespeare; in any capacity, these outdoor productions are always the result of a lot of hard work. Watershed's season opener is in good hands with director Evan Hernandez. Much Ado About Nothing will be the first full-length play he's directed, but Evan has plenty of experience to draw from, in particular, his days as a set-builder and crew member for New York City's Public Theatre, the producer of the quintessential Shakespeare in the Park. Those live productions in Central Park have an imposing scale. Live theatre can be unpredictable anywhere it takes place, but Watershed's director has a grasp of Shakespeare that is watertight. 
 
"I find Shakespeare natural to perform, natural to edit," Hernandez says, "it's timeless and classic for a reason." Being 425 years old must not be a bad thing. Hernandez is sure that it's something anyone at any age can relate to. "I've performed Shakespeare in a room full of eight-year-olds hanging on every word. You could hear a pin drop."
 
The relationships in Much Ado About Nothing glow with an enduring relatability. Especially the flirty feud between Benedick (Alex White) and Beatrice (Reid Gregory), the type of chemistry that fuels any rom-com. The original play is set in 16th-century Italy, but Director Hernandez has set his production in New England just after World War I. Evan and his wife, Assistant Director Maggie Hernandez, find the era very unique and appealing. America was on its way into a bit of a renaissance, characterized by new styles of fashion, music, dance and technology. 
 
The rest of the cast includes Shaelyn Taylor, William Meyer, Austin Jeffrey Smith, JR Knowles, RJ Comer, Ava Sin, Melody Alvarado, Evan Taylor Williams, Luke McGuire, Jenna Goldsmith and Brett Lemmers. Much Ado About Nothing, as part of Columbia's Riverwalk Arts Festival, will take place on September 11th, 12th & 13th, as well as September 18th, 19th & 20th. The event opens at 6:00 pm each night, with pre-show entertainment at 6:30 pm, and the play beginning at 7:30 pm. It is free admission with open seating; attendees are encouraged to bring their own chairs and blankets. Watershed Public Theatre is proud to be a conduit of community, local talent, and timeless art.
 
Mission Statement:
At Watershed Public Theatre, we believe that theatre is the ultimate collaborative art and work to bring together arts professionals, volunteers, students and patrons to share in the illumination that only live performance can provide. We maintain our focus on nurturing community and practicing social and environmental responsibility while striving for the highest quality of artistic and educational experiences.
For more details or to join WPT’s mailing list, visit watershedpublictheatre.org, email info@watershedtheatre.org, call 931-797-6551 or visit the Facebook page: Facebook.com/WatershedTheatre.
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Cutline: (top, left to right) Shaelyn Taylor plays Hero and Reid Gregory as Beatrice, opposite (bottom, left to right) William Meyer as Claudio and Alex White as Benedick in Watershed Public Theatre’s production of Much Ado About Nothing, part of the free Riverwalk Arts Festival, September 11-20 at Columbia’s Riverwalk Park.