"The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, (Abridged)" will run every Thursday-Sunday through Jan. 18. Showtimes are 8 p.m. for all shows except Sunday performances, which begin at 3 p.m. Tickets range from $10 to $15. Contact: (770) 781-9178 or go online at www.playhousecumming.com.
Shakespeare's plays are being presented at the Cumming Playhouse. All 37 of them.
"It's three guys, 37 plays, two hours and tons of comedy," said Jim Dailey, director of "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, (Abridged)."
The performance is a combined production of the Off Broadway Professional Company and the North Fulton Drama Club.
Dailey, Off Broadway's artistic director, described the show as a compilation of Shakespeare's plays into a high-energy comedy.
"It touches on everything," he said. "'Othello' is presented to the audience as a rap and 'Titus Andronicus' is presented as a cooking show.
"The show is pretty humorous. They don't take anything too seriously."
Chris Mayer, owner of the Off Broadway Dance Center, which incorporates a professional children's musical theater company and a dance studio, said the addition of the professional adult company is "a chance for us to expand our base and try something a little bit different."
The Roswell-based company has been open for nine years, but the Shakespeare production is only the third performance for the adult group. The company's last performance was "John, His Story" in October.
"The [Cumming Playhouse] is a beautiful space and it really fits well into what we want to do," Mayer said. "It's been a nice experience each time we've come up there."
The Shakespeare production is the first collaboration between the two theater companies.
"North Fulton Drama Club wanted to do a fundraiser for their upcoming 2009 season and [we] had time at the playhouse," said Dailey, who has performed in three drama club productions. "Shakespeare is their specialty ... so I thought it would be a good collaboration to do that show."
Dailey said the drama club is known for its outdoor Shakespeare performances in Roswell. With the comedic twist, however, the playhouse performance likely will attract more than just Shakespeare followers.
"People who have never experienced Shakespeare are going to get a kick out of it because they're going to learn something new," he said. "But people who are longtime fans of Shakespeare are going to see it from a different perspective."