By: Courtney Mengel ’19, staff writer

Wig & Buckle Theater Company will perform Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night.”

In the land of Illyria, Duke Orsino pines for the love of Lady Olivia, but Olivia refuses to entertain any proposals of marriage as she mourns the recent death of her brother. Nearby, a young aristocratic woman named Viola is swept ashore from a recent shipwreck. Assuming her twin brother, Sebastian, has drowned, Viola attempts to figure out what work she can do.

A sea captain tells Viola aboutOrsino’s courtship of Olivia, so Viola hopes to work in Olivia’s home; however, since Olivia refuses to talk with strangers, Viola decides against working for Olivia. Instead, Viola disguises herself as a man, takes on the name of Cesario and goes to work for Orsino.

Viola, disguised as Cesario, quickly becomes a favorite of Orsino. As Viola continues to work for Orsino, she finds herself falling in love with him – a difficult love to pursue consider-ing Orsino believes her to be a man. When Orsino sends Cesario to deliver Orsino’s love messages to Olivia, Olivia falls for Cesario. The love triangle is thus complete: Viola loves Orsino, Orsino loves Olivia and Olivia loves Cesario.

Amanda Schwinger, producer of Wig & Buckle Theater Company, will direct “Twelfth Night.”

“One major change is that we willin fact have females in our produc-tion,” Schwinger said. “When it was originally produced in 1602, women couldn’t perform onstage, so female parts were played by men.”

The main difference between Wig & Buckle’s production and Shake- speare’s original is that the play will be presented in a modern setting.

“Because this is already such a com-plex story, we want to place the focuson the action onstage and the actingrather than the period costumes,” Schwinger said. “I’m really honoredto be directing this show and look forward to starting the productionprocess.”

Play auditions will be held Nov. 19 at 6 p.m. in Leedy Theater of the Allan W. Mund College Center. “Twelfth Night” is scheduled to open Feb. 8, 2019.