Senior musical theatre major Sarah Mayhew will kick off the Birmingham-Southern College theatre season Thursday with a personal favorite. “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)” has now been two years in the making, ever since she had the idea to direct and pitched the show to theatre faculty as a sophomore.

Using everything she learned last spring in her directing class, Mayhew serves as the production’s student director, working alongside the production’s three leads, junior Gale Riggs and sophomores Lauren Beagle and Jack Dominick.

Learn more about the hilarious journey through Shakespeare’s iconic collection of plays from Mayhew herself.

What can audiences expect from the play who aren’t familiar with the concept?

The play is made up of three people who kind of know Shakespeare, and they’re trying to perform all 37 of Shakespeare’s plays in an hour and a half. If you blink, you’ll miss something because it’s just joke after joke after joke. It’s like if “Saturday Night Live” was performing Shakespeare.

How did you end up directing this production specifically?

I saw the show when I was 10 or 11 years old, and it’s always stuck in the back of my mind. One night, I was with a friend at BSC, and I was telling her about the play. We were watching a scene, saying that this would be so fun to student direct. We both stopped and looked at each other, and I thought, “There’s no reason why I couldn’t do that.” That’s where it all started.

Why were you drawn to this show?

It was very spontaneous, funny, and fast-paced. It was a different way of looking at Shakespeare than I’d ever seen. I’d always had an image of Shakespeare as Sir Patrick Stewart orating on the Globe stage. This show made me feel like Shakespeare was more accessible than I’d ever thought before.

What’s your favorite part of the show?

I love when the characters cover “Hamlet.” It’s a surprise, but I don’t think anyone has seen “Hamlet” the way it’s done in “The Complete Works.”

As the director, what twists or additions of your own have you made?

Traditionally, the play is done with three men. My original concept was to have three women do the show, but Jack had such an incredible audition that I knew he had to be in the production with Gale and Lauren. That changed my vision a bit, but I always wanted to give this opportunity to women in our department. In the play, the actors portray themselves when they’re not doing one of Shakespeare’s plays, so I figured there wasn’t a reason why we couldn’t have women in the play.

What are you looking forward to most about the performances?

I’m excited to see if the audience loves the play as much as I did when I was a kid. I hope they take away the sheer joy I had when I first saw it.

“The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)” will be held in the College’s Underground Theatre. Shows are at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 26 – Saturday, Sept. 28 and 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 29. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased here or at the door. Seats are first come, first served.