Directed by Michael O’Neill, associate professor of English and director of theater, As You Like It’s production’s gender-bending plot follows Rosalind, the wisest of Shakespeare’s heroines, as she flees persecution in her uncle’s kingdom. Along with her cousin Celia and a court jester named Touchstone, Rosalind attempts to find safety and love in the Forest of Arden.

Stocked with quotable lines and memorable characters such as lovesick Orlando, melancholy Jaques, and dim-witted Audrey, this gentle spoof of romantic love remains Shakespeare’s kindest work and its forgiving forest paradise a precursor to today’s dream of a world going green.

Performances: 8 pm, Wenesday-Saturday, March 3-6, 2010

Sponsored in part by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Environmental Initiative at Lafayette College.