Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College’s Baldwin Players will present “Never Runs Smooth… Shakespeare on Love,” an original play written by ABAC professor Dr. Brian Ray, on March 28-30.

Ray said he originally wrote the play in 2006, but has since updated, added, and adapted his original work for the spring production.

The play looks at the many ways that love is shown in the plays of William Shakespeare through the eyes of four couples as they explore scenes and discuss what they reveal about love. It's a play filled with corny humor mixed with sappy relationship stories. In the end, Ray believes the audience will agree with Shakespeare’s notion that the course of true love never runs smoothly.

“Writing this play has been a labor of love for me, so perhaps it is fitting that the subject of the play is love,” said Ray. “I am fascinated by the language and ideas in all of William Shakespeare’s plays. I also love the theatre. I enjoyed every minute of seeing this project blossom from a casual conversation with a former colleague about mutual interests into a script of my own words molded around those immortal ones of Shakespeare. It was originally written and performed in 2006 as a shorter play. But for our current production, it has been lengthened by adding some important scenes and allowing more enriching character development. It is a lot of fun for the cast in rehearsal as we work to put it together for opening night.”

In addition to Ray, who plays a car salesman named Duke, the cast includes community members Peter Pinnow, Caroline Evans, and Lauraleigh Shealey-Weeks; ABAC alums Ryan Norton and Alena Norton; Ezzard Stewart from Fitzgerald; and ABAC student Brooke Tyra, an environmental horticulture major from Buchanan.

The production will be in ABAC’s Howard Auditorium beginning at 7 p.m. Tickets are $10 for general admission, $5 for non-ABAC students with an ID card, and free for ABAC students, faculty and staff with ABAC ID.