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For two nights last weekend, a group of students performed Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night on the stage of Olivia Music Hall, entertaining their peers and faculty at Thomas Aquinas College, New England.

Directed by alumnus Joe Rivera (’17) and senior Niamh McCann (’23), the production was truly a labor of love. With only three months to rehearse, the actors sacrificed much of their free time to learn lines and block scenes, while the crew painted backdrops, prepared costumes, and found props.

The result of their sacrifices, however, was remarkable. The show featured four student-composed songs set to Shakespeare’s text, a transformed music hall and, of course, phenomenal acting from the entire cast. “It was a great show,” said Mr. Rivera. “The actors really pulled out all the stops for the performance. I was very proud of them all.”

The play follows the ingenious Viola, who joins Duke Orsino’s court dressed as a man — and quickly gets swept into an outrageous love triangle of ridiculous proportions. The cast brought the Bard’s artful prose to hilarious life, keeping the audience roaring with laughter throughout.

“I had so much fun working on the play with the rest of the cast,” said Olivia Rosebrough (’26), who played Viola. “It was great to get out of my comfort zone in order to put on a show for the school to enjoy.”