University Theatre started the season off with a comedy classic, presenting audiences with The Philadelphia Story, a 1930s play written by Philip Barry filled with word-play rarely seen in modern productions. Proceeding at a slower pace than most modern-day audiences are used to and featuring scenes of extensive dialogue , The Philadelphia Story provided a witty start to the season.

Despite these obstacles, the play still resonated with audiences, who filled multiple shows to capacity and thanked the actors and actresses with standing ovations.

“[The Philadelphia Story] is one of the classics of its genre,” said John C. McIlwee , the director of University Theatre . “The 30s comedy of manners with a little screwball comedy background to it.”

A story that eased many hearts during the Great Depression, The Philadelphia Story is the tale of a young woman, wealthy and attractive, who runs into trouble during her wedding due to the many men vying for her attention and her whimsical attitude.

According to McIlwee , many 1930s plays greatly differ from modern plays. The plays of today do not contain the many double-entendres and subtle implications in dialogue which were prevalent back then. Instead, modern plays tend to be very direct, with characters saying exactly what they mean.

However, it is for this reason that McIlwee and others in the University Theatre staff chose to produce the play.

“Our mission is to provide the theatrical experience for students all across campus,” McIlwee said. “[Productions are] all done by students under the supervision of the University Theatre staff, so when we select a season, we select it with an eye to [provide students] with the opportunity to participate in all types, every genre of theatre that is available.”

Although not many students are used to seeing such plays, The Philadelphia Story remains one of the most acclaimed plays in American history. Many people still know of the story by reputation, though they may not be familiar with its style.

According to McIlwee , Philip Barry, the playwright of The Philadelphia Story wrote the play specifically for Katherine Hepburn, who acted in both the play and film adaptation.

However, this posed a certain challenge for N.C . State’s production of the famous play. For actress Brett Williams, a junior in zoology, this was a special challenge as she played the role previously executed so famously by Katherine Hepburn herself.

“I was nervous at first, because I didn’t want people thinking that I was trying to be Katherine Hepburn,” Williams said. “It was intimidating at first, and then I kind of just said that ‘I’ll do this my way and not worry about Katherine Hepburn, and go in a completely different direction.”

Carter Keogh, a sophomore in industrial engineering, was one of the audience members who gave the University Theatre crew a standing ovation during the Friday night performance.

“I know that for me, I enjoyed the play on words,” Keogh said. “I thought it was amazing. The students were really good [and I] really enjoyed it.”

Although the season started on a happy note, the light-hearted feel will soon give way to heavier and darker plays.

According to McIlwee , the next play is a Tennessee Williams in celebration of his 100th birthday. This will be followed Little Women, Rent, and The Arabian Nights. All of these works are known for tackling darker and, in some cases,  more depressing material.

University Theatre is working to offer a variety of shows this season. However, astute audiences may recognize a theme that runs through the year, even if it was completely unintentional.

“It just so happens that this year we picked, quite by accident, three plays that were all movies starring Katherine Hepburn,” McIlwee said. “Sheer accident. We had no idea until [the season selection process] was all over. It was months after we had picked the season and [the University Theatre staff and I] were just sitting there and we all thought, ‘Wait a minute, all these plays have famous movies starring Hepburn.'”

Aspiring to be as diverse as the roles Hepburn made famous, University Theatre has already started rehearsals for their next production this past Sunday, right after the last showing of The Philadelphia Story.