ROMANCE AND HUMOR: Cast members in ActorsNET’s current production of “Much Ado About Nothing” dance the Charleston. The play runs through June 29 at The Heritage Center Stage.

William Shakespeare’s comedy Much Ado About Nothing is on stage at the Heritage Center Theatre in Morrisville, Pa. through June 29.

The tale of love and deception is set in sunny Messina, where gossip turns into game and romance is both celebrated and sabotaged. The play centers on two couples: the witty adversaries Beatrice and Benedick, who exchange verbal barbs, and the sweethearts Hero and Claudio, whose path to the altar is threatened by villainous trickery.

This year’s production is envisioned as a continuation of last season’s Love’s Labour’s Lost, reuniting many of the same actors in reimagined roles that follow their characters into new romantic misadventures.

“When last we met in Shakespeare land, our intrepid heroes and heroines of Love’s Labour’s Lost were denied a happy ending in the fragile beauty of that last Edwardian summer due to the outbreak of WWI,” said director George Hartpence. “We couldn’t let that injustice stand, so it was decreed that our next show would reunite the lovers and allow their romances to take their natural courses.”

This production transports audiences to world of the 1920s, blending Shakespeare’s sharp-tongued wit with the glamour and energy of the Jazz Age.

“The decadence and debauchery of the Jazz Age is the perfect setting for this particular Shakespearean romcom because, of all his works, this is the one that truly celebrates true, undeniable love the most and doesn’t shy away from throwing in a generous dose of the kind of wit, romance, and excess that often accompanies that kind of passion,” said producer and choreographer Cat Milone.

The Heritage Center Theatre is located at 635 North Delmorr Avenue, Morrisville, Pa., near the Calhoun Street Bridge.  Show times are Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m.

For tickets or additional information, visit actorsnetbucks.org.