ADRIAN — “It’s considered by many to be the greatest play ever written.”

That’s how Mark DiPietro, theater professor at Siena Heights University, describes William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet,” which his students will perform in February.

Performances take place the evenings of Feb. 8, 9 and 10 at 7:30 p.m. in the Spencer Performing Arts Center on the Siena Heights campus, 1247 E. Siena Heights Dr.

It’s a challenging piece to perform, but also a rewarding one. DiPietro said the Siena Heights theater department tries to produce one of Shakespeare’s plays at least once every few years.

“They really push the students to become more complete and better actors. Our program is known for the performers that we produce — singing-wise, dancing-wise and acting-wise — and doing Shakespeare really pushes the acting element forward,” he said.

“We know that if a student can perform Shakespeare, a student can perform contemporary pieces as well.”

To make Shakespeare’s words make sense to a modern audience, DiPietro said, all of the actors need an intimate understanding of the text.

“They have to understand every single word, its importance to the sentence and the scene, and the subtext of that word,” he said.

The play is Shakespeare’s longest — nearly 30,000 words — and, when performed unabridged, can last more than four hours. When filmmakers adapt it for the screen, DiPietro said, they often end up cutting entire subplots and removing characters from the play completely.

While Theatre Siena’s version will be shortened, DiPietro said the cuts won’t be nearly so drastic. He’s gone through the play line by line with a goal of getting it closer to the two-hour mark, but keeping its integrity intact.

“We’ll keep the show moving, we’ll keep it active,” he said.

Theatre Siena’s production will have a late 20th-century setting — “when Hamlet stabs Polonius behind the curtain, he’ll shoot him instead,” DiPietro said — but the modern aspects will be limited to the scenery, props, costumes, and the characters’ actions. Their words will be unchanged.

“We’re not going to rewrite Shakespeare,” DiPietro said.

DiPietro cast the play without regard to gender in most cases, and the role of Hamlet is played by senior theater major Aiyanna Fivecoat.

“She’s got this kind of brooding delivery that she can do that’s really introspective and deep,” DiPietro said. “I cast a woman as Hamlet because she read it well and had a certain air about her that really let me think she could play this tormented young soul.”

A total of 29 students, all theater majors and minors, make up the cast. In addition to Fivecoat, they are Claire Adams, Autumn Bradford, Reina Cranford, Athana Cupino, Katelyn Drazba, Quinn Fritz, Sarahfay Hendin, Millie Huysentryt, Rafe Jacobs, Janae Jones, Amelia Keyes, Lydia Kirk, Abby Knight, Jon La Belle, Bobby Lindsey, Clara Losey, Payton Miller, Brett Pearce, Azharia Pratt, Kaya Robinson, Alex Sheremeta, Cordell Smith, Samuel Spaulding, Eli Stachowske, Ruger Tolliver, Julie Wade, Regan Williams, and Griffin Yeater.

For more information, go to www.sienaheights.edu/academics/theatre-siena.