A classic play will get a twist on gender roles during the production of “Volpone” this week.

The Department of Theatre Arts will be showcasing an adaptation of “Volpone” by Ben Jonson that is set in 2009 in Venice, Florida.

Christopher Mitchell, associate professor of theatre arts and the director of “Volpone,” said the genders being reversed gives the play a fun twist and points out the way women were viewed in the renaissance era.

The play is the story of Volpone and his attempts to trick people out of their money. Volpone is a wealthy woman who cannot get enough money and tries to cheat others, who also desire her money.

She claims to be dying and says she will write someone into her will if she is motivated enough.

This turns the other characters against each other with the help of her assistant Mosca and ends with punishment for all the characters.

“At heart, it’s about the obsessive quest for wealth and the lying and cheating to achieve that goal,” Mitchell said. “It’s that critic of society, but it is also at heart a comedy.”

Mitchell said the adaptation was inspired by the Madoff Scandal in 2009. The Madoff Scandal was a ponzi scheme that cheated money out of people.

“It made me think, once again you have somebody who tries to cheat people out of money and you marvel at how they do it,” Mitchell said. “You see parallels between centuries ago and today.”

Mitchell said the play shows there is still an obsession with money in today’s society.

Mitchell said the only things that have changed in the adaptation are the setting from Italy to present Florida and the gender of the characters, but the language is the same.

Mitchell said by just changing the genders, it causes the audience to see the relationships between men and women differently.

“When you reverse the genders a lot of things get reversed, often comically,” Mitchell said.

Mitchell said an example of this is in the original play, Corvino is a violent abusive male who gets jealous when he thinks his wife is flirting with another. In the adaptation, the audience sees Corvina’s abuse of her husband.

“It brings out interesting things, makes you see interesting things,” Mitchell said.

Mitchell said there will be modern pop music and the scene will be changed virtually.

He said he thinks students will connect because it is fresh and relevant to modern times.

The play will take place at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and at 2 p.m. on Sunday in The Theatre of the Doudna Fine Arts Center.

Tickets are $5 for students, $10 for faculty, staff and people 62 and older, and $12 for the general public.

Mitchell said he is excited for opening night and for the audience to see the show.

“Every theatre art (major) talks about the magic of opening night,” Mitchell said. “Watching all the hard work of so many people come together and just looking forward to sharing it with audience.”

Samantha McDaniel can be reached at 581-2812 or slmcdaniel@eiu.edu.