This past week, University Theater finished up its run of the Mary Zimmerman stage play The Arabian Nights, based on the Book of the Thousand and One Nights, the famous collection of Arabian fairytales.

After seeing his wife in bed with another man, King Shahryar has gotten in the habit of marrying a virgin each night and killing her in the morning in order to never be made fool of again.

After a while though, the kingdom has almost run out of virgins. Shahryar may have finally met his match as his latest bride, the clever Scheherezade , has a scheme to get him to put an end to his madness once and for all.

For a thousand and one nights, Scheherezade tells stories to engage the king and stay his murderous hand until the next night when she begins yet another tale.

Nick Tran, a junior in economics and nuclear engineering, plays the despicable King Shahryar , while Allison Hedges, a doctoral student in mathematics, stepped into the role of one of literature’s most famous storytellers – Scheherezade .

The production featured a large cast, with 16 actors and actresses taking part in the play. Further, all the members took on multiple roles throughout the different tales. There are over 40 characters in the play, and Allison Bergman, the production’s director, didn’t want to use the same people who had been featured in a lot of the theater’s previous works.

In search of new faces, Bergman went to Middle East studies classes, Arabic language studies classes, and various middle-eastern clubs to find new students willing to audition. Bergman said because the theater doesn’t get to perform such a diverse work very often, she wanted to make sure to build up an equally diverse cast.

The cast went through five intense weeks of rehearsal to prepare for the production, and Bergman is very proud of the work they’ve put in, as well as the end product.

Though Arabian Nights isn’t technically a musical, the University’s production featured live Arabian music. This was a unique addition from University Theater, as Zimmerman’s original work came without any kind of musical score.

The words to the songs in the play are listed as poetry, but this production took the liberty of setting them to music for a new take on the material

The music was all composed by University alumnus Naji Hilal specifically for this production of the play. Hilal plays a pear-shaped string instrument called an oud in the live ensemble, as well as the cymbal and other percussion instruments. Hilal was joined by seven other members of the ensemble, most of whom were students.

Going further with the authenticity, the costumes in the production are all traditional Middle Eastern dress. Laura Parker, the play’s costume designer, has a side job where she specializes in Middle Eastern garb, which gave her the ability to add even more to the costumes.

“My biggest fear was fakeness ,” Bergman said. “I wanted everything to be as authentic as possible. I didn’t want everyone to look like the girl from I Dream of Jeannie.”

The lighting, the set design, the music, the acting – every element was designed to pull the audience fully into the world of The Arabian Nights.