“OMG” the modern version of Shakespeare’s ‘Othello’ premiered Thursday night in Memorial Auditorium. The play ran from Oct. 2 till Oct. 4 in Memorial Auditorium. The production was done almost entirely by senior and chapter president of Gamma Alpha Rho of Phi Beta Sigma Inc., Kervince Michel, who the wrote and directed “OMG”.

The modern day tale is a tragedy about love, jealousy, and betrayal. The play has a new twist on the story plot as well as the characters. The main character Octavius, played by junior Brandon Hall-Walker, is a black college football player who is looking for a fresh start at a division 2 school. In the midst of playing football at Saint Valentine University he falls in love with the female lead Dacia, played by freshman Brittany Ebeling, a white cheerleader. Initially, Octavius does not have plans on falling for Dacia but he meets her at a party and from there they connect. Dacia is a loving girlfriend who knew from the moment Octavius first approached her that he was destined to be great and do amazing things at SVU and she ends up falling in love with him as well.

Dacia’s best friend Lavanya Johnson, played by sophomore Deja Richardson, is the adaption of the deceitful Iago. Throughout the play she is secretly plotting Dacia’s friends and her boyfriend against her to stop true love because she does not think Dacia and Octavius truly belong together. Lavanya deceives her friend Rebecca, originally known as Roderigo, played by sophomore Roneisha Tate, in believing she will have Octavius once she figures out a way to break them apart.

”O, beware, my lord, of jealousy; It is the green-ey’d monster, which doth mock the meat it feed on,” originally said by Iago but reworded by Lavanya. In the end Lavanya is taken to jail after killing her friends and Dacia takes her own life after realizing what she has done.

Kervince was inspired by the 2001 drama called “O”, the modern adaption of William Shakespeare’s “Othello”.

“I wanted to take something that already had an artistic credibility and make it modern,” Kervince explained.

Even after changing the plot and adding a spin on the original characters Kervince said that he wanted to leave Shakespeare’s basis and ideology of the playwright present.

“I want people to make the connections from Shakespeare’s work and any other reenactments to my work and see how I changed them,” Kervince said.

As the chapter president of Gamma Alpha Rho chapter of Phi beta Sigma his initial efforts for the production were to raise money for Phi Beta Sigma and to inspire others to be great. He admitted that he did not consider himself a writer or director but realized that anything is possible.

“The sky is the limit and you can do anything you put your mind to,” Kervince said.

With the help of Neo Jamie Llano and the office of the Multicultural Student Affairs, who offered advice and encouragement, his production was possible. Kervince is open to producing more plays with the success of his first college staged play. He also has dreams of being able to perform his production on a higher platform such as the H. Ric Luhrs Performing Arts Center.

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