It may be cold outside, but inside the lower level of the William Hall Library in Cranston, it will be hot with laughter as the cast of the Burbage Theatre Company takes to the stage for their most recent production.

“The Taming of the Shrew,” by William Shakespeare, is being presented by a cast of 14 for a limited run of seven performances beginning Thursday, March 12 through Saturday, March 14, and then again March 19-21.

Shakespeare’s story is about how people fall in love and the consequences that come with who they end up with, according to Jeff Church, artistic director of the Burbage Theatre Company. The cast delivers a performance of love, competition, laughter and violence in the approximately two-hour show, he said.

The people who make us the cast, which was hand picked by Church just over a month ago, come from all over the state just to be a part of the production. Burbage Theatre Company is a growing company, according to Church, and has garnered the interest of aspiring semi-professional artists. For this particular performance, Church has several actors who have performed with his company before as well as a few newcomers, but all have “fairly extensive” theatre backgrounds.

Mia Rocchio, who plays Katherine, has been performing since the age of six, and just last year graduated from the University of Rhode Island with a bachelor of fine arts degree in theatre studies. Laine Wagner, another member of the ensemble, is currently in her senior year in the theatre program at URI, and  Dillon Medina, Jonathan Fisher and Roger Lemelin are no strangers to the stage either, having performed with various companies around the state.

“I would have to say that this is probably one of the best groups that we have ever had,” Church said.  “Every single one of us has performed on some stage in the state, whether it was with Epic Theatre or we come from Rhode Island College or URI, everyone’s got theatre background. It’s allowed us to take a play like this and turn it around to deliver a great performance in just about three and a half weeks.”

According to Church, the company typically met for just about five hours on five to six evenings a week to rehearse for the show. They spent countless hours rehearsing lines, acting out scenes and designing the production layout. The task of preparing for such a production comes at no easy feat, according to Church, but for some, certain aspects are harder than others.

Katherine, played by Rocchio, said that this particular role has been enlightening, as well as rather demanding on her as an actor. She has several fairly intense scenes in the play that pose physical as well as mental challenges, and this, she said, has helped her to properly train her abilities to adapt and endure as an actress.

With nothing more than a hand-made stage to assist them in their delivery, Katherine, played by Rocchio, depicts a very physical encounter with Church in one scene in the play. There is a lot of yelling, hair pulling, people pushing and even a few acts of bodily harm.

“This has been a fun experience for me, but also a struggle because, for example, I have to scream a lot. I am yelling backstage even before I come on stage to set the scene for my character, and I have had to learn how to properly use my voice in order to maintain it through the rehearsals so that I would be able to do the shows,” she said.

For others in the play, memorization can be the biggest challenge, Church said.

“People who typically come to these performances ask all the time how we remember all of those lines, but just think about how quickly you memorize the lines in a song that you hear on the radio that you like,” Church said. “After so many times rehearsing these scenes and saying the lines over and over in rehearsals, they just stick with you, even though the language can sometimes be tough.”

With just days to go before the first performance, Church said the team is in high gear prepping for the event. Together they eat dinner, run through their lines, watch each other, give feedback on scenes and take photos to promote their company and the upcoming performance.

The company as a whole, according to Church, is really beginning to flourish. What started out as a small group of aspiring theatre students in 2010 has blossomed into a community of professionals.

“We started out in 2010, and back then we all worked where we could to make money and then did this on the side just so that we were able to do what we love. But now here we are on our 14th or 15th play and we are going strong,” Church said. “We actually have a big announcement to make about this being our very last performance in a venue like this. As of the end of this performance, we are going to be housed at Aurora, an actual venue in downtown Providence with a true theatre.

“This is something that we are so excited about,” he continued, “and not something that a lot of people who go into this can say.”

The William Hall Library is located at 1825 Broad St. in Cranston.  The performances will take place on March 12-14 and March 19-21, with all shows beginning at 7:30 p.m. Tickets for the performances, which cost $20 for general admission and $10 for students, can be purchased either at the door the night of the show or in advance on the company’s website, www.burbagetheatre.org.