A question often asked of actors is “What is your favorite play?”

“I haven’t found one yet. My favorite play is the play that I’m doing right now, simply because it is the one I’m fully involved in, and therefore, the only one I’m thinking about,” said Mel Cobb, producing assistant director of the Worcester Shakespeare Company.

Each summer, the Worcester Shakespeare Company presents a Festival of Shakespeare, in which two of The Bard’s plays are chosen to perform in repertory with one another. The shows typically play Thursday through Sunday, with times varying from matinees to evening performances. All shows are at the Singh Performance Center and the Napkin Stage, both located at Alternatives in Whitinsville. This summer’s Worcester Shakespeare Festival kicked off its season July 17, with the premier of Love’s Labour’s Lost, and All’s Well That Ends Well, which opened July 30. The festival runs until Aug. 23.

“Both of these plays are love stories,” said Assistant Producer Gillian Griffith. “They’re both about women’s choice, where the women take control and go after what they want.”

“We pick plays based on which actors are going to be available to do it,” Cobb said. “The actors come first. We’re like a professional family in that way. We ask, ‘What members of the family can people the story best?’”

One member of the family is David Personne, an actor and composer for the theater company. “I love how universal [Shakespeare] is. I was born in France and grew up in Portugal, so Shakespeare was not very present in my cultural upbringing. I came to New York to train as an actor, and I met Mel, and he asked me to audition for him. My first production was Othello. I realized why Shakespeare was so good. It’s just great storytelling.”

“For me, it started with the language,” said Costume Designer Lori Rabeler. “Playing with the language and hearing how it worked.” Now, as a costumer, Rabeler said, “I can create the world” that the language creates.

The company places emphasis on the visual element of its productions by creating original costumes and original musical scores, courtesy of Personne. “What we do and how we do it is informed by historical accuracy. We have to get the right balance of visuals and language,” Cobb said.

“Lori creates a beautiful, but simple, visual landscape,” Griffith said.

“We love that the community here is interested in what we do,” Griffith said. “It’s an honest and straightforward community. We do honest interpretations of our shows, and they fit right in.”

“It’s really a community service organization,” Cobb said. “It just so happens that our product is Shakespeare.”

“We can fill the void,” Rabeler said, in reference to the lack of Shakespeare availability in Central Massachusetts. “There is no other company focused specifically on doing Shakespeare.”

One of the main goals of The Worcester Shakespeare Company is to put the city of Worcester on the map as a reputable source for The Bard’s work. “The quality of what we do is as good a Shakespeare as is available anywhere,” Cobb. “We are a company that’s beginning to get attention. The work is something people want to see.

“Like many small communities, there is a kind of struggle for this fine arts community. There is a financial and emotional war going on. There are so many people asking: How can we make our lives better? Worcester has all kinds of entities saying: We’re trying to make where we live better. This city has always done its best to support making life better. And Shakespeare serves as the undiscovered jewel that makes people excited to come and see our productions,” Cobb added.

Personne added, “It’s wonderful for me to see people who are open to it; available to see something different. The community is open to receiving something different, and I think we do a pretty good job.”

“My hope is that when people see and hear Shakespeare, that initially high school fear of Shakespeare vanished,” Rabeler said.

There is one factor on which all four members of the company agree: Shakespeare is as fresh and as relevant as he was 450 years ago.

“Human nature hasn’t changed,” Rabeler said, “and, like David said, his [Shakespeare’s] work is universal.”

“If it’s done well, anyone can find inspiration in any art form,” Cobb said, “and that is what we hope to achieve by producing Shakespeare – to inspire.”

The Worcester Shakespeare Festival runs through Aug. 23 in at Alternatives, 50 Douglas Road, Whitinsville. Tickets are $20, $15 for seniors and students, and free for children younger than 12. For more information and a calendar of the performances, visit worcestershakespearecompany.org.

By Ryan Cashman