The smallest cast list for any Shakespeare play is eleven in “The Two Gentlemen of Verona.”

This weekend, three actors take on the Bard’s entire catalog of plays, determined to entertain and educate the masses one crowd at a time.

“[‘Romeo and Juliet’ is] impossible to do with three actors so we’ll do it with two!” the actors proclaim, while rehearsing the show.

“The Complete Works of William Shakespeare — ‘Abridged'” stars two ISU performing arts graduates, Kevin Geiken and Scott Morehead, and Melanie Snow, senior in performing arts.

The three are directed by Robin Stone, a former ISU assistant professor of theatre.

The actors each play various Shakespearean roles with running gags galore, one of which involves wearing bad wigs and vomit.

On stage, Geiken fills the role of the disgruntled intellect, Morehead fits a clueless jock and Snow plays an airhead.

Between scene transitions, the actors take on extreme versions of themselves as they will interact with each other and the crowd.

The three were chosen after performing a variation last summer with more cast members but the same script.

“We kind of have our own personas we take on. Some of it comes from last summer, and the script has the personalities built in,” Snow says.

The show is managed by the four equally.

“We are self-promoted. We put everything together from posters and flyers,” Morehead says.

The show consists of the three actors going through the gamut of material produced by Shakespeare sans his sonnets and poems.

Delivered in rapid fire fashion with tongue twisting iambic pentameter, the plays fly by.

The scenes are compiled, shot, cut, dragged, crushed, mixed, bludgeoned and woven together to create unique comedic takes on the classic works.

Sixteen of Shakespeare’s romantic comedies are mashed together dubbed, “The Love Boat Goes to Venus.”

The story of “Othello” is rapped out in improv fashion with words flowing out of the three actors both in taking turns and concurrently.

“It was more of an improv type of thing. It’s actually written for three people,” Snow says.

“Titus Andronicus,” one of Shakespeare’s more violent plays recently resurrected in the form of the movie Titus, is a take on Emeril Lagasse and Hannibal Lecter.

Shakespeare’s two most famous plays — “Romeo and Juliet” and “Hamlet” — bookend the hour and 20 minute show.

The troupe will travel to The Edinburgh Fringe Festival to perform Aug. 8-20 in Scotland.

The festival is the largest of its kind in the world with performers coming from the four corners of the world.

In 2004, the festival sold more than 1.2 million tickets.

The troupe will be one group among thousands of other individuals and groups and will perform five times during the festival.

The idea of ISU students traveling and performing at the festival was initiated by Jane Cox, professor of theatre.

“This has been in the works since last summer. All the reservations had to be made months and months ahead of time,” Cox says.

The trip is being paid by a fund through the Theater Department.

“It’s being funded through donations of past and present theatre faculty members,” Cox says.

“They have to pay for their meals but we pay for everything else — transportation, room and fees.”

“Our show has to fill an hour so we have to cut 20 minutes from the show for Edinburgh,” Stone says.

The costumes and props for three people are numerous, and it was questionable if they would fit into one suitcase.

“We got them all into one suitcase,” Snow says, but she says it was a very large suitcase.