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Steamboat Springs — Memorizing and reciting Shakespearean lines can be challenging for any actor or actress, but it can be especially difficult when you're 13.

However, about 28 young thespians at Lowell Whiteman Primary School are prepared to perform the classic romantic comedy "Much Ado About Nothing" today. The performance is part of an English unit on William Shakespeare the fifth- through eighth-graders have been studying.

"The point for our students is to not only understand the material, but to develop their comfort speaking publicly," said Kate McFee, who is directing the play and teaches English at the school.

"Those of us who know these kids are constantly amazed at what they can do," she said.

The students are performing an adaptation of the play, which was originally published in 1600. The romantic comedy follows the sordid courtship between two Italian couples, Beatrice and Benedick and Claudio and Hero.

Elizabeth Finch, who is playing Beatrice, has performed Shakespeare the past four years, and was surprised to have garnered one of this year's lead roles.

"It's exciting to act in front of a large audience, but at the same time it can make you very nervous," she said.

Finch said she began memorizing her "difficult and too Shakespearean" lines about three weeks ago.

"I just kept reading them over and over," she said. "It'd be better if we did more modern plays."

McFee said some students struggle with the language of the play while others excel.

"It's all a balancing act," she said. "I think some of our students benefit from the rich language but it can be very difficult for some of them. It's good to push their boundaries."

As part of the Shakespeare unit, students wrote their own sonnets and had to memorize lines from the play to audition. Eighth-grade students also did a comparative study between Shakespeare, Edgar Allan Poe's poem "The Raven" and selections from Geoffrey Chaucer's "The Canterbury Tales."

Today's performances are free and open to the public.