Midn. 2/C Benjamin Ball, left, “dies” in front of Midn. 3/C Ryan Mati during a rehearsal of the Naval Academy Masqueraders’ production of “Fortinbras.” The play follows the exploits of Norwegian prince Fortinbras in the events following the end of Shakespeare’s “Hamlet.” USNA photo by Patrick Gordon.

‘‘It says something about the strength of our admissions that we’re drawing on a really talented pool of young men and women and that they bring a lot to the table in terms of their abilities,” said Larabee, a permanent military professor in the Academy’s English department and officer representative for the Masqueraders.

The play is a comedy that begins where Shakespeare’s ‘‘Hamlet” ends. Fortinbras is the Norwegian prince who marches into Denmark as the royal family lies dying in the final scene of the original tragedy. Hamlet, after securing his friend Horatio’s promise to tell the truth about their deaths, dies leaving Fortinbras to take over the Danish throne.

In this play, the new king fears the Danish people won’t believe such an unlikely story and urges Horatio to put a different spin on it, in the interest of public relations. But his plan is made more complicated when the ghosts of the Danish royalty return and try to convince him to tell the truth.

‘‘It has direct applicability to the lives of the Midshipmen,” said Dr. Christy Stanlake, professor in the Academy’s English department and the director of the Masqueraders. ‘‘It deals with how a nation represents itself – do you have complete transparency and disclosure to the public about what’s going on in an administration or do you give them just enough for them to have a sense of security and that things are okay?”

According to Stanlake, the play raises further issues of ethics and leadership, particularly focusing on diplomacy versus action and finding a balance between the two.

‘‘So even though it’s a farce, it has some meatier issues within it,” she said.

Besides the larger issues the play addresses, the Midshipmen involved with the production found different learning experiences both working on their individual characters and working together as a team.

Midn. 1⁄C Sierra Cox is the president of the group and plays one of the lead roles as the ghost of Ophelia. In addition to the challenge of managing the logistics, she feels she has learned a lot in the process of accepting criticism and changing her original interpretation of her character.

‘‘It taught me you have to be able to take on different critiques and take on different ideas,” said Cox.

Midn. 2⁄C Benjamin Ball, who plays the ghost of Hamlet, discovered that working with the Masqueraders raised issues of teamwork similar to what he was taught as an enlisted Marine prior to becoming a USNA midshipman.

‘‘You come together as a team and you work and you realize that no matter how big or small your role is in the production, you’re part of this team,” said Ball. ‘‘That’s something they teach you when you’re a private first class, that it doesn’t matter how small your role is, or how small you think it is, because it’s an integral part.”

In addition to the evening and weekend hours devoted to learning lines, developing characters and rehearsals, the Midshipmen do all the work of building a new set each year.

‘‘It takes a multi-talented person to put all this together,” said Larabee. ‘‘They’re all actors, but they also work on set construction, so it really helps develop their potentials and challenge them to learn new skills.”

‘‘I don’t have too many opportunities to be a beginner as a second class Midshipman,” said Midn. 2⁄C John Tanalega. ‘‘It’s an opportunity to try something new.”

The show will run Nov. 13, 14, 20 and 21 in Mahan Hall. Each performance is open to the public and will begin at 8 p.m. Tickets are $10 per person or $8 per person for groups of 10 or more and can be purchased through (410) 293-TIXS (8497) or at the door.