If you hear more laughter around campus in the following week, give credit to the comic play of “SMASH!.”

Directed by Greg Leaming, associate professor and head of directing at the Meadows School of the Arts, the play will run from April 23-27 in the Bob Hope Theatre in the Owens Arts Center.

“SMASH!” is playwright Jeffrey Hatcher’s adaptation of George Bernard Shaw’s first and only novel, “An Unsocial Socialist.”

“George Bernard Shaw was a master at combining intellect and heart which makes for a great theatrical event,” Leaming said. “Think of the play as George Bernard Shaw meets Monty Python.”

The novel and the play, both set in 1910, revolve around Sidney Trefusis, a wealthy anarchist bent on radically changing society.

He establishes an all girls school only to learn that no political ideology can match the power of romance and sex.

“Having worked with the playwright Jeffrey Hatcher in the past, I’m familiar with his tremendous wit, and his adaptation is extremely intelligent, witty and romantic,” Leaming said.

Leaming joined SMU last August from the Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut, where he served as director of artistic programming from 1997-2001 and as acting artistic director from 2001-2002.

Leaming developed and produced the theatre’s eight-play season and directed the world premiers of “Abstract Expression,” “Syncopation” and “An Infinite Ache.”

“SMU is very beautiful, and the students are terrific and have a really gung-ho attitude,” Leaming said. “Therefore, I chose SMASH! because I thought it would be a tremendous challenge to the students, but it’s a challenge they have all risen to.”

Show times are 8 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday and 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

Tickets are $12 for adults, $9 for seniors and $6 for SMU students, faculty and staff

“I hope those that come to see the play will laugh a lot and walk away with a slightly more complex view of male and female relationships,” Leaming said.