In 2010, Shakespeare expert Brean Hammond of Nottingham University declared that the 1727 Lewis Theobald play Double Falsehood was, as Theobald claimed, a reboot of an earlier play called Cardenio. What's the big deal, you ask? Cardenio is one of a handful of plays co-written by William Shakespeare but since lost. Although the attribution remains questionable, the Royal Shakespeare Company performed Double Falsehood in 2011, and it's been added to the Arden compendium. Other works only recently ascribed to the Bard include Sir Thomas More and The Two Noble Kinsmen.

If a lost Shakespeare play, say, Love's Labor Won, were found and authenticated, it'd be a hugely big deal, especially to literary scholars. I mean, think about it: it'd be on a par with finding the Ark of the Covenant or a living stegosaurus. If that play were found in your own home, you'd lose your mind about it, right?

One of the challenges of Dale Wasserman's play Premiere!, which depicts the discovery of a possible lost Shakespearean play, is that it talks about the excitement aroused by that discovery rather than showing it. There aren't many jokes in the show, even fewer good ones, so there's no point shaping it as a comedy. Rather, one of its goals should be to demonstrate the tumult generated by the discovery. Also, since the "lost play" in question, The Tragedy of Alcibiades, is really a hoax, Premiere! should convey the nail-biting tension incurred by someone attempting to pass his work off as an authentic Elizabethan drama.

That someone is popular comic playwright Gil Fryman - which sure sounds like "Neil Simon," doesn't it? In Olympia Little Theater's production, directed by first-timer Julia VanDerslice, the acting is realistic enough, yet we feel little of that hoped-for excitement. Therefore, a play that reads somewhat flat comes across even flatter. I do appreciate the play's unusual structure, in which characters pop out of scenes to deliver expository monologues. John Pratt, as forger Lefty Guggenheim, has an especially clever one about making a new book look old. The cast is surprisingly poised given that they were obliged to rehearse in an unfinished space and deal with last-minute chaos.

The production is a premiere of another kind: it gives us our first look at the renovated OLT facilities. The new HVAC system is much appreciated, and Matt Moeller's lovely set shows off the clean decor to good effect. But as artistic manager Kathryn Beall explained to The Olympian, the company's still getting used to its new digital light board. The lights tend to ratchet from cue to cue. Also, OLT's new higher ceiling affected the room's acoustics, increasing the reverb. From now on, actors working there will have to be careful to ar-tic-u-late with increased precision.

VanDerslice shows promise, and her Premiere! is a smart show, if not an enthralling one.

OLYMPIA LITTLE THEATER, PREMIERE!, THROUGH MAY 5, 7:55 P.M. THURSDAY-SATURDAY, 1:55 P.M. SUNDAY, $10-$14, 1925 MILLER AVE. NE, OLYMPIA, 360.786.9484