PRESS RELEASE: Lauren Gunderson’s The Book of Will Opens March 8, 2024
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 20, 2024
Contact: Kira Catanzaro, Marcom Manager
(707) 523-4185
kira@6thstreetplayhouse.com
Lauren Gunderson’s The Book of Will to Open; Safeguarding Shakespeare
Where Would We Be Without Shakespeare’s Words?
SANTA ROSA, CA (Feb. 13, 2023) – The Book of Will is next up on the Monroe Stage following 6th Street Playhouse’s sold out run of August Wilson’s Fences. Lauren Gunderson’s play about the race to compile William Shakespeare’s works into one volume, the First Folio. It is a lively, funny, poignant love letter to theatre and the printed word. Since 2015, Gunderson (The Revolutionists, Silent Sky) has been one of the most produced playwrights in America. Libby Oberlin (Love, Loss & What I Wore) directs veteran North Bay actors David L. Yen (Oliver!), Chris Schloemp (The Real Thing), Denise Elia-Yen (Annie, Get Your Gun) and Keene Hudson (Fences) as Shakespeare’s friends and conservators. The Book of Will opens Friday, March 8, 2024, on the Monroe Stage.
Set in Elizabethan England, three years following William Shakespeare’s death, The King’s Men are outraged that their friend and mentor’s brilliant plays are being pirated and wretchedly performed. To honor “The Bard” and preserve his original work for posterity, actor Henry Condell and the troupe’s financial manager, John Heminges, commit to printing it all in one volume. However, first, they have to collect the scripts from dusty cupboards, burned buildings and those who hold the publishing rights. Because Shakespeare wrote his plays as scripts for performances and distributed the unbound pages to actors when they got on stage to play their roles, the friends must find and then puzzle the plays together – all 36 of them. Friends, family and former rivals band together to overcome the obstacles of death, debt, destruction, unreliable copies of plays (quartos), an unscrupulous printer, and time in this true story that will shine a new light on Shakespeare and his legacy.
The Book of Will is a smart, funny, and stirring play about the power of a man’s words to create new worlds and to change the world around him. It is about dedicated friends, passionate about preserving those words and worlds for the future. It is about theatre lovers and loving the theatre.
“THE BOOK OF WILL…unequivocally announces Gunderson as a playwright with whom to be reckoned. It is, quite frankly, one of the best plays I have ever seen. It will bring tears of both laughter and sorrow to all but the most jaded audience member’s eyes. It is, in a word, a triumph.” – Boulder Weekly (CO).
Playwright Lauren Gunderson has been one of the most produced in America since 2015, topping the list three times including 2022/23. She is a two-time winner of the Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award for I and You and The Book of Will, the winner of the Lanford Wilson Award and a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. She is a playwright, screenwriter, musical book writer and children’s author who lives in San Francisco. She was the playwright-in-residence at Marin Theater Company for six years as part of the National Playwright Residency Program.
The Book of Will is directed by stage director, theatre educator and award-winning actress, Libby Oberlin. She most recently directed Love, Loss & What I Wore at 6th Street Playhouse and has also worked with Throckmorton Theater, Sonoma Arts Live, Google, Performing Arts Academy of Marin and many local and NYC theater departments. Pre-Covid, Libby founded The Theater School, in Sonoma, directing hundreds of performers in productions and studio classes. She is passionate about Shakespeare and admits to having chosen to go to Shakespeare Camp instead of Driver’s Education while in high school. She is excited to direct The Book of Will and for people to see how many connections they have to Shakespeare and his language.
“Lauren Gunderson’s play honors and reveres the art form of theater,” said Oberlin. “It highlights its power to expand our emotional intelligence, to find meaning in our lives, and to pass along wisdom, warnings, and inspiration for future generations.”
David L. Yen plays feisty, good-natured and hopeful King’s Men actor Henry Condell. Yen is no stranger to the stage having acted, directed and designed in the North Bay for more than 25 years. He received a BATCC Award for Featured Performer: Musical for his role as Officer Lockstock in Urinetown: the Musical at Spreckels Theatre Company. His last performance at 6th Street was as Fagin in Oliver! His Shakespearean experience is formidable.
Chris Schloemp plays actor John Heminges, financial manager of the King’s Men, owner of The Globe Tap House and Condell’s overly cautious friend. He is married to Rebecca Heminges (played by David Yen’s real-life wife, Denise Elia-Yen.) At 6th Street Playhouse, Schloemp was in The Real Thing, Wonder of the World, The Addams Family Musical, A Christmas Story, or August: Osage County. Chris is also the Theatre Program Director at Montgomery High School, where he has been teaching since 1996.
Denise Elia-Yen, who plays Rebecca Heminges and Shakespeare’s widow, Anne Hathaway is an award-winning actress and director with experience locally, in New York, and in theatre festivals abroad. She received consecutive Principal Actress in a Musical awards from the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle as Annie Oakley (Annie Get Your Gun) and Elizabeth Benning (Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein The Musical.) She teaches theatre and film at Maria Carrillo High School.
Following his recent role as Troy Maxson in Fences, Keene Hudson will play renowned actor and “lion of the stage”, Richard Burbage. Hudson played Walter Hobbs in Elf the Musical, Jackson Moore in last season’s Smart People and was in Little Shop of Horrors and Hair. The Princeton University-trained actor will also play William Jaggard and Horatio in The Book of Will.
The Set Design is by David Yen, whose set for Wait Until Dark at Spreckels Theatre Company was nominated by the Marquis Theatre Journalists Award. Lighting Design is by Ryan Severt. The Costume Design is by Gail Reine (Forever Plaid, Streetcar Named Desire). 6th Street Playhouse’s expert staff technicians include technical director, Martin Gilbertson; assistant technical director, Rick Baker; sound designer, Ben Roots; costume shop director, Mae-Heagerty-Matos; and props designer, Ben Harper.
The Cast of The Book of Will is as follows:
Henry Condell – David L. Yen
John Heminges – Chris Schloemp
Richard Burbage / William Jaggard / Horatio – Keene Hudson
Rebecca Heminges / Anne Hathaway Shakespeare – Denise Elia-Yen
Elizabeth Condell – Maddi Scarbrough
Emilia Bassano Lanier / Fruit Seller / Marcellus – Mary Samson
Alice Heminges / Susannah Shakespeare – Malia Abayon
Ben Jonson / Sir Edward Dering / Barman 2 – Nate Musser
Ralph Crane / Barman / Compositor / Francisco – Jeff Cote
Marcus / Boy Hamlet / Crier / Bernardo – Sean Cooper
Ed Knight/Isaac Jaggard – Lukas Weichert
Understudy – Ralph Crane, Compositor, Barnardo – Zane Walters
Dates/Times:
Opening Night: Friday, March 8, 2024 at 7:30 pm. A champagne reception follows to celebrate the show with friends, the cast and the artistic team.
Runs: Thursdays – Sundays (See website for details.)
Run Time: Approximately 2 hours and 15 minutes plus a 15-minute intermission.
Content Note: This production contains some adult language.
Tickets cost $29 – $45 and are available online at 6thStreetPlayhouse.com
or by calling the Box Office at (707)523-4185.