Jenn Colella, Jessica Phillips and More to Lead PERSUASION, A QUEER MODERN FARCE Industry Reading

The cast has been revealed for the upcoming one-day-only industry reading of a new play, Persuasion, A Queer Modern Farce, on October 23, 2026 in New York City. Mindy Cooper will direct the new comedy from Lisa Quoresimo, starring Broadway veteran Jessica Phillips and Tony Award nominee Jenn Colella, with Alma Cuervo, Susan Lynskey, Jimin Moon, Tom Nelis, Salma Qarnain, and Levin Valayil.

This farcical new tale of mature regret and the possibility of renewed love is based on the classic novel Persuasion by Jane Austen. The heroine of Persuasion, A Queer Modern Farce, is foolish only in her lack of courage - and she has lived to regret all that has cost her. What modern circumstance might let a young woman be persuaded to give up the love of her life, only to have that love be perfectly acceptable to her family some years later? 

We meet the quiet heroine Anne 18 years after she was persuaded to give up the love of her life. The ridiculousness of Austen's family of fading British nobility, obsessed with the book of the Baronetcy, has been transposed to a family of fading television royalty, obsessed with their IMDB pages and intent on replenishing their supply of La Mer️. Anne's great love, the angry sea captain Captain Wentworth, is now the exquisitely passionate queer activist Celia Wentworth. When Celia is suddenly thrown back into Anne's life, will she be able to forgive Anne's lack of courage? Will Anne finally stand up for who she is and what she wants? Will Anne's family of faded television stars tolerate a transition to moderately-priced moisturizers? Persuasion, A Queer Modern Farce is produced by Off The/Lane and Catalyst: a Theatre Think Tank, with casting by Stephanie Klapper.