SpeakEasy Stage Presents SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE

From January 12 to February 10, 2018, SpeakEasy Stage Company will present the New England premiere of the hit London comedy SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE.

Based on the Academy Award-winning film, SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE tells the story of young Will Shakespeare, who is suffering a severe case of writer's block as the deadline fast approaches to deliver his new play, Romeo and Ethel, the Pirate's Daughter. Enter Viola, a headstrong noblewoman and admirer of Will's, who disguises herself as a boy so she can skirt the law and appear (as a girl) in his play. But when the playwright and his muse fall in love, the plot undergoes some surprising rewrites. Mistaken identities, courtly intrigue, and backstage bickering are all part of the fun in this raucous romantic comedy of errors that reminds us that all the world's a stage and love is unrehearsed.

Norton & IRNE Award-winner Scott Edmiston will direct the SpeakEasy Stage production of SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE. Mr. Edmiston's previous SpeakEasy credits include Casa Valentina (2016 Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Director), The History Boys, The Light in the Piazza, and Five by Tenn. He has directed more than 60 productions across New England for Lyric Stage, A.R.T., Huntington Theatre, and Underground Railway Theater, among others. Scott is the recipient of four Elliot Norton Awards, three IRNE Awards, the StageSource Theatre Hero Award, and the 2011 Norton Prize for Sustained Excellence in Theatre. He is a Professor and Chair of the Theatre Department at Northeastern University.

Also on the artistic team are David Reiffel (Original Music/Music Direction/Sound Design), Judith Chaffee (Choreography/Movement) and Ted Hewlett (Fight Direction).

Newton native George Olesky and Norton Award-winner Jennifer Ellis headline a truly all-star Boston cast for the production, which includes Remo Airaldi, Ken Baltin, Nancy E. Carroll, Jesse Hinson, Omar Robinson, Carolyn Saxon, Eddie Shields, and Lewis D. Wheeler. Also in the cast are Paul Alperin, Steve Auger, Cameron Beaty Gosselin, Jade Guerra, Jeff Marcus, Zaven Ovian, Edward Rubenacker, and Damon Singletary.

This design team includes Jenna McFarland Lord (set); Rachel Padula-Shufelt (costumes); Karen Perlow (lighting); and Abby Shenker (props).

SHAKESPEAERE IN LOVE will run for five weeks, from January 12 through February 10, 2018, in the Virginia Wimberly Theatre in the Stanford Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts, 527 Tremont Street in Boston's South End.

Ticket prices start at $25, with discounts for students, seniors, and persons age 25 and under.

For tickets or more information, the public is invited to call the box office at 617.933.8600 or visit www.SpeakEasyStage.com .