AS YOU LIKE IT to be Presented at Writers Theatre This Fall
Performances will run from October 30 – December 14, 2025.
By: Chloe Rabinowitz Sep. 26, 2025
Writers Theatre will continue its 2025/26 Season with a musical adaptation of William Shakespeare’s As You Like It, adapted by Shaina Taub and Laurie Woolery, with music and lyrics by Shaina Taub. This production is directed by Braden Abraham, with music direction by Michael Mahler and choreography by Erin Kilmurray. As You Like It will run October 30 – December 14, 2025 in the Alexandra C. and John D. Nichols Theatre.
Facing exile at home, Orlando, Duke Senior, his daughter Rosalind and niece Celia seek safety and refuge in the Forest of Arden. Lost amidst the trees, these wounded souls end up finding a community of acceptance and transformational love, where all are welcomed and embraced. Featuring an original folk-pop score by Shaina Taub (Tony Award-winning composer of Suffs), this musical adaptation of Shakespeare's classic is an immersive dream-like tale of faithful friends, feuding families and chance encounters.?
"This will be a raucous, immersive As You Like It, brought to the stage by a wildly charismatic and daring group of Chicago actors and musicians,” said Braden Abraham. “Laurie Woolery and Shaina Taub’s Arden is a world I want to live in.?It’s an invigorating, galvanizing play about the pleasures of falling in love and the necessity of forgiveness.”?
The cast includes Janet Ulrich Brooks (Agent/Mama Corin/Martext/Miss Amiens), Elisa Carlson (Ensemble/Ardenite), Matt Edmonds (Ensemble/Announcer/Ardenite), Elliot Esquivel (William/Caveman, Understudy Orlando), Jackson Evans (Touchstone), Phoebe Gonzalez (Rosalind), Torrey Hanson (Adam/Referee/Papa Corin), Dakota Hughes (Phoebe/Hisperia/Frankie Flow), Scott Aiello (Duke Frederick/Ardenite), Benjamin Mathew (Orlando), Andrea San Miguel (Celia), Anand Nagraj (Oliver/Ardenite, Understudy Duke Senior), Jeff Rodriguez (Andy/Bronco, Understudy Touchstone), Grace Steckler (Silvia/Ensemble), Paul Oakley Stovall (Duke Senior/Ensemble), Matthew C. Yee (Jaques), Patrick Blashill (Understudy Duke Frederick/Ensemble), Eduardo Curley-Carilo (Understudy Oliver/Ensemble), Marielle Issa (Understudy Silvia/Phoebe), Dana Saleh Omar (Understudy Jaques/Ensemble), Esteban Ortiz-Villacorta (Understudy Andy/Ensemble), Tina Mun?oz Pandya (Understudy Ensemble) and Aurora Penepacker (Understudy Rosalind/Celia).
The creative team includes: Braden Abraham (Director), Erin Kilmurray (Choreographer), Michael Mahler (Music Director), Sara Ryung Clement (Co-Scenic Designer), Jacelyn Stewart (Co-Scenic Designer), Raquel Adorno (Costume Designer), Eric Southern (Co-Lighting Designer), Daphne Agosin (Co-Lighting Designer), Lindsay Jones (Sound Designer), Max Fabian (Violence & Intimacy Director), Eva Breneman (Text Coach), Katie Galetti (Casting Director), Bobby Kennedy (Dramaturg), Mason Moss (Associate Music Director & Piano/Conductor), Heather Boehm (Music Coordinator), and Kieran McCabe (Percussionist). The stage manager is Miranda Anderson and the assistant stage managers are Natalie Cohen and Zoe Jennings.
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